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Title: Jews Without Money by Michael Gold ISBN: 0-7867-0370-9 Publisher: Carroll & Graf Publishers Pub. Date: 01 September, 1996 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $11.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 5 (3 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Polemical but Riveting
Comment: "Jews without money" seems to me far more remarkable for its political positions than for its writing. Gold is, to put it bluntly, not a particularly skilled wordsmith. His limitations are obvious from the first page. Nevertheless this novel/memoir makes for fascinating reading. The book consists of a series of loosely connected vignettes from the life of a child growing up in the Lower East Side at the turn of the century. Gold wants to capture the sights and smells and sensations of that world, and while his prose is not quite up to the task, the reader still comes away powerfully moved.
What seems to be unique about Gold's account is his political bent. Rather than softening or sentimentalizing his experiences, he picks at scabs and pulls back the curtain to reveal horrors to his readers. As a devoted socialist, he wants to expose the evils of unrestrained capitalism. What that means for him is, rather than denying anti-Semitic stereotypes, he revels in them. Gold he wants the reader to understand that they are the result, not of Jewish culture, but of the effects of American ghetto poverty upon the Jews of his neighborhood. Povery, he aruges, turns potential into corruption. His is a world in which people will do anything for a few pennies, often all that stands between them and starvation. On the other hand, his world is also populated by characters who remain strong despite their suffering: his mother, who would rather go hungry than see a stranger starve; the foolish store-owner, who loses her livelihood because she cannot stand to turn away the poor. There are also desperate prostitutes, rapacious pawn brokers, crooked businessmen, and dreamers and schemers of all sorts.
This book lacks the literary ambition of Henry Roth's "Call it Sleep" or the narrative power of Abraham Cahan's "Rise of David Levinsky" (in my opinion, the finest novel ever about the Jewish immigrant experience). This is a political tract, and sometimes its dogma is rather irritating, even offensive. Nevertheless, it is a significant and important document of early 20th-century Jewish culture, and deserves to be read.
Rating: 5
Summary: A Great Book
Comment: This is a masterpiece that has lost none of its power since it was first published 70 years ago. The book hooks you from the first paragraph and never lets go.
Rating: 5
Summary: An earthy description of the immigrant experience.
Comment: The only thing marring this important work is the introduction by Alfred Kazin which maligns the novel and Michael Gold and leaves the reader wondering if the publisher is really trying to promote the book. The introduction probably is the result of old grudges from bygone politically motivated "cultural wars" between Jewish writers. The author's widow was deeply upset by the underhanded and cowardly introduction.
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Title: The Rise of David Levinsky (Modern Library Classics) by ABRAHAM CAHAN ISBN: 0375757988 Publisher: Modern Library Pub. Date: 13 November, 2001 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
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Title: Bread Givers: A Novel by Anzia Yezierska, Alice Kessler-Harris ISBN: 0892552905 Publisher: Persea Books Pub. Date: 01 August, 2003 List Price(USD): $8.95 |
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Title: Our Southern Highlanders: A Narrative of Adventure in the Southern Appalachians and a Study of Life Among the Mountaineers by Horace, Kephart ISBN: 0870492039 Publisher: University of Tennessee Press Pub. Date: 01 February, 1977 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
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Title: Call It Sleep : A Novel by Henry Roth ISBN: 0374522928 Publisher: Noonday Press Pub. Date: 01 January, 1992 List Price(USD): $16.00 |
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Title: Empire Statesman: The Rise and Redemption of Al Smith by Robert A. Slayton ISBN: 0684863022 Publisher: Free Press Pub. Date: 15 March, 2001 List Price(USD): $30.00 |
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