The Assistant (1957)

i read this book so thirstily that i know i didn't get as much out of it as is in it. but i still think it says a lot about loneliness, honesty, character, anti-semitism, desperation, and the immigrant situation in america in the 50's. definitely a good read, and probably an even better one than i'm giving it credit for. ( )

A Jewish immigrant named Morris Bober owns a grocery store in Brooklyn, New York, where he takes in a drifter named Frank. Morris gives Frank a job as a clerk in his store and tries to help him in any way he can. Frank has a checkered past and continual falls into his old ways, stealing from Morris and even peeping on his daughter. The store experiences the hardship of competition with the opening of another grocery store down the street and tensions run high as Morris and his wife fight to stay afloat—not knowing that the new grocery store is not the only thing keeping money out of their cash register. Frank fights his conscience as he begins courting Morris's daughter and comes to a crossroads when his two former accomplices in crime show up and threaten to reveal his identity.

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After reading this book I think I should have been born Jewish. This is the first book by Malamud I've read and I will now seek out more of his work to read. ( )

A novel about Jewish-gentile relations and morality -