City Boy

charming little ride....tales of coming of age in the East Bronx....and at summer camp in the Berkshires in the 1920's...of a bright, lazy, somewhat overweight 11-year-old boy trying to find his way in a world that focuses mostly on bluff, swagger and athletic prowess....none of which he currently possesses. Very honest accurate representation of how it feels at that age to not fit in....(coming from one who still lacks athletic prowess!). Fun up and down adventure of small victories and subsequent crises that always seemed to follow. Charming without being silly...we see him begin to encounter the mysteries of the opposite sex, notice his parent's humanity, and find his moral center in an often unmoral world. It felt very real. Enjoyed show more very much. show less

Someone described this as the 1920s Tom Sawyer with a young Jewish boy from Bronx as the protagonist. That's exactly what it is. Yet while Herbie Bookbinder is closer in time to Tom Sawyer than to today's youth (or even my youth), he is a fully modern character. I laughed at loud at times, and thoroughly enjoyed reading it. Is it great lit? Probably not, perhaps too derivative. But the characters are thoroughly enjoyable and Wouk tells a great story.

Herman Wouk perfectly captures the voice of an eleven-year-old boy, his motivations, and the way he relates to his fellows. The story rings true in the same way that Tom Sawyer did, but with the action shifted to the Bronx, New York, in 1928.

Paramount in this book are the characters, adults and children alike, not to mention the horse, who leap from the page regardless of how long or short a time they spend on it. Herbie's adventures are episodic, but fit together beautifully to form a complete story. Young readers will likely enjoy Herbie's adventures while skimming past the "adult" subplot, but adult readers will appreciate seeing how Herbie's behavior changes and affects the adult world.

There are a few uncomfortable passages for the show more modern reader that reveal the novel to be very much a product of the late 1940s. These may alienate some readers, but it is important for them to be there lest the same mistakes be forgotten, then repeated.

A thoroughly charming book. show less

Delightful "memoir" of the stereotypical fat bookish boy on his first trip to summer camp, but with a more-happy-than-not ending. Gives a great feel for Jewish NYC in the Twenties. Not as dense or dramatic as his "The Caine Mutiny" but with the same craft and insightfulness.
A good "story with a moral" for younger readers, but enough fun and excitement to keep them interested despite the unfamiliar setting.

Recent review here:
https://jewishreviewofbooks.com/articles/5339/revisiting-herman-wouks-city-boy/

Someone described this as the 1920s Tom Sawyer with a young Jewish boy from Bronx as the protagonist. That's exactly what it is. Yet while Herbie Bookbinder is closer in time to Tom Sawyer than to today's youth (or even my youth), he is a fully modern character. I laughed at loud at times, and thoroughly enjoyed reading it. Is it great lit? Probably not, perhaps too derivative. But the characters are thoroughly enjoyable and Wouk tells a great story.

City Boy is light reading, bearing little resemblance to Wouk’s more famous works such as The Caine Mutiny or Winds of War. Wouk’s roots as a comedy writer (The Fred Allen Show; David Freedman’s “Joke Factory”) are apparent in this extremely funny (although sometimes poignant) tale.

City Boy is Wouk’s second novel, set in 1928. We follow Herbie Bookbinder, a small-for-his-age (and very small-for–his-grade), morally ambiguous, 11-year-old Jewish boy, from his home in the Bronx to summer camp in the Berkshires, in his ever-escalating attempts to impress a pretty, fickle, red-haired 11-year-old girl.

Many people can identify with Herbie in one way or another, as the un-athletic “smart” kid, as a summer-camp attendee, or as show more a fellow Bronxite. show less

audiosync free title 2022 (13 hrs)

children's middlegrade classic humorous fiction (chubby 11 y.o. Jewish boy in the 1928 Bronx attending primarily Jewish public school and nonsecular summer camp)

Herbie reminds me very much of Ralphie Parker a la "A Christmas Story", with each episode of his life alternating between lucky breaks and unfortunate mishaps--lots of humorous encounters with bullies and fickle young girls, plus business drama with Herbie's dad's work situation.