FictionLove and ObstaclesAleksandar Hemon started writing English in his 20s. A decade later, he's a master. Reasons for and Advantages of BreathingLydia Peelle spins strange and wonderful magic from America's rural outback. My RevolutionsHari Kunzru's attempt to make 60s terrorism relevant suffers from tediousness. 36 Arguments for the Existence of GodRebecca Newberger Goldstein "fangs" away enjoyably on the subject of God. Little Hands ClappingDan Rhodes runs riot in this suicide-loving, penis-munching satire of all things macabre. Point OmegaDon DeLillo mixes Iraq, Hitchcock, and intimations of doomsday in his dubious Omega brew. The Stories of Breece D'J PancakePancake's stories continue sparkling long after his death by suicide in 1979. Monsieur PainBolaño takes his magic and alchemy to prewar Paris. Any Human FaceCharles Lambert's new novel puts a modest man on a collision course with Italy's dark side. The Concert TicketOlga Grushin confirms her status as one of the best young writers in the English language. |
 BOOK REVIEW
Jews Without Money
By Michael Gold
Carroll & Graff, 1996, . 309 pages The title says it all: part autobiography, part Marxist screed, this fictional autobiography, first published in 1930, chronicles the life of the Gold family on New York's Lower East Side in the decades around 1900. The cast of characters is a who's who of seedy city life: schnorrers, prostitutes and slumlords. Gold's prose is primordial, stripped to the bone, yet the story takes unexpectedly tender twists, especially when relating the European childhood of the narrator's parents. At times he seems to have forgotten why they had emigrated in the first place. The book's message is clear, however: America has defeated the old-time religion of the author's immigrant parents and has replaced it with the God of Capitalism. Instead praying for the Messiah, Gold's protagonist lyrically pines for the coming of the Workers' Revolution. Take it or leave it, it's worth reading for the punchy prose. With an introduction by Alfred Kazin. Reviewed by Marc Alan Di Martino
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July 29, 2010 | Rome, Italy | Partly Cloudy, 27°C
