The Assistant
Bernard Malamud. Jewish Contemporary Classics, $38.5 (0pp) ISBN 978-1-893079-01-4
This new specialty-interest audio publisher is launching its line with two strong titles in addition to this one: Betrothed by S.Y. Agnon, read by Peter Waldren, and Miss America, 1945: Bess Myerson and the Year that Changed Our Lives by Susan Dworkin, read by Bess Myerson and Adam Grupper. Known especially for the craft of his short stories, Malamud (The Fixer; The Natural) published this novel in 1957. Frank Alpine is an Italian-American drifter who lands a job working for a humble Jewish grocer in Brooklyn. When he falls in love with the storekeeper's daughter, he is forced to reexamine his moral and spiritual beliefs. Guidall, one of audio's finest narrators, extracts a strong sense of atmosphere from Malamud's richly descriptive language. He throws himself into the many charged dialogue scenes--complete with the ethnic accents required--expressing pathos and humility without overdramatizing. (Sept.)
Details
Reviewed on: 04/03/2000
Genre: Fiction
Hardcover - 246 pages - 978-0-374-10644-7
Hardcover - 337 pages - 978-0-7838-0364-7
Hardcover - 216 pages - 978-0-19-561406-0
MP3 CD - 978-1-5012-1520-9
Mass Market Paperbound - 978-0-451-01514-3
Mass Market Paperbound - 297 pages - 978-0-380-51474-8
Mass Market Paperbound - 978-0-451-02215-8
Mass Market Paperbound - 978-0-451-03398-7
Open Ebook - 264 pages - 978-1-4668-0500-2
Other - 360 pages - 978-1-78239-354-2
Paperback - 246 pages - 978-0-374-50484-7
Paperback - 256 pages - 978-0-06-095830-5
Paperback - 978-0-380-72085-9
Vinyl-bound - 978-1-893079-21-2
