- Hardcover: 400 pages
- Publisher: Farrar, Straus & Giroux Inc (Sep 1997)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0374126399
- ISBN-13: 978-0374126391
- Product Dimensions: 23.1 x 15.7 x 5.3 cm
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,219,482 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- See Complete Table of Contents
| ||||||||||||||||||
Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Plus, get an extra £5 Gift Certificate when you trade in books worth £10 or more before June 30, 2012. Visit the Books Trade-In Store for more details. |
Product details |
More About the Author
Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
Due to his formidable skill as a novelist--and to the fact that one of his novels, The Natural, had the good or bad luck to be repackaged as a large-screen vehicle for Robert Redford--Bernard Malamud hasn't always been recognized as a short-story master of the first rank. As this collection demonstrates once and for all, he is. The anthology pieces, such as "The Magic Barrel", "The Silver Dish" or "Rembrandt's Hat" would be more than enough to place the author in the pantheon. But the 54 stories gathered here represent an astonishing abundance of narrative smarts and brilliant, Yiddish- accented prose. Malamud's heroes meet all manner of misfortune--there's something distinctly Job- like about even his most contented characters (a typical one has "a sort of indigenous sadness [that] hung on or around him")--yet the author suffuses their woes with gentle comedy. And while Jews occupy centre stage in almost every tale, they are universal rather than parochial figures: as the beleaguered tailor in "Angel Levine" triumphantly informs his wife, "Believe me, there are Jews everywhere."
--This text refers to the
Paperback
edition.
Suggested Tags from Similar Products(What's this?)Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product)
|
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
Customer Reviews
There are no customer reviews yet on Amazon.co.uk.
5 star
4 star
3 star
2 star
1 star
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
16 reviews
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Master of the Short Story
15 Oct 2006
Format:Hardcover
Called the modern master of the short story, Malamud has won two National Book Awards and the Pulitzer Prize (for the Fixer). The Complete Stories is a collection of short stories -- bound by a central theme. All are about individuals faced with moral decisions or confronted by societal limitations. You'll find that the stories in this book highlight the mundane and the absurd.
I was touched by the characters in the book because they are so human. I was amused, angered, and felt great pity for these fictional people. I rarely read fiction, so few authors seem to me able to "get it right". Malamud has it right. The characters react like normal people. They are alive with conflict. Like the rest of us, they sometimes make poor choices and may live unfulfilled lives.
One of my favorite stories is Riding Pants. In "Riding Pants" we meet Herm, who is the sixteen year old son of a butcher. Herm lives alienated by the world around him. Riding is the only joy in his life. Like a small child's security blanket, his riding pants bring him solace. Frustrated by his son's refusal to accept his world, his father takes a drastic step.
If you want fairy tale endings and beautiful people riding into the sunset, this may not be the best book for you. If you want to taste life from the eyes of another, perhaps discovery a truth about yourself. Read The Complete Stories. This is an excellent book!!!
I was touched by the characters in the book because they are so human. I was amused, angered, and felt great pity for these fictional people. I rarely read fiction, so few authors seem to me able to "get it right". Malamud has it right. The characters react like normal people. They are alive with conflict. Like the rest of us, they sometimes make poor choices and may live unfulfilled lives.
One of my favorite stories is Riding Pants. In "Riding Pants" we meet Herm, who is the sixteen year old son of a butcher. Herm lives alienated by the world around him. Riding is the only joy in his life. Like a small child's security blanket, his riding pants bring him solace. Frustrated by his son's refusal to accept his world, his father takes a drastic step.
If you want fairy tale endings and beautiful people riding into the sunset, this may not be the best book for you. If you want to taste life from the eyes of another, perhaps discovery a truth about yourself. Read The Complete Stories. This is an excellent book!!!
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Beautiful short story anthology
17 April 2006
Format:Paperback
I heard about the writer during the Nextbook.org book readings in Chicago. I have never read any of Malamud's work previously. Curious to learn about how he perceived life of immigrants, Jewish underclass and life struggles in general, I have decided to read his complete collection of short stories. It was pure delight to read these short stories not only because of their intense content, bu also because it gave complete insight of the Malamud's growth as a writer. One can see how his writing and style is changing and evolving over time. It becomes better and better with writer's personal maturity. I would stongly recommend this writer to anyone who wants to read about Jewish culture, learn about life of immigrants in the period between 1930s-1960s. Now I am looking forward to read Malamud's other work.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
A very good story writer
27 Dec 2004
Format:Paperback
Malamud has written some of the most noted stories of the second half of the American twentieth century. His famous 'The Magic Barrel'with its broken characters broken Yiddish sufferings disappointments and strange poetic intensity is perhaps the most well- known and emblematic of his general approach as a writer. Malamud is a man of the precise word, the carefully drawn artistic touch, the minor note of beauty which suddenly pains. Malamud is the person of sympathy with the sufferings of his own characters, and with the ideology that this suffering is what makes them most human . In another sense the suffering is what defines the Jews and is where Judaism too becomes emblematic of what humanity is. Malamud travels in different worlds for his stories in the Italy of Fidelman , and in the far off Western regions of America where Jews are very rare and distant strangers. Of the many different kinds of encounters in his story he makes his own poetic universe, touched with small irony, and with a Yiddish bittersweetness.
These are stories for those who love the high art of small tones and intuitions of one of the finest story- writers of his time.
These are stories for those who love the high art of small tones and intuitions of one of the finest story- writers of his time.
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
|
|
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
