Gimpel the Fool and Other Stories

I adored Gimpel and found that he was no fool, but rather admirable in his ability to care for those around him, even children that weren t his own I found his qualities to be endearing and the only fools were the ones who chose to treat him bad.

i liked it so much i named my dog after the author.

Gimpel the Fool and Other Stories was originally published in 1953, and contains ten short stories rife with Singer s unique fictional voice full of meditations on mortality, good, and evil, Jewish mythology, and an ability to communicate truths in the folksy, simple yet extraordinarily sophisticated way that characterizes these parabolic stories Singer s protagonists live in the Old World in every sense a world inhabited with dybbuks, qlippoth, and golem who are every bit as real as anyone else [...]

You don t have to be Jewish to enjoy this charming collection of tales about the Yiddish speaking Jews of Poland The work is profoundly American The stories were written in New York at a time when there were Jews in the city than in Israel and Yiddish speakers than there had ever been anywhere in the same place Singer wrote these sweet stories for his fellow New Yorkers who felt tremendous nostalgia for the Jewish communities that they had left behind Gimpel the Fool has all the delights you w [...]

The Little Shoemakers, with its wholesomeness, remains one of the finest Singer stories I have read It has the ease and majesty of a classic novel, and it reaches, not for an immediate effect in its closure, but for an after effect that soothes the heart You feel content after reading it, and you want to revel in that feeling It is very easy to use the word feel good , but it will limit the effect to some storytelling gimmick or suggest some overt sentimentality that goes for titillating the rea [...]

.

Il presente libro una raccolta di racconti dell autore polacco ebreo, poi naturalizzato americano, Isaac B Singer, premio Nobel per la Letteratura.Dato che non posso scrivere un libro intero per commentare ogni racconto, cercher di dare un giudizio generale sui caratteri ricorrenti e che accomunano pressappoco tutti gli elementi di questa raccolta.I racconti sono indubbiamente permeati dalla cultura yiddish la cultura degli ebrei non cresciuti in Palestina e che per lo pi sono o erano distribuit [...]

The story Joy in this book is unforgettable, rich with spiritual meaning, about a rabbi whose children die, who lives in despair without faith for many years I read it many years ago, decided to use the book this semester in teaching RS 310 Religion Literature at California State University, Northridge.All the stories are fascinating puzzles, pieces of the human condition to ponder over and reflect upon Set in a small town in Poland before and after the Holocaust The question asked so often in t [...]

Gimpel the Fool made the reputation of Isaac Singer, however, it is a regular story about village fool I didn t read it very carefully But The Cafeteria is the best short story I ve read so far It has all the elements I ve considered valuable for modernists literature Few people can read it in Yiddish, but the translation is one of the best Well, in this sense, Yiddish Literature needs a reviving For sure If I would call it the essence of Jewish Lit in stead of the state of Israel But past is th [...]

Singer is just a great storytellerese stories haven t aged much because they take place in some unknown time full of she demons and dybbuks, where Satan is always trying to get you.

I can t get over this book.There s so much in it you have to dwell about it for months.

Och, dat was heerlijk.Singers stijl voelt bijna oraal aandoend Singer neemt tegenover je plaats, leunt naar voren, kijkt je aan met zijn glunderende oogjes en zegt, Luister eens wat ik je te vertellen heb De verhalen zijn prachtig, mystiek, menselijk Ik kon me zelf enorm identificeren met het titelverhaal, waarin er schandelijk misbruik wordt gemaakt van de goedgelovige Gimpl, maar Gimpl zelf besluit er boven te staan hij ziet geen nut in een leven waarin hij niet alles kan geloven Van Die ziet [...]

I enjoyed this collection of short stories, my first time to read Bashevis Singer Published in the early 1950s, the stories mostly take place in small Jewish Polish villages during the interwar period, though one or two of them make reference to the Second World War It is a world of rabbis, shoemakers, small town merchants, bums, cheating wives, imps, and devils Reading this collection felt like a real throwback to a time and a place that no longer exists, and it is an interesting place to visit [...]

I had picked this up at a used book shop on a whim While I enjoyed reading it, and really liked the author s writing style, I was not totally snagged by the stories themselves For the most part, I found them to be a little depressing A gullible fool is cuckolded by his wife A devil seduces a vain young woman A notorious wife killer marries a husband killer A shoemaker s sons grow up and move away to America Etc etc.However, I rather enjoyed getting a bite sized glimpse of Jewish culture pre WWII [...]

a great set of timeless stories.

I thank the good timing of possessing some familiarity with Hebrew Bible before reading Isaac B Singer s stories These two sides of Jewish life the biblical, terrifying and glorious under the presence of an all powerful and wrathful God, the other quotidian, mundane and ignominious human living with devils and imps come together in these stories If Flannery O Connor gave us southern American gothic informed by the author s Catholicism, then Isaac B Singer offered an aperture to another, even re [...]

This story is labeled as a parable, though I am not certain it fits that genre, I think perhaps it would be better as a fairy tale, as it requires a greater level of willingness to suspend disbelief I liked the writing and the layout of the story was good, but I did not like the protagonist It may be stated that Gimpel is an example of the dangers of taking all that is told to you as true, and applying unquestioning faith to fallible people as well as to religion, but I feel that there is to hi [...]

These well told stories instantly plunge one into the shtetls of old Poland Alas, the puritanical, superstitious, and socially constricted nature of that world is offered up without critique, or even comment, which I found unpleasant By the end of the book I could really see why my grandparents renounced their religion and turned bolshevik.

Gimpel the Fool and Other Stories was an interesting foray into Singer s writing With a heavy focus on Jewish traditions and folklore against a Polish backdrop, Singer focuses mainly on the seven deadly sins, including gluttony, pride, and avarice I ll need to think on the overall experience of reading his work, and will return with a fleshed out review shortly.

I only bothered with Gimpel the Fool to be honest and it was a charming little story indeed Better still was listening to its audio version in the quiet moments tonight I do prefer ones which leave us with remembering a moral code or two to abide by if you re one such as I, yes, you will be pleasantly entertained.

Absolutely adored this I adore Singer s writing There was one story that I wasn t overly fond of but every single other one was fantastic Talent just flows from each of the books I ve read by Singer so far I can t wait to read

Prvi put itao kao srednjo kolac, sada jo bolje leglo mada sam i tada u ivao u ovoj knjizi.

E dunque questo il modo, passeggiare tra le bancarelle di libri usati una Domenica mattina d autunno, in cui si incontrano persone nuove Se la persona di cui si sta parlando uno scrittore e se l incontro la scrittura di un libro, senza dubbio La famiglia Singer quanto mai celeberrima qui su Anobii sempre stata per me qualcosa di confuso e problematico, perch sia perch i due fratelli hanno nomi dal suono molto simile Israel Yehoshua ed Isaac Bashevis , sia perch il pi celebre nel mondo dei lettor [...]

Quando ero piccola adoravo farmi raccontare da mia nonna e dalla mia prozia le storie di quando erano piccole e le storie sui giganti, su Pippetto, su Mariedda e una serie di altre storie intrinsecamente legate alla mia terra e alla mia gente xD storie su un mondo un po fantastico e soprattutto ormai dimenticato, da cui trapelava la povert , l attaccamento alla terra e una religiosit infarcita con tocchi di superstizione Ecco, leggere questi racconti di Singer mi ha fatto provare le stesse emozi [...]

If you like Winesburg, Ohio I think you can also like this one It has a modernist twist to itself, a bit of grotesqueness, and a lot of irony I would suggest it to the readers who don t like to get all the information served on their plate, and prefer to self explore.

I ran across Gimpel in a discussion on TV by a doctor who had been convicted of illegal opioid prescription He described himself as Gimpel When I read the story I thought the doctor was a fool, but not like Gimpel OK story Not a fan of this author.

Requires significant life experience to better appreciate Last story is a hauntingly beautiful foil to the first story.

I was able to read only the first two stories of this collection before I lost my copy But a few months past and I found another, cheaper and in better condition Naturally, I took it for a sign how could I not In the world of this book everything is a sign, and things still have magic to them It s a beautiful simple world, Eastern Europe like most of us have never seen a lost world, a farming world, and, what s , a Jewish world This book, it speaks of a time when Yiddish thrived as a language of [...]

Bundle of short stories so this book has been read off and on and thus takes a while to finish up The stories in this book often describe some mediocre characters and sometimes reward them with a happy ending even though they just following simple creeds in their life time Sometimes some short stories include demon and imp seducing characters and lead them into infernaloften wondered what s the meaning behind these stories or it s just pleasure watching them fallor it s just the author trying to [...]

The audiobook version I checked out of the Chicago Public Library woot has only four stories, read by Theodore Bikel who has performed Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof the most times of any performer , so you know the readings are appropriately Old Worldy The four stories are1 Gimpel the Fool about a baker who believes everything everyone says until he can t take it any, and decides to take revenge by urinating in the bread until he relents and goes back to his credulous ways Funny note in the origi [...]