The Fixer

After reading over a hundred pages in Norman Cohn s The Pursuit of the Millennium, which is in large part about the horrid pogroms unleashed on Europe s Jews in the Middle Ages, I thought The Fixer would be a compatible co read The novel is set in Russia between the end of the Russo Japanese War 1905 and the start of the Bolshevik Revolution 1917 The Fixer tells the story of Yakov Bok, a Jew dwelling in a Russian shtetl 30 versts from Kiev who tries to work as a general handyman, a fixer But the [...]

I am going to start with some quotes Taste them, enjoy them and then roll them around in your head If I have any philosophy , said Yakov Bok, it is that life could be better than it is One thing I ve learned , he thought, there s no such thing as an unpolitical man, especially a Jew You can t be one without the other, that s clear enough You can t sit still and see yourself destroyed Yakov reflects as he goes to his trial, What is it Spinoza says If the state acts in ways that are abhorrent to h [...]

Un caso Dreyfus in salsa russa.Pubblicato nel 1966, L uomo di Kiev ripercorre un tragico caso realmente accaduto in Russia nel 1911.E l epoca pre rivoluzionaria un fermento di movimenti incitano a rovesciare il potere imperiale e Nicola II difende l autorit zarista con provvedimenti sempre pi reazionari view spoiler Il protagonista de L uomo di Kiev Yakov Bok la cui storia si dipana su tre scenari dapprima il villaggio di provincia dove Yakov vive con la moglie svolgendo l attivit di tuttofare.O [...]

A huge disappointment as I d briefly christened Malamud My Favorite Author after having recently read The Assistant and several short stories The Angel Levine This is the book that won Malamud the Nobel, and I had to wonder why It s ideological, heavy handed, a hammer on your skull, bald faced allegory, and miserable to read, pages and pages of suffering I know there s a grand point here, and it has something to do with the philosophy of Spinoza which I haven t read , God s betrayal of the Jews [...]

Tu sei ci che vuoi essereL uomo di Kiev vinse il Pulitzer e il National Book Award, il secondo per Malamud dopo quello ottenuto per i racconti superlativi de Il Barile Magico Ed un romanzo eccezionale, rappresenta una vetta sublime e inimitabile nel mondo della letteratura contemporanea Nel romanzo, sofferenza e umiliazione sono raccontate come condizioni universali e ineluttabili, il dolore si percepisce come una porta per la maturazione, il riscatto e la consapevolezza La tragedia individuale [...]

Nessun ebreo era innocente in uno stato corrotto ,che mostrava i segni della sua corruzione nella paura e nell odio La scrittura di Malamud la prima cosa che colpisce essenziale , quasi disadorna , eppure capace di rendere il lettore profondamente partecipe alla storia.La storia quella di Yakov Bok , la cui unica colpa di essere ebreo, dal momento in cui decide di lasciare il suo shtetl ,povero e abbandonato dalla moglie, per andare a Kiev.Atroci disgrazie si susseguiranno in una concatenazione [...]

Yakov Bok is non religious and apolitical He simply wants a better life He is slightly bitter that life gives him lemons but no sugar to make lemonade but that does not keep him from trying to improve He reads Spinoza to educate himself and moves to Kiev to start a better life He is a repairman aka a fixer Unfortunately, he is also a Jew in Tsarist Russia.I like Yakov He is Everyman He is not a hero nor a wise man But he is sincere and honest He is a basically honest man placed in an horrific si [...]

If I have any philosophy, it s that life could be better than it is What suffering has taught me is the uselessness of suffering What can I possibly add to this Read it for yourself I highly recommend it, but it may not be for the faint of heart.

Dio non ci vede e se ne infischia di noi Io il mio pezzo di pane lo voglio oggi, non in paradiso Una storia claustrofobica e interminabile di schiavit e ingiustizia, che decide di raccontare attraverso la porta sul retro il dramma della sopravvivenza ebraica Malamud, ebreo americano, sceglie infatti uno scenario meno noto per recriminare la persecuzione novecentesca del proprio popolo, addossando la colpa di questa storia tragica al mondo, un mondo senza protagonisti o nomi propri.Nel 1911 a Kie [...]

In chains all that was left of freedom was life, just existence but to exist without choice was the same as death.

What is victory, but a victory in the heart What is the greatest freedom, but the freedom of the mind In the Fixer, Yakov Bok is a man accused of a brutal crime, and is forced to see new depths of human degradation every day during his imprisonment His suffering hasn t just begun then no, his suffering began since time immemorial, when his people were persecuted for their beliefs, and subjected to vile, violent and senseless racism not that racism has any sense in the first place In or out, it w [...]

Detenuto in attesa di giudizioHo intrapreso la lettura di questo romanzo con un eccesso di aspettative dovuto al collegamento di Malamud di cui non avevo mai letto nulla con Philip Roth che gli dedic un saggio e ne fu ispirato al punto di rappresentare in alcune sue opere un personaggio E.I Lonoff , anziano e ammirato scrittore, che alcuni ritennero ispirato alla figura di Malamud altri per dicono Bellow, altri ancora Henry Roth.Comunque sia, dopo la delusione iniziale per la distanza stilistica [...]

I personaggi dei romanzi di Malamud portano con s sempre un velo di malinconia e L uomo di Kiev non fa eccezione A differenza de Il commesso o Una nuova vita dove i protagonisti si muovevano nei sobborghi delle metropoli, qui le vicende si svolgono in Russia La Russia qui descritta la Russia zarista del 1911, la Russia antisemita Dalla Russia a Kiev conosciamo Yakov, un emigrato che giunge in Ucraina a cercare fortuna La vita a Kiev gli mostrer il lato pi crudele, arrivando anche a doversi difen [...]

kissing this book goodbye from my real book shelves probably my fault that I didn t quite see the artistic depths of the novel.The is a Pulitzer prize winning novel I found it a very depressing read It tells a story that, in its historical setting, is believable The main character is a victim of circumstances, for which we feel sympathy, and even horror when we reflect on the fate that befalls men But he is not actually very likable All of these things are good, or at worst, not bad I just skimm [...]

E un romanzo bellissimo, anche se apparentemente diverso dagli altri libri di Malamud, un po per l ambientazione, un po per il luogo cos soffocante e angusto in cui si svolge, quasi kafkiano Ma sempre quel senso di sconfitta che per non cela la dignit umana a essere narrato Pur nella profonda tristezza, infatti, nell ingiustizia, nell oppressione, l Uomo non risulta annichilito n perde se stesso, come invece sappiamo avviene in queste circostanze, grazie a Primo Levi o Boris Pahor Rimane dunque [...]

tamirci ba l yla dilimize evrilen bu kitab kafka ve canetti sevenlere neririm sahaflarda kiev deki adam olarak da aratabilirsiniz kafesin biri, bir ku aramaya kt f kafka

GOING BEYOND THE PALE I first read Bernard Malamud s The Fixer , which I picked up for the now unimaginable sum of ten pence in a charity shop, over a dozen years ago It struck me at that time as a powerful and even important work Reading it again so many years later I wondered how it would hold up.Yakov Bok, the Fixer of the title, is a free thinking Jew whose trade is that of a handyman from the Pale in the Ukraine where Jews are legally allowed to reside in the last years of the Tsarist regim [...]

A poor handyman, Yakov, tries to make his way in life outside his Jewish settlement view spoiler He is used as a scapegoat for murder in politically unstable times Then he is mistreated in prison As Yakov is being driven to the courthouse, through a mob, the books ends hide spoiler The Fixer is a well written account of an innocent Jewish man persecuted in early 20th century Ukraine view spoiler Unpleasantly well crafted, the book ends abruptly with no closure whatsoever Guessing from the tone o [...]

Bernard Malamud s Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award winner is a nightmare rendered masterfully as art Yakov Bok s story is that of human dignity, and the search thereof even in the most indignant of circumstances According to Yakov, if he has a philosophy, it s that things in this world can be better And this perhaps is the book s greatest legacy In the insightful foreword by Jonathan Safran Foer, he says that the world is the broken thing and that everyone can be its fixer And though good [...]

I really enjoyed this story However, I wondered how it could be nominated and even win a Pulitzer because of one of the requisites for judging the book must be about life in the United States Ah, well.

Well that was depressing There may have been a time or two I have been this relieved that I have finally finished a book, but it hasn t happened often It was such a relief to close that book knowing I never have to open it again I know that The Fixer has won both the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize, just knowing that made me go and find out what it takes to win either of these awards and this is what I found just in case you re interested Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for distinguished f [...]

Review soon.

POGROM is the word which can give readers an idea of what this book is all about This means a planned killing of large numbers of people, especially Jews, usually done for reasons of race or religion In other words, it is synonymous with MASSACRE The book, therefore, deals with anti Semitism during Tsarist Russia beyond my knowledge of World History.This book breaks my heart and makes me feel for the protagonist, Yakov Bok, a Jewish fixer by trade, who dreamed to make something of himself by mov [...]

Brevi appunti su un libro bellissimo.Malamud inizia il romanzo con una sordina che gli impedisce quasi di parlare Tranne qualche sferzata brusca, attraverso le quali si snoda la vicenda, il tutto stretto dentro un rivolo leggerissimo d acqua Un rischio gigantesco Ma si percepisce che, nonostante la sordina, la melodia che suona in fondo qualcosa di struggente bellezza Le 400 pagine del romanzo viaggiano attraverso tre anni di vita, conducendoti nelle storture dell umano, nella capacit di crearsi [...]

THE FIXERSummer 2012TBR Busting 2012paperone pennypub 1966historical fictionRussia Kiev Jews anti semiticism protocols of zionAfter Japanese Russian war and leading up to Revolution Pulitzer prize for fictionMessianic symbolismOpening From the small crossed window of his room above the stable in the brickyard, Yakov Bok saw people in their long overcoats running somewhere early that morning, everybody in the same direction.Yesterday s read was set in Yalta Crimea 1911 Today s read is in Kiev 191 [...]

THE FIXER 1966 Bernard MalamudThis is probably Malamud s best known work, and was the winner of both the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize This is the first I ve read it since its publication in 1966 I was amazed at how much of the story stuck with me over the years The fixer was Yakov Bok, an itinerant Jewish handyman He was modeled after the real life character, Mendel Beiliss, who was arrested and falsely charged with the murder of a 12 year old boy in order to satisfy ritualistic re [...]

This book was definitely thought provoking and interesting, but it was depressing So depressing Every time there was a glimmer of hope, there was something to extinguish it It was hard to read in large chunks I don t think I can say I enjoyed reading it, but it sparked conversation with my husband and made me think about history and prejudice Worth reading, but a super downer.

In un paese malato ogni passo verso la guarigione un insulto per quelli che campano della sua malattia p 238 Se la situazione matura, quel che deve succedere aspetta solo che arrivi tu, per succedere p 243

Of all the novels I ve read in the last few years, the ones that could be termed Jewish American Fiction , the one I d say Malamud s The Fixer most resembles is Jerzy Kosinski s The Painted Bird.Both of the novels are written in a style so earnest and even a little antiquated that it s almost too much for their respective pages There s a gradualness to the proceedings, an iceberg like slowness that lends both stories a heightened sense of acute dread interspersed by jarring moments of both depra [...]

What a difficult book to read, and, I can only imagine, to write We start with the injustice of poverty and lack of opportunity in the shtetl and move almost directly into a variety of unjust accusations leveled against Yakov Bok, who has become a scapegoat for all the imagined evil deeds of all the Jews in Russia.Bok leaves the shtetl with hopes of a better life in Kiev At first, things look up for him Serendipity finds him a good job, and he is able to afford some books, and even put away some [...]