Synopses & Reviews
Norman Moonbloom is a loser, a dropout without even the determination of a genuine deadbeat. His brother, a slum landlord, hires him to collect rent from his tenants. But as Moonbloom makes the rounds among them ? as he hears the complaints, and then the stories, of a wildly varied and brilliantly described assortment of urban characters ? he finds himself drawn back into the circus of life, with all its unforeseen responsibilities, in spite of his best judgment. This astonishing comic tour de force from the acclaimed author of
The Pawnbroker is a neglected masterpiece of 1960s America.
Review:
"Wallant writes gorgeously, with prose that never overreaches, even as it leans toward the theatrical — particularly in his tenants' frequent soliloquies. This is one area where Wallant's work departs from that of his young contemporaries, whose muscular naturalism he otherwise shares. His characters swing wildly between anguish and joy and are unafraid to let everyone know about it, clearly calling for help in many ways simultaneously. Wallant's prose shifts seamlessly between the spare, the ribald, and the relatively epic....The novel is sad, without being downbeat, and it teems with ambivalence."
Dave Eggers, Salon.com
Synopsis:
Norman Moonbloom is a loser, a drop-out who can't even make it as a deadbeat. His brother, a slumlord, hires him to collect rent in the buildings he owns in Manhattan. Making his rounds from apartment to apartment, Moonbloom confronts a wildly varied assortment of brilliantly described urban characters, among them a gay jazz musician with a sideline as a gigolo, a Holocaust survivor, and a brilliant young black writer modeled on James Baldwin. Moonbloom hears their cries of outrage and abuse; he learns about their secret sorrows and desires. And as he grows familiar with their stories, he finds that he is drawn, in spite of his best judgment, into a desperate attempt to improve their lives.
Edward Lewis Wallant's astonishing comic tour de force is a neglected masterpiece of 1960s America.
Synopsis:
From the author of 'The Human Season' and 'The Pawnbroker'.
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