2012 Puddly Awards
 
 
Follow us on TwitterFollow us on FacebookFollow us on TumblrSubscribe to RSS


Recently Viewed clear list


Interviews | January 24, 2012

Jill Owens: IMG Ben Marcus: The Powells.com Interview



Ben MarcusBen Marcus's books The Age of Wire and String and Notable American Women were considered "experimental" fiction because of his unconventional use of... Continue »
  1. $18.17 Sale Hardcover add to wish list

    The Flame Alphabet

    Ben Marcus 9780307379375

spacer
Free Shipping!

Ships free on qualified orders.
$13.95
New Trade Paper
Ships in 1 to 3 days
Add to Wishlist
Available for In-store Pickup
in 7 to 12 days
Qty Store Section
8 Remote Warehouse Literature- A to Z
2 Remote Warehouse Literature- A to Z

This title in other editions

The Puttermesser Papers

by Cynthia Ozick

The Puttermesser Papers Cover

 

Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

With dashing originality and in prose that sings like an entire choir of sirens, Cynthia Ozick relates the life and times of her most compelling fictional creation. Ruth Puttermesser lives in New York City. Her learning is monumental. Her love life is minimal (she prefers pouring through Plato to romping with married Morris Rappoport). And her fantasies have a disconcerting tendency to come true — with disastrous consequences for what we laughably call "reality."

Puttermesser yearns for a daughter and promptly creates one, unassisted, in the form of the first recorded female golem. Laboring in the dusty crevices of the civil service, she dreams of reforming the city — and manages to get herself elected mayor. Puttermesser contemplates the afterlife and is hurtled into it headlong, only to discover that a paradise found is also paradise lost. Overflowing with ideas, lambent with wit, The Puttermesser Papers is a tour de force by one of our most visionary novelists.

Review:

"The finest achievement of Ozick's career...It has all the buoyant integrity of a Chagall painting." San Francisco Chronicle

Review:

"Fanciful, poignant...so intelligent, so finely expressed that, like its main character, it remains endearing, edifying, a spark of light in the gloom." The New York Times

Review:

"A crazy delight." The New York Time Book Review

Review:

"Brilliant on every page...This book leaves the reader in a trance of happiness." Carol Shields

Review:

"Deliciously comic and subtle...funny and cutting...[Ozick] turns a keen satire into a universal fable. Remarkable." New York Daily News

Review:

"Beautifully written...consistently witty, whimsical and uncompromising." Washington Post

Review:

"Puttermesser's life is strangely rich, wildly amusing, full of unexpected delights — and so is Ozick's book." Chicago Tribune

Review:

"With her fine gifts of drama, of detail, and her lively philosophical imagination, Cynthia Ozick has written an exemplary novel." Boston Book Review

Review:

"One of the finest and most imaginative writers of our time." St Louis Post-Dispatch

Review:

"A magician...a literary alchemist...brilliant." USA Today

Synopsis:

One of our most dazzlingly inventive novelists relates the life and times of her most compelling fictional creation, a character who suggests a brainy brainchild of Saul Bellow, Isaac Bashevis Singer, and George Eliot.

Ruth Puttermesser lives in New York, in whose dusty civil service she for a time labors. Her learning is monumental; her love life is minimal; and her idlest fantasies have a disconcerting tendency to burst forth into the real world. Thus, Puttermesser longs for a daughter and creates a female goleta from the earth of her potted plants. She dreams of civic reform and finds herself elected mayor. Puttermesser contemplates the afterlife and is hurried into it headlong, only to discover that paradise found is also paradise lost. Overflowing with ideas, lambent with wit, The Puttermesser Papers is a literary tour de force.

About the Author

Cynthia Ozick lives in Westchester County, New York.

Product Details

ISBN:
9780679777397
Author:
Ozick, Cynthia
Publisher:
Vintage Books USA
Author:
Ozick, Cynthia
Location:
New York :
Subject:
General
Subject:
Literary
Subject:
Fiction
Subject:
Humorous
Subject:
Jewish women
Subject:
New York
Subject:
Picaresque literature
Subject:
Women mayors
Subject:
Jewish women - New York (State) - New York -
Subject:
Literature-A to Z
Edition Description:
Trade paper
Series:
Vintage International
Series Volume:
no. 8
Publication Date:
19980631
Binding:
TRADE PAPER
Grade Level:
General/trade
Language:
English
Pages:
256
Dimensions:
8.08x5.31x.57 in. .48 lbs.

Other books you might like

  1. $17.75 Google eBooks add to wish list

    Approaching Eye Level

    Vivian Gornick 9780807070369
  2. $12.95 Google eBooks add to wish list

    Starting out in the Evening

    Brian Morton 9780547451596
  3. $2.95 Used Hardcover add to wish list

    Bech at Bay: A Quasi-Novel

    John Updike 9780375403682
  4. $1.98 Used Trade Paper add to wish list

    The Prince of West End Avenue

    Alan Isler 9780140245141
  5. $8.00 Used Hardcover add to wish list

    Mr Sammlers Planet

    Saul Bellow 2221112547294
  6. $13.50 New Trade Paper add to wish list

    The Wedding Jester

    Steve Stern 9781555972905

Related Aisles

The Puttermesser Papers New Trade Paper
0 stars - 0 reviews
$13.95 In Stock
Product details 256 pages Vintage Books USA - English 9780679777397 Reviews:
"Review" by , "The finest achievement of Ozick's career...It has all the buoyant integrity of a Chagall painting."
"Review" by , "Fanciful, poignant...so intelligent, so finely expressed that, like its main character, it remains endearing, edifying, a spark of light in the gloom."
"Review" by , "A crazy delight."
"Review" by , "Brilliant on every page...This book leaves the reader in a trance of happiness."
"Review" by , "Deliciously comic and subtle...funny and cutting...[Ozick] turns a keen satire into a universal fable. Remarkable."
"Review" by , "Beautifully written...consistently witty, whimsical and uncompromising."
"Review" by , "Puttermesser's life is strangely rich, wildly amusing, full of unexpected delights — and so is Ozick's book."
"Review" by , "With her fine gifts of drama, of detail, and her lively philosophical imagination, Cynthia Ozick has written an exemplary novel."
"Review" by , "One of the finest and most imaginative writers of our time."
"Review" by , "A magician...a literary alchemist...brilliant."
"Synopsis" by , One of our most dazzlingly inventive novelists relates the life and times of her most compelling fictional creation, a character who suggests a brainy brainchild of Saul Bellow, Isaac Bashevis Singer, and George Eliot.

Ruth Puttermesser lives in New York, in whose dusty civil service she for a time labors. Her learning is monumental; her love life is minimal; and her idlest fantasies have a disconcerting tendency to burst forth into the real world. Thus, Puttermesser longs for a daughter and creates a female goleta from the earth of her potted plants. She dreams of civic reform and finds herself elected mayor. Puttermesser contemplates the afterlife and is hurried into it headlong, only to discover that paradise found is also paradise lost. Overflowing with ideas, lambent with wit, The Puttermesser Papers is a literary tour de force.

spacer
spacer
  • back to top
Follow us on...


Powell's City of Books is an independent bookstore in Portland, Oregon, that fills a whole city block with more than a million new, used, and out of print books. Shop those shelves — plus literally millions more books, DVDs, and eBooks — here at Powells.com.