Synopses & Reviews
A true American classic, Bernard Malamud's The Assistant is acknowledged as one of the award-winning author's greatest works. In a novel distinguished by unparalleled emotional power and authenticity, Malamud draws a penniless Italian-American drifter with a troubled conscience and a violent personal history into the world of a Jewish grocer struggling to eke out a living in a crumbling Brooklyn neighborhood. In the despair -- and ultimately in the love -- of the grocer's beautiful but unfulfilled daughter, Frank Alpine finds the motivation to confront his past and seek his own redemption, even if it costs him everything he has gained.
Biting, witty, provocative, and sardonic, Bernard Malamud's The Natural is widely considered to be the premier baseball novel of all time. It tells the story of Roy Hobbs -- an athlete born with rare and wondrous gifts -- who is robbed of his prime playing years by a youthful indiscretion that nearly costs him his life. But at an age when most players are considering retirement, Roy reenters the game, lifting the lowly New York Knights from last place into pennant contention and becoming an instant hero in the process. Now all he has to worry about is the fixers, the boss, the slump, the jinx, the fans...and the dangerously seductive Memo Paris, the one woman Roy can't seem to get out of his mind.
Synopsis
A true American classic, Bernard Malamud's THE ASSISTANT is acknowledged as one of the award-wiing author's greatest works. In a novel distinguished by unparalleled emotional power and authenticity, Malamud draws a penniless Italian-American drifter with a troubled conscience an a violent personal history into the world of a Jewish grocer struggling to eke out a living in a crumbling Brooklyn neighborhood. In the despair--and ultimately in the love--of the grocer's beautiful but unfulfilled daughter, Frank Alpine finds the motivation to confront his past and seek his own redemption, even if it costs him everthing he has gained.
About the Author
Bernard Malamud was born to Russian immigrant parents in Brooklyn, New York, in 1914. His story collection, The Magic Barrel, won the National Book Award in 1958. The Fixer, a novel, won him another National Book Award in 1967, as well as the Pulitzer Prize. His other books include The Tenants, A New Life, Dubin's Lives, The Assistant, and The Natural, which was made into a highly successful motion picture directed by Barry Levinson and starring Robert Redford.