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bobbo49's review against another edition
5.0
Short stories, set in New York and Italy, about the struggles of life from the perspectives of a variety of working class immigrants. Beautifully written, powerfully told, wonderfully authentic.
cmsleaps's review against another edition
4.0
A brilliant collection of stories. "The Mourners" is especially haunting.
kscheffrahn's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
blacklake's review
4.0
I really enjoyed this collection of short stories. There is a Jewish element to most of them. Malamud is generous with his ideas and characters--I can easily imagine any one of these expanded to a novel, and I admire how he is able to resolve each story enough to mean something, but to leave it open-ended enough to keep me thinking. All I knew about the author was that he'd written "The Natural"--this book made me want to find out more.
ashleyreadstoomuch's review
3.0
I liked this reading of the short story. It was interesting, and I appreciated that it was a quick read. However, there was a part of me that wanted more out of it. It wasn't my favourite thing that I read. However, it's definitely worth checking out.
shannak's review
3.0
Listened through the AudioSync summer reading 2021 audiobooks.
It was a humorous story, and well-read and performed, but abrupt.
It was a humorous story, and well-read and performed, but abrupt.
alexismk's review against another edition
5.0
What I liked best was the sense of living 60 years ago or so, that the references and common practices in the world were a bit different than today. Still with these folks living in the past, they are universally just like we are, their worries are so specific and exactly like ours. I am not explaining this well, but imagine that I was able to think just like the tailor Manischevitz, and wonder if the earth was giving me a test. Fantastic stuff.
sonshinelibrarian's review against another edition
2.0
I don't know what I think. I'm beginning to pretty much know that I just don't really care for short stories. I am a novel kind of girl and I can't write them very well and I don't really like most that I read. I enjoyed parts of this. We had to read four of them for class and I decided to finish off the rest so I could mark it as read for my year goal :) But I'm not really sure what I think about the collection as a whole.