Customer Reviews (1)

No one Writes a short story better...
...Singer explores not only human loneliness but also the human comedy in his short works..the theme of course centers around love, a love that transports you far away, washing you with a tide of emotions...though these tales drawn from the old traditionary school of thought, celebrate the dignity, mastery and unexpected joy of living with moreart and fervor than any other writer...

This classic collection explores the varieties of wisdom gained with age and especially those that teach us how to love....the love that ages and matures...just like old wine tasting even better day by day, year after year and tear after tear...these are tales of curious marriages, of divorces, of love curses, bravery and loneliness... ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Incredibly well written
I. Bashevis Singer, one of the best writters of all times shows us how he managed to survive from the dangers of nazi europe and come to the U.S. What he did after that, as a writter, we already know!

Interesting - certainly a good read
I've read several of Singer's books and I'm not at all disappointed with this one, as some other contributors seem to be.This book is certainly a good and very entertaining biographic novel, and I would strongly recommend it to anybody interested in I B Singer. The five stars go to his stories, where anybody attempting to read this author should start...

He is lost , and not only in America.....
This was my first work of Singer that I read. I chose him and this particular title given the fact of the Nobel fame, Polish - Jewish origin of the author and topic of the book- I wasinterested in his descriptions of "love", and (after spending only 7 years in US myself and coming from Poland ) retrospectives on " exile".

Unfrotunately in my eyes Singer fails -

As the writer- his style - especially in the first part delaing with the recollections of childhood and religious upbringing , home schooling- is very repetitious and boring.The remmainig of the book has a better plot and reads well.

As a historian/philosopher- it was good to see some objective remarks, yet he gives in a few times into fake thinking of Jewish superiority over "naive" Slavik nations or quoting false statements about "Pilsudski The fascists". He has courage to observe and point out repetitevely the stupidity of Jews getting self sloughtered by the Stalin's regime, yet he never bluntly calls them naive...He fails to go one step beyond "usual" in distinguishing ( or rather not distinguishing) between the Jew from a Gentile( "a Jew is beeing a Jew by a virtue of not beeing a Gentile).He fails to say : We are all the same....

As a person- when time after time describes relationships with woman that suspisciously always tell him at the begginning of the relationship about not wanting the marriage, children, and time and time again HE CHOSE TO BELIEVE THEM,and woman of his life change their mind . Is this "love" that proudly put on the cover of the book?
There is nothing that can defend him - no antisemitism of pre war Poland, no semi-depression and nihilism of his day to day life.
The respect is lost.No more Singer for me. ... Read more

Product Description
The mean and ugly emperor declares that evil and ugliness are to be worshipped by everyone but cannot banish the appreciation of beauty and goodness in his kingdom. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

The Yiddish language and its lost world
Singer opens the speech with a line in Yiddish. He stands before the Nobel Prize award audience as the representative of a civilization, a world, the world of the Yiddish speaking Jews of Eastern Europe which was destroyed by Evil. He speaks with his characteristic bluntness of his connection to the language he struggles to keep alive. He speaks of the Literature he loves and what is great in that Literature. He speaks of storytelling and character, and of the gift of entertaining others.
Here is some of what he has to say about the Yiddish he so loves.

"To me the Yiddish language and the conduct of those who spoke it are identical. One can find in the Yiddish tongue and in the Yiddish spirit expressions of pious joy, lust for life, longing for the Messiah, patience and deep appreciation of human individuality. There is a quiet humor in Yiddish and a gratitude for every day of life, every crumb of success, each encounter of love. The Yiddish mentality is not haughty. It does not take victory for granted. It does not demand and command but it muddles through, sneaks by, smuggles itself amidst the powers of destruction, knowing somewhere that God's plan for Creation is still at the very beginning."

This is a specially moving statement by one of modern Literature's greatest writers.
... Read more

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A young orphan's life is changed when the angel he meets in the forest gives him an amulet that will fulfill every wish. ... Read more

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A devout Jew brings the word of God to the pagan Mazovia in Poland, helps abolish human sacrifice, and unites the people. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (1)

awesome 70s miami beach photo album
i bought this book at my high school reunion -- miami beach high school.i remember photographer andy sweet, one of the two outstanding photographers.each page brings back a poignant memory -- high school, my grandparents, collins avenue, the beach, the smiling and the sad old people in the once fabulous, then shabby art deco hotels.a beautiful, sentimental, wonderful tribute to "the beach". ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A wonderful and sensitive retelling of the Sodom and Gomorrah story

I.B. Singer manages to capture the essence of the evil mentality of the population of Sodom. Since it's a children's book he leaves out the parts about Lot offering to toss his virgin daughters out to the randy mob of sodomites and the part about Lot's daughters getting him drunk and committing incest with him. Instead he focuses on how badly the citizens of Sodom treated each other as well as visitors, their cruelty and dishonesty. Their failure to "love your neighbor as yourself" is the real essence of the story. The illustrations are also excellent.

... Read more