The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz (Between the Covers Classics)

Rating:
Summary: Hilarious, thoughtful, and ultimately quite sad.
Review: I chose to read this book for several reasons: least importantly, I had to choose a topic for a school project; I learned to read with the aid of Mordecai Richlers "Jacob Two-Two" books, so I had a fondness for his style of writing; I lived in Montreal for eight of my eighteen years; perhaps most importantly, I read it because I had heard it was not a book to be missed. I was not disappointed.

Duddy Kravitz is ambition personified, an almost unbelievably driven young man. As all the other reviews say, he casts aside decency, friendship, and something akin to love to achieve his stated goal. The thrust of the story, however, or at least my own understanding of it, is that Duddy never realizes what he has done. Small flashes of emotion show through sometimes, but they are almost ruthlessly surpressed. It's almost as if he thinks that to be human is to be weak.

Duddy succeeds, because he can do nothing else. The price extolled by his own ambition is great, though, and it hurts intensely to realize that he doesn't even recognize what he has done.

Rough, well-written, and well worth reading.

Rating:
Summary: Irreverant humour and superb characterization and settings.
Review: I was first introduced to Mr. Richler's writing when I read "Duddy" in the '70's. Since then, and partly because of Duddy, I have enjoyed many of Richler's books. The irreverent humour, fully realized characterization and exotic Montreal and Quebec settings make this book riveting. Duddy, a young, almost tragically (except it's too funny) ambitious man, embodies all the tensions and pitfalls of scheming to make a buck.

Rating:
Summary: hilarious... but not funny!
Review: In a (1970) television interview Richler said that his best writing was the stuff that flowed out from him and did not require too much revision or re-writing. I think that a lot of that sort of "one-take" inspiration must have found its way into this fourth novel of his. As I read it, there was one word that kept recurring in my thoughts... "raw"! I don't think Richler is the type who had much use for a thesaurus in his study, and I say that in praise of his ability as a writer. Everything is just right up front and center with him, nothing embellished or re-written for the sake of eloquence. The result is sometimes brash, often vulgar... but all the while, it is very REAL and necessary to explain the impetuous character of Duddy. Very well written. Great bantering dialogue. Count how many times Richler puts the word "but" at the END of a sentence. It's bizarre.

This is a story of ambition run amok! A precocious upstart trying to satiate his obsessive perception of success. Duddy's particular obsession is this phrase that "a man without land is nobody!" Richler creates a fascinating (realistic, albeit despicable) character here in Duddy. There were a few redeeming moments, but most of the time I just wanted to strangle Duddy... in fact, my feelings for Duddy alternated between wanting to strangle him and then (next page) laugh at him. He's such a shyster! Often this story is hilarious, but it's really not funny. I see Duddy as a tragic figure. He consistently abuses the two people (Yvette and Virgil) who are trying the hardest to help him realize his dreams. Ultimately, Duddy has to face the fact that perhaps the only thing legendary about him are the stories that his father Max is already inventing down at Lou's Bagel and Lox Bar. There can only be one thing more miserable than someone who reaches his goals by trampling on others, and that is to find out after all the trampling... that you are no success story after all. In the end, Duddy can't even afford bus fare. He becomes a nobody... with land!

Rating:
Summary: a sad/funny look at an over-achieving flim-flam man (boy)
Review: Mordecai Richler is certainly one of Canada's best novelists. His caustic sense of humour, his self-deprecating look at life, and his sometimes thinly disguised autobiographical stories are always memorable. Imagine Joseph (Catch-22) Heller being from Montreal and you have Mordecai Richler.

Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz is one of Richler's earlier and better known (..thanks to the 1970s film adaptation) works. The story centers around a young Jewish teenager (Duddy), a very abrasive and aggressive boy, striving to make money in order to buy land (thinking, like his grandpa, that if you don't own land you ain't nuttin'). So Duddy gets into a strange, and hilarious, film-making business. His pushy and obnoxious behaviour both appalls and endears everyone he meets; I too was appalled and endeared. By the end of the book I felt I knew (but didn't like) Duddy.

While I did enjoy 'Duddy Kravitz' I have to say it certainly isn't Richler's best effort. I suggest Barney's Version, written some 30 years later, which demonstrates the author's abilities at his peak.

Bottom line: an endearing story of a lost youth in Montreal circa 1950. Fondly memorable.

Rating:
Summary: duddy-the little nietzsche boy!
Review: richler's work is, though spiced with ample dose of humour, is a painful portrayal of the ruthless nature of human ambitions. the young jewish,motherless urchin, duddy has only one goal before him, to emulate 'jerry dingleman'-the boywonder of st.urbain, montreal.duddy takes a materialist interpretation of his zeyda's profound words of wisdom, "a man without land is nobody.' this fires duddy, to embark on scheme after scheme, to pursue his goal of possessing a lake and the land surrounding it. for that he is shameless enough to forge the signature of epileptic friend and to crush the love of yvette, the all-giving french-canadian girl friend. duddy doesn't believe in gew-gentile relationship either, after seeing how his doctor-brother was harrassed and hounded by the gentile circle. he is the jewish-avtar of nietzschen neo-man , one who is devoid of feelings like love and shame. duddy hardly bothers about the fate of ladders which he use to climb. unfortunately,for him, the end is important ; not human relationships, outside his family.

Rating:
Summary: An Exilerating Novel
Review: This book is fast paced, vulgar, funny, and human. The world of Duddy Kravitz--an extraordinary Jewish teenager in Montreal in the 1940's--may sound very far removed from our lives, but very few things I have read have struck me as being so irresistably recognisable as life. It would be to deny yourself an immense pleasure not to read this book. Certain chapters are as classic as things we remember from great 19th century literature.