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Summary: Dark foray through early 20'th century immigrant NYC
Review: (This review refers to the Recorded Books Inc. edition.) - Very good performance by the Recorded Book reader, but a more depressing book I should hope never to read!
Rating: 
Summary: An American classic
Review: An immigrant child's inside view of his own terrifying world is at the heart of this book. The author uses a stream-of- consciousness technique and creates a unique English Yiddish poetic language through which the world is seen. The child's relation to his distant father, the cruelty the child suffers is movingly portrayed .So too his encounters with the world , search for love, meetings with women.
The pains of an immigrant world, of trying to find one's way in a strange land, are also vividly portayed here.
True literature burns through every line of this work.
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Summary: Haunting, Wonderful, and disturbingly REAL
Review: Call it Sleep is a good book for a reader with patience. Although the majority of the book seems drawn out, it is completely worthwhile and necessary for the ending, which is PHENOMINAL! So if you're a hard-core reader, put this one to the test... it's style is one I've rarely seen paralelled!
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Summary: puts the lessons of joyce into a modern context
Review: Call It Sleep, the first novel of Henry Roth, is the book that must be be next in your life. To get pedantic about it, Call It Sleep is the logical (don't think about it -- logic has little to do with the visceral impact) outgrowth of the lessons of novel-craft as demonstrated in James Joyce's Ulysses (read Roth's later books, Mercy of a Rude Stream et al. to find out more). No literate person should neglect this striking work. It is another example (and perhaps the finest) of how the simple is the most complex; its story will find that part of you that needs to hear it most and you will never be sorry. Blah Blah -- THE AMERICAN NOVEL. READ IT AGAIN.
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Summary: Ramblings of a child
Review: Henry Roth's book "Call It Sleep" truly describes with great depth, feeling and emotion, the American Immigrant experience. Roth chose to use a 7 year old boy to narrate his story, thus making it more visceral and intense. Roth takes advantage of a 7 year old's state of mind and innocence, to portray the mid-childhood experience in a NY City East Side tenement ghetto.Though Roth happened to choose a Jewish part of the ghetto to portray in his story, the true beauty and excellence of the book, is that the story could have taken place in any one of the ghettos of New York City. It can easily be generalized to the Irish immigrant experience, or the Chinese immigrant experience, or the Italian immigrant experience or virtually any other immigrant experience at that time. All of those immigrants experienced this cultural mixing and its attendant discriminations as immigrants in New York City in the 1920's and 1930's. Roth published his book in the midst of the depression in 1934. But it came to real prominence when printed in paperback in 1964. The books true appeal is that it is universal to all Americans, except Native American Indians. All of the rest of Americans immigrated somewhere in their past. And thus, whether one be an immigrant today, or a 1st generation American or 2nd or 3rd, even if our ancestors came over on the Mayflower, we are all immigrants somewhere in our past. Even if one's ancestors were Pilgrims, parts of Roth's book would ring true for them as well. Through the use of intricate analysis of the thoughts of Roth's main character, he portrays those innate emotions that we have all experienced, and from time to time, continue to experience. The book is highly informative, highly emotional and highly entertaining. It reads very quickly, and is written impeccably. "Call It Sleep" is truly one book that all Americans should have in their collection.
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Summary: This is one of my favaoite books!
Review: I first read this book in the sixties. I have held on to the original paperback I bought back then because I thought it was out of print. I'm thrilled to get a new copy and will take great pleasure in re-reading it. I have reccommended this book to many people including academics. I recently read Angela's Ashes and in some respects it reminded me of Call It Sleep. The graphic depictions of poverty are reported to the reader through the eyes and voice of a young child. It's the kind of book that stays with you.
Rating: 
Summary: Good story but didn't keep my interest
Review: I found this book alternately interesting and boring. The stream of conscious narrative was an interesting perspective on the mind of a young boy. Overall, though, I wasn't engaged by the story, which didn't seem to go anywhere, nor by the inner life of the boy, which was too undeveloped to draw me in. Probably best for people deeply interested in New York or Jewish immigrant life at the turn of the century.
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Summary: A fully satisfying reading experience...
Review: I read this book many years ago, in college, and remember enjoying it thoroughy. I have recently heard it read (Recorded Books, Inc.) by the incomparable George Guidall, who seems to read books requiring Yiddish phrases/accents particularly well (try Stanley Elkin's "Mrs. Ted Bliss" for a hilarious and compassionate thrill). I was not disappointed this second time around, having matured myself, both as a reader and a writer. One of the most striking aspects of the novel is Roth's obvious love of women; few novels by men present women in such a truly beloved light. David's aunt - something of a shrew, a harridan, and a slob - is nevertheless incredibly good-hearted - and alive! Now I want to know more about Henry Roth. Does anyone know if there is a biography of this great writer available? Also, I noticed that there is a book of essays about "Call It Sleep." I plan to get it.
Rating:
Summary: Great study of America, and of immigrant life in early NYC
Review: I read this book several years ago as an American Studies major at Penn State University. At first I began to read it only because it was a requirement of my major, but this quickly became one of my favorite books I've read in my studies. The story is of a young jewish boy, being brought up in a ethnically diverse New York City. It is about his grappling with his spirituality, and his perceptions of the world. One thing I learned about the Jewish culture is of its strong patriarchy, and this book shows conflicts that arise between father and son, and how a son can almost never live up to his father's expectations. The story is haunting, and the landscapes are vivid and picturesque. I also recommend a similar book, "Bread Givers", by Anzia Yezierska.
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Summary: Excellent tale of early 20th century Jewish immigrant life
Review: My hope was to read a novel that gave an accurate and detailed account of the world my grandparents lived in and I was not disappointed. As with the best historical fiction, I was able to gain a sense of not just the environment and setting, but its effect on the main characters, especially David, the main protagonist.
While the prose is often challenging and innovative, the book is a surprisingly easy and quick read that I could not put down. While I was often frustrated by David's inner dialogue, the author must be commended for attempting to convey the inner workings of a child's mind, how his thought process often chaotically bounced around from one thought to another. The author also uses language in a very unique and interesting fashion, namely the contrast between early 20th century New York slang, composed of so many different ethnic groups, to the authors "translation" of Eastern European Yiddish.
For anyone currently reading the novel, who might feel frustrated at a seeming lack of direction in the plot, my advice is to keep reading, as its themes of alienation, growing self-awareness, family, sexual awakening and assimilation become more apparent as the story progresses. And for those who have yet to read the book, I strongly recommend not reading the introduction until after you've finished the book, as it pretty much gives away almost everything that happens in the story and really should have been the Afterword. Regardless, it happens to be a well-written analysis of the novel and can even help the reader in his or her own thoughts and opinions of what is most definitely a classic of 20th century literature.
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