The Fixer (Penguin Twentieth-Century Classics)

Rating:
Summary: suffering and endurance
Review: In this heartbreaking story a simple handyman finds himself a victim of circumstances combined with vulgar anti-semitism. Set in Kiev in the early 20th century , the novel is both an indictment of racism and a testament to human endurance. Yakov Bok , the fixer is accused of a horrible crime and many seemingly innocuous events are twisted by his accusers to fit their need to persecute a jew for political purposes. As Bok's mental and physical condition deteriorates the language subtly changes to capture his state of mind. Bernard Malamud utilizes this literary device to great effect. We feel Bok's despair and his occassional glimpses of a hope that refuses to die out completely despite the evident hopelessness of his circumstances.
This is a wonderful and important contribution to 20th century literature.

Rating:
Summary: a universal story
Review: Most of the other reviewers take this book at face value as a story about Russian anti-Semitism in the tsarist era. I think they are missing the point. This is a story about the feeling of complete helplessness experienced when one realizes that all the institutions that are supposed to be there to protect and defend the citizen - courts, defense attorneys, etc. - are in fact doing exactly the opposite. In other words, it is about the feeling that there is no recourse to the law, that one is on one's own in a hostile world. Malamud certainly had not only tsarist Russia in mind, but also the experiences of Jews and dissidents in the Soviet Union, as well as those of black Americans faced not only with lynch mobs but also the hostility (active or passive) of the public institutions that should have protected them from those mobs. This message is a universal one about what happens when the respect of public officials for civil liberties and human dignity breaks down (a message particularly worth remembering in the context of the so-called USA PATRIOT legislation).

But perhaps more importantly it is great literature (and certainly not an essay tortured into the form of a novel, as one reviewer wrote). The open-ended form of the novel that some reviewers found irritating is in fact a great innovation which testifies to the artistry of the author, and a device which Malamud was particularly fond of and used often in other books.

Rating:
Summary: A Story of Fortitude
Review: Yet another case of man's inhumanity to fellow beings. The story is a fiction, but could very well be a true one. Yakov Bok is a remarkable character who hung on to dear life, even in instances where the average person would have just given up. Bibikov brought some beam of hope into Bok's life, only to be taken too soon - an example of hope being shattered in the most desperate of situations. Familiar? The story was well written and is easy to relate to. It's a fiction that is consistant with historical facts. It is highly reminiscent of Nazi Germany and the experiences of Jews in general all over the world. Most admirable, however, was the relationship between Bok and Shmuel (his father-in-law). This book is a must-read!