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| The Assistant: A Novel | 
| Author: Bernard Malamud
Creator: Jonathan Rosen
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Category: Book
List Price: $14.00
Buy Used: $1.16
You Save: $12.84 (92%)
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Avg. Customer Rating:  27 reviews
Sales Rank: 40860
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 264
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 8.1 x 5.4 x 0.8
ISBN: 0374504849
EAN: 9780374504847
ASIN: 0374504849
Publication Date: July 7, 2003
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Product Description
Introduction by Jonathan Rosen
Bernard Malamud’s second novel, originally published in 1957, is the story of Morris Bober, a grocer in postwar Brooklyn, who “wants better” for himself and his family. First two robbers appear and hold him up; then things take a turn for the better when broken-nosed Frank Alpine becomes his assistant. But there are complications: Frank, whose reaction to Jews is ambivalent, falls in love with Helen Bober; at the same time he begins to steal from the store.
Like Malamud’s best stories, this novel unerringly evokes an immigrant world of cramped circumstances and great expectations. Malamud defined the immigrant experience in a way that has proven vital for several generations of writers.
Book Description
Introduction by Jonathan Rosen
Bernard Malamud's second novel, originally published in 1957, is the story of Morris Bober, a grocer in postwar Brooklyn, who "wants better" for himself and his family. First two robbers hold him up; then things take a turn for the better when broken-nosed Frank Alpine becomes his assistant. But then there are complications. Frank, whose reaction to Jews is ambivalent, falls in love with Helen Bober; at the same time he begins to steal from the store.
Like Malamud's best stories, this novel unerringly evokes an immigrant world of cramped circumstances and great expectations. Malamud defined the immigrant experience in a way that has proven vital for several generations of writers.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 22 more reviews...
 intriguing story but a bit too melodramatic October 8, 2007
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
'The Assistant' is clearly an interesting read. Set in 1950s New York City, a young gentile enters the lives of elder Jewish shopkeepers and their daughter. The gentile is a tormented soul with questionable morals. The shopkeepers distrust him, especially around their daughter. But this gentile ultimately affects their lives in profound and everlasting ways. Certainly 'The Assistant' is rich in dialog, characterizations and in capturing anti-semetic feelings during that era. However the author seemed to have overreached in making the ending to the story to be something profound, almost of biblical proportions. For me it was too contrived. But this was only a slight distraction from an otherwise pleasant reading experience.
Bottom line: an interesting and moving drama that teeters on melodrama. Strongly recommended nonetheless.
 Assistant is spelled with the letters S.A.I.N.T. [T] June 8, 2007
9 out of 9 found this review helpful
The word "Assistant" includes the letters S.A.I.N.T And, the person who is the assistant herein well reflects Christianity's concepts of sainthood or someone who is "born again."
A simple ground floor grocery man, Morris Bober, lives in a simple second story flat with his wife, Ida, and beautiful 23-year old daughter, Helen. Business is worsening, and while it falls, he meets Frank Alpine - an Italian goyim.
Frank works for peanuts for Morris and manages to raise the business from its ashes. Things begin to look good - but Ida's fears of a goyim living so close to her very Jewish daughter are well deserved.
Frank is not a saint by birth. Frank is an orphan who lived an abusive childhood, and he merely wants to be loved. He practically enslaves himself for Morris - partly to be loved and partly for penance. But, whatever his evil ways were, he is almost devoid of the same after meeting Morris. Malamud probably intentionally chose Frank to be Italian - and incorporates what the Roman Catholic Church associates as "being born again": baptism. Working in the grocery for Morris is Frank's baptism.
What makes this book so fascinating is the concept of rebirth after criminality. Really, criminality's born again Christianity became vogue a decade or decades after publication of this novel (1957) with the 1976 book written by Charles Colson of Watergate fame.
This insightful work on Christianity becomes even more fascinating when one considers the source - a young Jewish writer who grew up in a delicatessen with an impoverished father who is much like Morris. And, the greatest part of the rebirth arises in the end when Italian Frank - learning about Judaism - converts. He is a born again Jew.
The grocery is commonly referred to as a prison which confined Morris and later confines Frank. But, from that prison others benefit. And, most particularly we learn of the goodness of those imprisoned in poverty - something espoused by Saint Francis who is mentioned numerous times in this book.
This is a great story. This is a great book with many layers. And, this book could be assigned to religion students as well as the obvious English or literature students.
 A good Interesting Novel! April 12, 2007
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
These are some of the Positive and negative aspects of this book. The Assistant by Bernard Malamud.
A positive aspect of the book is that it shows the true life in this novel. Many people who read this book can relate to the events that occured in this book, whether you own a store,or you've been heartbroken because of one's actions.
Another positive aspect about the book is that it has detail of every event that occured in this novel. I understood everything entirely as the description of the characters, and the plot was very nicely written.
A negative aspect about the book is that Frank can't be trusted at anytime. He just makes wrong and right decisions. Making right decisions as in saving many people in the book and poor decisions as in the actions he made towards Helen.
Another negative aspect about the book is it's ending. I liked the book entirely but i was expecting a better ending. It's an interesting novel but i was expecting something more at the end but the book concluded nicely.
I feel that many people should read and enjoy this book and get their own thoughts and ideas about it.
How do people respond to grace March 23, 2007
Morris Bober struggles to keep his independent grocery store open, as new competition drains what little business comes from his run down neighborhood. His troubles are relieved by the arrival of Frank Alpine, a down-and-outer who decides to make good by working for nothing at his store. The blessing of Frank's presence is complicated by his past and by his interest in Morris' daughter, Helen Bober.
That would summarize the basic plot of the novel. Yet to say that this is what the book is about would miss most of this book's underlying meaning.
To the extent that I can explain it, Bernard Malamud has given Morris some Christ-like qualities. The rest of the characters, in turn, demonstrate some of the responses that people make to the life of Christ.
I say "to the extent that I can explain it," because I am not a professor, or even a student of theology. I think this is one of those books that would reveal a lot through a second reading, or through the guidance of a professor. My guess is that Frank Alpine, in the context of the New Testament, could be seen as one of the Pharisees. He is always trying to do the right thing -- trying achieve salvation through austere living and devoted work.
I feel less certain who Helen represents. I hesitate to speculate here. Nevertheless, I hope that anyone reading this would not take that for a sign that this is not a stimulating novel. I found that the plot compelled me to pick it up. My sense of its meaning, in turn, grew when the book reached its resolution.
I suppose many already realize that Bernard Malamud is Jewish. I think that makes the symbolism of this novel even more interesting. Malamud's writing is careful, in the best tradition of realism.
I think this book would be incredible for book clubs.
an american classic, 50 years on November 25, 2006
8 out of 8 found this review helpful
I've read this book 50 years after it was published, but unlike some novels, it's not dated at all. Not only does it work well as a period piece, but its portrayal of people, of the body blows dealt by life, and of the way this country doesn't live up to what immigrants think they are going to find is relevant today. I felt the publisher's blurb on the edition I had and some other reviews may have oversimplified or misstated some of the characters. Frank is not some remorseless sociopath who walks in to rob, rape and pillage. Frank is a complex person who for much of the book is caught in a vicious circle of doing wrong, experiencing tremendous pain of conscience, determining to make right what he has done, getting into difficulties, and doing wrong again to get out of a jam. At one point, he is described as a man of morality, and there is hope for him. He's not a thug; that would be Ward, the police officer's son who returns to the neighborhood to commit crimes. Helen takes a long time to realize that she isn't entirely blameless in her involvement with Frank. Whether a rape takes place is somewhat ambiguous, but Helen believes this is what happened. Helen is caught in the trap of waiting for nothing, in her own words. Frank looks better and better given the other choices she has. Morris, Helen's father, looks at his mom and pop grocery store as a prison. Morris is a victim, yet if he had made a little effort to help himself, things may have turned out better for him. He is a terrible businessman, he makes foolish decisions about his health, and he is taken advantage of by everyone. The whole family is caught in a trap by the failing store and grinding poverty that has them in a downward spiral. Morris and Ida are Russian Jews who came to America with the hope of finding something better. It appears the only thing that is better is the absence of pogroms. The people in this book are Italians, Germans, Poles, Norwegians. Today the immigrants come from different countries, but I'm willing to bet that quite a few have the same experience in this country that Morris's family did. Today it may even be worse. Aside from the characters, the author gives a wonderful description of a 1950s Brooklyn neighborhood. The reader can picture everything in such detail it's like watching a DVD in one's head. A book like this will always hold up, and I'm anxious to read more of the author's work. Finally, this novel made TIME magazine's Top 100 novels last year, which is why I picked it up.
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