| | The Assistant |  | Author: Bernard Malamud
Publisher: Jewish Contemporary Classics
Category: Book
List Price: $49.50
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Avg. Customer Rating:  28 reviews
Sales Rank: 6408748
Format: Unabridged
Media: Audio Cassette
Edition: Unabridged
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 9 x 5.3 x 1.3
ISBN: 189307921X
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN: 9781893079212
ASIN: 189307921X
Publication Date: September 2002
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Product Description
Frank Alpine, an Italian -American drifter on the run from his past, stumbles into the orbit of struggling Brooklyn grocer Morris Bober. Seeing a chance to atone for his sins, Frank becomes Bober's stock boy and runs the store when the owner takes ill. But it is Bober's daughter , Helen , who gives Frank a real reason to turn his life around. Considered one of the greastest Jewish novels ever written. The Assistant is a classic look at social and racial divides of America in the early twentieth century. Filled with riveting scenes of life on the edge, this is an enduring story of how love and the human spirit can triumph over any adversity.
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 23 more reviews...
 Universal humanity! August 21, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This was a very enjoyable read. The characters were painted as real people, and each of them had flaws, and most of them had an admirable quality. The dialogue, the descriptions of New York (Brooklyn) post-war struck up my own memories of that period, when people struggled with the changes of the past decade, when changes occurred in everyday things (like milk in cartons rather than in bottles) and when neighborhoods started to change, in some cases to something approaching the sinister.
The story's protagonist just couldn't get a break, and is a personification of the maxim that luck favors the well-prepared. His wife was a classic example of those who see dark things everywhere, and expect them only to get worse, essentially reveling in self-fulfilling prophecy. As a counter to her parents, perhaps the daughter was too trusting, too optimistic. The dark hero of the story shows that many men are neither good nor bad, but are a mixture of the two, ruled by conscience and a universal humanity which transcends background, intent, and associations.
 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
10 out of 10 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.
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