Reviews

Tamirci by Bernard Malamud

ehays84's review against another edition

5.0

I read this book for a big term paper back in 10th grade, which is really interesting for me to think about now because I think (without looking at the list) it is maybe the only Pulitzer Prize winner I have ever read. I am writing a review now because I just stumbled upon it on Goodreads.

This book was really one of the main reasons that I learned to love great literature. I just persevered reading this book even though it was hard and I didn't understand everything, and I got such a reward for doing so. This book is about suffering, and persecution, and prejudice, and it is definitely very dark. And while it doesn't have a happy ending like Job, there is that similarity of trying to hold onto God when everything has been taken from you.

I loved this book. I don't know if I've ever read another book where I felt so inside a character's head as this one.

Update: I checked on the number of Pulitzers I have read. I used this list https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulitzer_Prize_for_Fiction and included the sub-heading ones too.
-The Grapes of Wrath
-All the King's Men
-To Kill a Mockingbird
-The Fixer
-The Killer Angels
-A River Runs Through It
-Godric

ajkhn's review against another edition

5.0

If you're looking to Goodreads for recommendations on whether to read a Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, you're probably using this website wrong. But yeah, it's a phenomenal book. Long sections of it are anxiety-inducing and horrifying, which, yeah, is a prison novel. But it's really stark and written modernly in a way I didn't expect. It's pretty obvious that Malamud is talking about the 1960s for nearly every page.

It's a phenomenal book, and one I wish I was told to read as a high-schooler. Probably would've stayed a mile away from law school if that was the case! As it is, not a book that's too late for anyone to read. Just, also, probably not a time too early either, you know?

agsztyl's review against another edition

dark reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.0

suvata's review against another edition

5.0

Continuing my TBR project:
This is one the oldest selection on my TBR list - Originally added February 26, 2016.

The Fixer was written in 1966 and won Bernard Malamud both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award. Set in Kiev in 1911, it is the story of a Jewish handyman named Yakov Bok. During that time, anti-Semitism was widespread in Russia. Bok was falsely accused of brutally murdering an adolescent Russian boy. He was arrested, imprisoned and spent years trying to convince the authorities of his innocence. A great work of historical significance.

motherbird76's review against another edition

I will need to start this over again at some point. Not a priority right now. 

cosmonautchris's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

With the tension and ghastliness of a horror story, The Fixer follows the story of a Jewish man in the late stages of the Russian empire as he deals with prejudice and false imprisonment. The book is based on a true story, and although parts of this novel may have been "heavily inspired" by the real life protagonist's memoir, Malamud nevertheless crafted here a tale of human misery woven with true flourishes of memorable prose. The story is a difficult one to read, but it's one which we should all be familiar. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Torture

ninafcf's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

snutedute's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

bgramps's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No

4.25

eliane37's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

"The French have a saying, "The more it changes, the more it remains the same.’

You must admit there may be a certain truth to that, especially with reference to what we call 'society.' In effect it has not changed in its essentials from what it was in the dim past, even though we tend loosely to think of civilization as progress. I

frankly no longer believe in that concept. I respect man for what he has to go through in life, and sometimes for how he does it, but he has changed little since he began to pretend he was civilized, and the same

thing may be said about our society. That is how I feel, but having made that confession Iet me say, as you may have guessed, that I am somewhat of a meliorist. That is to say, I act as an optimist because I find I cannot act at all as a persimist. One often feels helpless in the face of the confusion  of these times, such a mass of apparently uncontrollable events and experiences to live through, attempt ti understand, and if at all possible, give order to; but one must not withdraw from the task if he has some small thing to offer- he does so at the risk of diminishing his humanity. “ 154