Reviews

The Prince of West End Avenue by Alan Isler

katykelly's review against another edition

5.0

Hilarious and heart-breaking. Wonderful read, especially if you can follow the Hamlet references. Little gem.

jsenior24's review

funny hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

amygeek's review against another edition

4.0

As I was reading this book, I was kinda meh about it. I enjoyed when it jumped back to the protagonist's life in Germany & Switzerland before WW2, but the stuff about his current life in a home was kinda bleh. But the end totally hooked me. It made me think back through the book and think about life. I didn't see that coming. Glad I stuck with it.

andrew61's review against another edition

4.0

This is a gem of a book which I picked up in a book sale and had not picked up until at a loss as to what to read next I plumped for what on face value looked an unassuming read. Set in 1978 it is the story of a Manhattan Jewish old peoples home and the main character is Otto Korner who is at the centre of the annual production of a worthwhile amateur dramatic performance and this year it is Hamlet. With a brilliantly comedic touch the author creates a set of scenes which ripple with one liners , wonderful characters and situations as tensions and rivalries mount and age catches up with various crucial individuals . Underpinning the great comedy however was a bitter sweet story which very slowly emerges as we learn more about Otto and his life in the first half of the twentieth century Europe as he navigates encounters with Lenin, the DaDa movement, and the love of his life whose memory is triggered by a new therapist in the Emma Lazarus home. Korner is himself a man aware of his own personal guilt in dealing with people and the shadow of his experiences is gently exposed leaving the reader at the end with much to reflect upon.
After reading I benefitted from listening a very good review of the book on the Backlisted podcast which enhanced my reading and also made me want to read it again.
Apparently this was a massive hit when published in 1994 and has disappeared from memory but it definitely deserves a lot more readers as it combines comedy and tragedy with a skill that is very difficult to achieve.

bowling_henderson's review

emotional informative reflective medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Antisemitism

Moderate: Suicide

Minor: Child death

carlyque's review against another edition

4.0

scarring book, it's spite so New York, funny, and yet the main character is so cold it hurts

lauramariani's review against another edition

4.0

This novel was a joy to read. Perhaps it says something about my personality when I say that I loved this tale of Jewish senior citizens putting on Hamlet and squabbling amongst themselves. On the surface, the story flits playfully through the New York City retirement community where it is set, introducing us to dirty old men, crazy old ladies, and the very likable narrator Otto Korner. Just as in a high school, the retirement home is divided into little cliques, popularity contests arise, and crushes are diverted into heartbreak.

While telling us the story of the play, Korner also treats us to flashback episodes from his earlier life, from a love story with a mysterious young Dada artist in Europe to his marriages to two very different wives to his former career as a promising young poet in the German language. The novel flows seamlessly between comic and tender scenes, the past and the present. It was something different from the kinds of stories that I usually read, and made for an enjoyable departure.

arista_k's review

4.0

Had not even heard of this book until it was featured on The Backlisted Podcast and it took and inter-library loan to get a copy. I’m so glad I found it. The narrative style took me about 20 pages to get used to, but once that was out of the way, I was hooked. It’s a book that is genuinely funny AND heart-breakingly sad (usually a book can only do one of those things well). I’m going to have to track down more by this author.

thebookfrog's review

dark emotional funny sad slow-paced

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

The back-stabbing politics of a production of Hamlet by the elderly residents of the Emma Lazarus Retirement Home. A laugh riot. Right?

Well, yes. But the tragedy of the past--it's 1978 and the residents are primarily European Jews...you do the math--creates a deeply uncomfortable, painful, beautiful contrast with the Shakespearean shenanigans. 

Another book picked up on the recommendation of the Backlisted Podcast.