Members with This Book
Most Helpful Reviews
see all reviews
Liked It “Part of my Pulitzer set. This is one of the best novels I've read (and there have been many) about racism. The history of the world verifies that Jewish culture has endured as much or more racist violence than any group of people. "The Fixer" is about a turn-of-the-century Russian handyman who...” see full review » see other reviews » |
Newest Reviews
see all reviews-
“Part of my Pulitzer set. This is one of the best novels I've read (and there have been many) about racism. The history of the world verifies that Jewish culture has endured as much or more racist violence than any group of people. "The Fixer" is about a turn-of-the-century Russian handyman who just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time; having the misfortune of being nearby and Jewish when a small farming community needed a someone to blame for something. The Fixer is an ugly, ugly story; one man's personal holocaust, but long before the world had ever heard of Adolf Hitler. ”
phil m wrote this review Monday, September 21 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“In Kiev in 1911 a Russian boy is brutally murdered, and Yakov Bok, a Jew living illegally in an area of the city forbidden to Jews is arrested and falsely accused of the crime. Even though the authorities know he’s innocent, they manufacture evidence against him for political purposes. Yakov is kept in prison for several years before he is finally allowed a trial, and the police’s treatment of him gets worse and worse over time in an attempt to get him to confess to the charges. According to Wikipedia, this book was based on a true story.
Amanda L wrote this review Monday, September 14 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
This was a good book, but not an easy one to read because of the subject matter. There were a lot of days when I just didn’t want to pick it up again because it was so uncomfortable to read. However, the more I thought about it, the more parallels I saw to contemporary situations, both in the US and internationally. It’s definitely a story that needs to be told and remembered, and well worth the read, if you can get through it.”
“the anti-semitism was pretty scary and probably realistic. The one dimensional jewish character who loved to pray and for whom religion gave him solace - cheesy. ”
Ethan wrote this review Tuesday, August 11 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“The events that happen to the main character seem improbable. The story is well written and it is a fine documentary of the unbearably tough life of Jew in Russian prisons. I enjoyed parts of this story and I have to admit I did not get the endinig.”
Sylvia M wrote this review Wednesday, July 15 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“A novel about injustice and forgiveness, this book can be a difficult read just because it rings so remorselessly true. If we make the effort to slog through the depressing grit, we can be transformed by this luminous novel.”
muque and shylock tomes wrote this review Tuesday, May 12 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“The novel is about Yacov Bok - a Jewish handyman or "fixer". Living in Kiev without official papers, Bok is arrested on suspicion of murder, when a Christian boy is killed during Passover. Jailed without being officially charged, and denied visitors or legal counsel, Bok is treated poorly and interrogated repeatedly. Among other things, he is asked about his political views, and replies that he is apolitical. During his many months in jail, he has time to contemplate his sad life and human nature in general. He finally finds it in his heart to forgive his former wife, who left him just before the novel began. This act of forgiveness is symbolically important in Bok's spiritual growth.
Wendy B wrote this review Wednesday, May 6 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
The novel ends with Bok finally being charged and brought to trial. In the final scene, on his way to court, he has an imaginary dialogue with the Tzar. Bok blames the Tzar for ruling over the most backward and regressive regime in Europe. He also famously concludes that "there is no such thing as an apolitical man, especially a Jew."
”
“What a difficult book to read, and, I can only imagine, to write. We start with the injustice of poverty and lack of opportunity in the shtetl and move almost directly into a variety of unjust accusations leveled against Yakov Bok, who has become a scapegoat for all the imagined evil deeds of all the Jews in Russia.
mmz wrote this review Wednesday, June 18 2008. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
Bok leaves the shtetl with hopes of a better life in Kiev. At first, things look up for him. Serendipity finds him a good job, and he is able to afford some books, and even put away some money. The catch is that he has to live in a district from which Jews are forbidden from living. All goes well, although Bok is not a popular figure, until a young boy is found murdered in a cave nearby.
The police show up at his door, arrest him, and summarily throw him in prison. Things go from bad to worse as he is forced to submit to increasingly cruel and dehumanizing treatment, not least of which is having to repeatedly listen to the many crimes he is supposed to have committed. But he steadfastly declares his innocence, and it is this that is supposed to make him one literature's greatest heroes. I'm not so sure about this, but certainly he is a strong character.
His strength almost makes this book harder to read, though. I found myself almost wishing he would confess, even though I knew he was innocent, just so the horribleness would end. But he and I both knew that confessing to a crime that he didn't commit wouldn't help at all, either his own dignity, or the plight of the Jews in Russia. So we endured together until the trial, to which Bok is on his way at the end of the book. At first I was disappointed that we don't fight out what happens at the trial, but then I realized that the result of the trial isn't the point of the book. It's the persecution and the strength that it reveals that really matter.”
“Malamud's story of the internment of a Russian Jewish man falsely accused of murder is powerful. I'm not sure it is my kind of book. On the one hand I can appreciate what Malamud has to say about injustice, and false imprisonment's impact on the soul of a man. On the other hand, it's just not my cup of tea.”
Keith wrote this review Wednesday, March 26 2008. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
