PENGUIN Shosha

I was searching for this long and got the same at a very reasonable rate One of my best writers but now hardly visible as the books are out of print

Arguably I.B. Singer's greatest work, 'Shosha' is a hauntingly beautiful, wonderfully evoked and commendably unsentimental exploration of the lives of Polish Jews during the 1930s; in the period preceding the invasion of the country by the Nazis. The tale focuses around Aaron Greidinger, a young writer, and religiously uncertain Rabbi's son. Perhaps Singer's finest strength is his ability to evoke the often painful reality of choosing one's path in life, and here, Greidinger finds himself torn between the offer of an American visa (and thus the chance to escape an increasingly fragile, anti-Semitic Poland), and remaining in the country, to live with his childhood love - the mentally and physically handicapped Shosha. Singer also shows an extremely capable hand in writing on the very personal and emotional subjects of physical deformity and mental illness; and where other writers may have been mawkish or even crude in their depiction of the struggles of Shosha, Singer shows an incredible honesty and surety of touch.There are one or two minor flaws in 'Shosha', though none of them take much away from the overall quality of the novel. Singer has a tendency to sometimes present the reader with chunks of obscure philosophy, in character discussions - and here, especially in the conversation between Greidinger, and a returning enemy and communist; it all seems rather forced and mawkish. Also, a little too much of the book is given up to the characters of Sam and Betty, an American couple involved in theater; and whilst in both, Singer has created a wonderfully apt evocation of the hidden selfishness and prejudice of much of modern America, they do take up a bit too much of the text. Still, these are small issues, in the context of the book as a whole. Singer's depiction of character, and in particular the struggle to create meaningful relationships, and to reconcile the concepts of life, death and the Jewish faith, with oneself, are absolutely masterful. His evocation of the cluttered, lively streets of the poorer side of Warsaw is equally good. For those looking for a complex, but highly engaging novel, which deals with the self, in a time of real strife and conflict, I would recommend 'Shosha', with no hesitation.NB: I would recommend not reading the blurb of this 'Penguin Translated Texts' edition before finishing the text, as it gives away perhaps the most important plot point in the text.

There is a pervading sense of the imminent destruction of an entire way of life ... in the Yeshivas they studied the Talmud ... so long as Hitler - his name should be blotted out - did not attack, each day was a gift from God ... No one knows what God wants ... if God wanted the Jews to live he wouldn't have created Hitler ... The bitter truth is that many Jews don't want to be Jews anymore ... But it's too late for total assimilation ... Judging by the way Hitler occupied one territory after another and the Allies sat back and did nothing ... there was no hope for the Jews of Poland ... At the Radzymin and Novominsk prayer houses, afternoon services were already in progressPolish antisemitism is starkly presented ... The Jews have taken over Poland ... the cities are lousy with them ... once they only stank up the Nalewki, Grzybowska and Krochmaln streets, but lately they swarm like vermin everywhere ... there is one consolation - Hitler will smoke them out like bedbugs ... It's too bad that Hitler will attack our country ... but since we haven't had the guts to sweep away this Jewish filth ourselves we have to let the enemy do it for us ... Hitler is on his way but a large part of the Polish press keeps attacking the Jewish minority as if it were the nation's greatest danger.Singer's descriptions of Jewish life in Poland in the late 1930s are powerful and poignant ... we know that soon all of these people will be dead.

Strange and sad but very touching

In the process of reading it. Find the translation rather cold.L. Bronstein