yiddish for beginners

June 20, 2009 5:47 AM

I'm noticing a pattern in some of my favorite books: Jewish-American immigrants tell their story by writing a novel (novel within a novel). The History of Love, Everything is Illuminated, Kavalier and Clay (narrators write comic book, not novel). What should be next on my reading list?
posted by Jason and Laszlo to media & arts (19 comments total)

I just finished Kavalier and Clay and loved it!

As for a recommendation, how about City of Thieves? I don't want to give too much away, but I would recommend it highly!
posted by PaulingL at 6:38 AM on June 20

Fortress of Solitude by Jonathan Lethem. Fantastic book, and similar in tone to Kavalier and Clay. In a way they're parallel-world versions of each other, but I'll let you explore that yourself.
posted by The Michael The at 6:51 AM on June 20

Not exactly what you are asking for but have you read Sophie's Choice? (WASP- American meets Jewish-American immigrant, falls in love, and then she tells him her story.)
posted by Multicellular Exothermic at 6:56 AM on June 20

Not Jewish-American, but Rushdie's The Moor's Last Sigh fits the rest of the pattern. The protagonist narrates his story to a companion. Red Earth and Pouring Rain has a series of stories being told within another story.

I like this literary device as well.
posted by sciencegeek at 7:16 AM on June 20

How do you feel about actual memoirs? There are some fabulous American-Jewish memoirs that you might like.

Bronx Primitive by Kate Simon stands out, as does A Walker in the City by Alfred Kazin
posted by OmieWise at 7:25 AM on June 20

If you're looking for stories of Jewish immigrants, any of Chaim Potok's novels would do the trick.
posted by dfriedman at 7:29 AM on June 20

Actually, I re-read your question. I'm not sure that Potok has any of his characters create novels within the novel itself, but they're still worth reading.
posted by dfriedman at 7:30 AM on June 20

It's a bit of a twist on what you're describing, but Maus is a graphic novel about the author's (effort to record his) father's life before, during, and after the Holocaust. I couldn't put it down.
posted by HumuloneRanger at 7:59 AM on June 20 [1 favorite]

Gary Shteyngart's The Russian Debutant's Handbook
posted by foooooogasm at 8:09 AM on June 20

This one is also a little off your spec, but one of my all-time favorite books is about the Jewish experience in the lower East side of Manhattan, a semi-autobiographical work called "Jews Without Money", by Michael Gold. A gripping read, it's told from the eyes of a first-generation Jewish teenager living in the tenements with his immigrant family. It's not high literature, but it's quite something, and I think you might enjoy it.
posted by dbiedny at 8:10 AM on June 20

Away, by Amy Bloom. No novels are written but there is always the sense that the main character (and others) are constructing their own adventures and identities in a novelistic sort of way.
posted by posadnitsa at 8:19 AM on June 20

Not so much with the Jewish experience, but you could try David Mitchell's Cloud Atlas or John Barth's The Last Voyage of Somebody the Sailor for some serious stories within stories.
posted by ecurtz at 8:30 AM on June 20

Marcus Zusak's The Book Thief would definitely be a book-within-a-book, although I found it a little too saccharine.
posted by twins named Lugubrious and Salubrious at 8:42 AM on June 20

I love stories of Jewish Americans, also not quite sure why. Which doesn't exactly match your description but it's close enough, so I'll tell you what my favourites are: Chaim Potok, Mordecai Richler, and Philip Roth. Also, seconding The Book Thief.
posted by alona at 8:49 AM on June 20

ooh, seconding Fortress of Solitude and Maus! Also you could read more Jonathan Safran Foer--Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close is not exactly what you describe, but it's good!
posted by aka burlap at 9:16 AM on June 20

Fault Lines by Nancy Huston
posted by Kololo at 10:01 AM on June 20

Dara Horn, The World To Come.
posted by liketitanic at 10:10 AM on June 20

Maus?
posted by cmoj at 10:59 AM on June 20

The Man in the High Castle features a Jewish protagonist and a novel-within-a-novel (written by a different dude). But otherwise it doesn't have much in the way of similarities to something like Kavalier & Clay.
posted by Conrad Cornelius o'Donald o'Dell at 2:11 PM on June 20