Showing results for "The Assistant" in Classics

Bernard Malamud's second novel, originally published in 1957, is the story of Morris Bober, a grocer in postwar Brooklyn, who "wants better" for himself and his family. First two robbers appear and hold him up; then things take a turn for the better when broken-nosed Frank Alpine becomes his assistant. But there are complications: Frank, whose reaction to Jews is ambivalent, falls in love with Helen Bober; at the same time he begins to steal from the store.

After losing his parents in the Floating Castle Incident, the sensitive and mannered Chris Buckley has spent six years raising his magically talented little sister, Rosemary, on the savings that his once-wealthy family left behind. But that money is drying up, and Chris finds himself with no choice but to seek out work in Darrington City as it spirals into a depression. The only employer willing to consider his empty resume is Olivia Faraday, the manic Deathsniffer.

The Insomniac’s Assistant is a verse novel about the struggles, stresses, and strange joys of the sleepless. In one of the oddest examples of Bring Your Friend to Work Day, follow the protagonist on a typical night of soothing a city to sleep, and experience the magic that creeps into the world in the small hours. Each vignette is a window peered into late at night, a furtive glimpse between the curtains at the tender battles being fought inside.