Showing results by author "Chaim Bermant" in All Categories

"I bring you up to believe that nothing is good enough for you, and you grow up to be good for nothing.Thus, Mrs. Bindle, on learning that Ben, her only-begotten son, has decided to be a Rabbi; what is more, a Rabbi in a small provincial town in Scotland. Her anxiety proves to be not unjustified, although Ben's chosen career has its compensations-perhaps Helen, the promiscuous teenage daughter of his housekeeper; perhaps Simmy, the young wife of an elderly parishioner.

Berl's wife ran away with the gardener. Could you blame her? Berl is a little Jewish odd-job man who wanders around in a black serge suit, striped trousers, sandals and a black homburg hat with fungus growing on it. Berl's a born victim. Always trouble. Crisis after crisis. As for now, the only thing that's worrying Berl is maybe his wife will come back. Chaim Bermant (1929-1998) was born in Breslev, Poland and moved to Glasgow, Scotland at the age of 8.

"Yes," as Cyril might say, "being old's all right, once you get past the age of trying to be young." Diary Of An Old Man is a real tour de force. It covers one winter month in the life of an old man living on a tiny pension. The prosaic events which are recounted - keeping warm, finding accommodation, cooking, reading papers in the local library - conceal an extraordinary feat of imagination on the part of the author:

Part Bildungsroman, part hymn to the city of Glasgow, Jericho Sleep Alone is without a doubt the finest book written about the Scots-Jewish experience. From Bar Mitzvah to an unfulfilling teaching career, Jericho Eli Broock finds himself a perennial outsider and unlucky in love, neither his on-off affair with the flighty Ninna or his financially prudent dalliance with the homely Camilla coming to fruition. Will the sometimes oppressive aid of the Jewish community make all well in his world?

"During the war, while others fought, Hesketh planned, as a chocolate manufacturer, to put an end to world strife: Inter-Choc, a world union of chocolate makers, would bring man closer to man - through his sweet tooth. But Hesketh is thwarted by two more powerful urges - chauvinism and sex, the former Gallic, the latter British, but both indomitable. Chaim Bermant (1929-1998) was born in Breslev, Poland and moved to Glasgow, Scotland at the age of 8.