Literary Fiction · MelancholicThirteen stories set in New York and Italy, including the title tale of a student rabbi and a marriage broker
The Magic Barrel
Thirteen stories about the search for hope and meaning in poor, bleak places
The collection contains thirteen stories, among them "The First Seven Years," "Angel Levine," "The Last Mohican" and the title story. It is set in New York City and Italy and deals with the search for hope and meaning in bleak, poor urban settings. In the title story Leo Finkle, an unmarried rabbinical student, is urged by his teachers to find a wife and answers an advertisement by the marriage broker Pinye Salzman, who shows him photographs of prospective brides.
More about this book
Who
Leo Finkle, a rabbinical student, and the marriage broker Pinye Salzman in the title story, and many other characters in twelve more stories.
World
New York City and Italy.
What makes it different
It is a story collection of thirteen tales, 214 pages in all.
Feel
Searching and compact. It won the 1959 National Book Award for Fiction.
Page count and cover shown for: Selected edition
Further reading
- The Magic BarrelWikipedia