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Title: Shadows on the Hudson, Volume 3

Author: Isaac Bashevis Singer

Narrator: Theodore Bikel, Julie Harris, John Rubinstein

Format: Unabridged

Length: 6 hrs and 9 mins

Language: English

Release date: 05-22-09

Publisher: Phoenix Books

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 10 votes

Genres: Fiction, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

At the center is Boris Makaver, a pious and wealthy businessman. His greatest trial is his daughter, Anna.

Unhappy in her current marriage, she plans to escape with Hertz Grien, a man torn between ascetic yearnings and romantic entanglements. From Makaver's gloomy Upper West Side apartment to the pastel resorts of Miami-amid family quarrels, zealous religious debates, crooked seances, and a myriad of affairs and marriages-Singer weaves a rich tapestry of American Jewry. Despite the character's fervent and often ironic attempts to decipher life's enigmas, their questions remain, for the most part, unanswered.

This darkest of Singer's tragicomic novels was originally serialized in the Yiddish language publication Forward in the 50s.. Now, finally, in its first English translation, it is revealed to be one his major works.

Members Reviews:

excellent!

Very quick delivery, excellent!

Five Stars

good read

Life is hell and then you die

It's true that that the characters exist for the purpose of delivering long philosophical rants decrying the

their existence along with everyone else they know. Of course this story takes place in the shadow of the

holocaust which effects their every moment of their existence. It was understandably impossible for them

to form relationships, or experience happiness based on the unspeakable trauma they experienced.

They escaped the holocaust but the ghosts but they were driven by the ghosts of the past.

This was a very heavy book and I felt relief when it was over. Would not recommend if

you have a history of depression.

A Brilliant Work

This is a long, deep novel that deals with some of the fundamental problems of human existence. More than any other writer, Singer (at least in this book) reminds me of Dostoyevsky, whose characters were constantly in existentialist turmoil over questions such as good vs. evil and whether or not there is a God (and if there is, is He good, evil or indifferent?) Of course, while Dostoyevsky was a Christian, all of the characters in Shadows on the Hudson are Jewish holocaust survivors who have recently emigrated to New York from Europe shortly after World War ll. This is something that none of them can forget, even for a day, as many barely escaped while their loved ones perished. Beyond this confrontation with evil and death, the novel is largely about the philosophical war between religious orthodoxy and hedonistic modern life. Contemporary readers who do not come from a strongly religious background may have some difficulty appreciating this dilemma. The mass culture that Singer found vulgar and amoral in the 50s has now all but taken over in America, leaving many people no frame of reference for any other type of existence. While there is much philosophizing, Singer succeeds in creating flesh and blood characters whose moral anguish is not simply abstract, but put to the test in daily life. The character we spend the most time with is Hertz Grein, a middle-aged man whose religious yearnings are in stark contrast to his lifestyle. He is a married man who has had a long affair with another woman. As the novel opens, he is preparing to run off with yet another woman. Grein's behavior through most of this book is both irrational and indefensible. He lies to all three women, and makes all his decisions on the whim of the moment. At the same time, he is hardly without a conscience.