Some error occured while loading the Quick View. Please close the Quick View and try reloading the page.
This is the poignant story of a loving, gentle man, "antique" by virtue, "an antique man" by profession. It is the story of his lingering death, of his transcendent courage, of the agony and solitude of those who must watch—his wife and two daughters. It is everyone's story in that it tells in specific and particular terms the general human experience of love and loss, suffering and death. It is agony redeemed by art.
An Antique Man is also an extraordinary portrait of a tightly knit Jewish family and makes a strong comment about the phenomenon of human isolation, for in death this little family realizes how totally alone it is in the middle of Los Angeles, city of strangers. The events are described through a curtain of courage and the added dignity of shattering, strengthening love. It answers the question, "What use is there in reading fiction?" To experience the love and pain in this book is of the deepest private value.
An Antique Man is also an extraordinary portrait of a tightly knit Jewish family and makes a strong comment about the phenomenon of human isolation, for in death this little family realizes how totally alone it is in the middle of Los Angeles, city of strangers. The events are described through a curtain of courage and the added dignity of shattering, strengthening love. It answers the question, "What use is there in reading fiction?" To experience the love and pain in this book is of the deepest private value.
Price: $9.99
Pages: 304
Publisher: Dzanc Books
Imprint: Dzanc Books
Publication Date:
15 August 2012
ISBN: 9781936873937
Format: eBook
"A moving book about an agonizing subject, the slow death by leukemia of a good man…The story of Abram Goldman’s last months and his suffering and those of his family, looking on helplessly, is recounted by his oldest daughter who has always been very close (perhaps too close) to her father. There is a great deal of love in this book, one is left with the feeling that this is what it is really like to go through such a shattering experience. The characterizations are good—Abram himself, the antique dealer, who is a man of solid virtues, his loving worried wife, the adoring older daughter, the rebellious younger one who is breaking her parents’ hearts with her bearded beatnik lover. There is something of the quality of 'A Death in the Family' here, although the clinical details are harrowing. The story ends with the survivors of this little Jewish family trying to rebuild their lives after the father’s death."--Publishers Weekly
"Abram Goldman, antique dealer, is dead. Not long ago, after nearly a lifetime lived in Brooklyn and Maimi, he packed antiques, family, and dog into a battered white truck and moved to California. And there this big, joyous, gentle man came down with leukemia and died…
This is a first novel and a splendid one. It comes to us from a 29-year old Brooklyn-born girl named Merrill Joan Gerber, acclaimed as an author to watch when she published a short-story collection, Stop Here, My Friend, in 1965. 'She is a writer of strength and compassion,' exulted one critic, 'and her technical skill is such that she can apply these attributes to a marvelous variety of human situations.' Like, for instance, the lingering death of an ordinary man."--The National Observer
"This author, in her first full length book, has managed to invest her story with a quality of such human and universal appeal that it becomes everyone’s sorrow—everyone’s personal loss…The author has a fine sense of narrative and a keen ear for dialogue. She holds the reader’s interest to the end…"--The Boston Globe
"What An Antique Man does with chilling effectiveness is to show exactly where the sting of death is: in the heartless bureaucracy of a hospital; in the ghastly commercialism of a cemetery salesman; in the grotesquerie of a funeral eulogy. In counterpoint to the terminal agonies of Abram Goldman is the author’s passion and humor, which makes them all matter a great deal to the reader."--New York Times
"This outstanding Southland author, who won critical acclaim with her collection of stories, Stop Here, My Friend, scores again in this warm and moving novel of family love, courage and dignity…the author writes with humor and compassion, combining and artistic intelligence with flawless technical craftsmanship. This is a first-rate story by a first rate writer."--Los Angeles Herald Examiner