Customer Reviews

The Education of Robert Nifkin

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Oh, I must swoon.

I just finished "The Education of Robert Nifkin," and it was bliss.

Having occasionally lived in Chicago and having occasionally written college application essays during my youth, I find that this book leaves me feeling more myself. How can this be?

What's odder yet, I suspect that anyone who reads Mr. Pinkwater's latest, brilliant book will have the same feeling.

There will be some part of the education of Robert Nifkin that was also a part of your education, and remembering that will educate you anew.

Beautiful.

Daniel Pinkwater is perhaps the funniest writer of young adult fiction alive, but also not very well-known. His books are hard to find in bookstores, but prove to be a treasure and a laugh-out-loud treat when found. "The Education of Robert Nifkin" is no different.

The novel is written as a response to the following college application essay: "Characterize, in essay form, your high-school experience." Set in 1950s Chicago, the novel follows the title character through his first days at Riverview High School, a setting he soon comes to abhor. No one, teachers or students, seem to care about the missing education, the teachers indoctrinate the students against communists and Jews, and Robert finds himself destined to be a nerd. He soon stops going, and must face being kicked out and sent to an alternative school, where he has much more freedom, and truly begins to learn for the first time.

"The Education of Robert Nifkin" is a quick, funny read. Anyone familiar with Pinkwater's other writings will find familiar territory (and characters), and anyone familiar with Chicago will enjoy the references to landmarks and neighborhoods. The novel reads a little too much like a crazy quilt of stories, not necessarily focused or related, but enjoyable nevertheless.

Robert Nifkin, socially awkward son of eccentric immigrants, finds himself an inmate in a god-awful Chicago high school staffed by incompetent, bigoted, intolerant teachers. With the help of fellow free-thinking oddballs, Robert discovers 1950s Chicago bohemia and the benefits of self education. Great digs at vapid consumer culture and intellectual conformity are made along the way.
Though arguably Pinkwater's best written and best paced work to date, I couldn't help feeling I'd read most of this before. Nifkin's Chicago will be very familiar territory to fans of _The Snarkout Boys_ books and Pinkwater's autobiographical essay collections.
The most serious problem with _The Education of Robert Nifkin_ is it's length. It ended far too soon, darn it!
Uptight parents offended by the idea of a teenager cutting classes and smoking cigars should buy this one for their kids anyway and lighten up a bit.
--Stefan Jones

I finished reading this book not but half an hour ago, and it's one of the most amazing things i've ever read. Pinkwater at his very best, but a great deal more than that -- invites favorable comparison the the works of Saki and the early Vonnegut. A witty, astute, hedonistic critique of American culture and education. Buy it right now.

First, a disclaimer. I admire almost everything Pinkwater has ever written, from the Larry the polar bear books for little kids up through the adult novels, (like Afterlife Diet). But, I think the young adult works are absolutely the best, and this one, while less well known than Snarkout Boys or Alan Mendelsohn, is aguably the best.
Many of Pinkwater's ya books have a touch, or a very large helping, of the fantastic or of "urban magical realsim". And, he can make that work. But in this book he plays it straight, if a cigar smoking habitual truant with a poet's eye can be said to be playing it straight.
The appeal, to me, of this book is that we have a self-sufficient, clear eyed, slightly bemused, resourceful teenager interacting with and observing surprising people. Pinkwater is kind and generous with these characters, and the underlying theme seems to be one of affection for the humans who populate his remembered worlds. There is no overwrought angst, and this skewed world is a very good place to be.
Anyway, the communist ROTC instructor and Nifkin's no-nonsense Dad are worth the price of the book right there. Everything else is gravy.

A nostalgic read, as I haven't dipped into the Pinkwater pool since early middle school. His easy style hasn't changed much over the years, and this was a super fast and light read. Fun stuff.

The Education of Robert Nifkin reprises people, places, and themes from Pinkwater's other works. The Clark theater, Bughouse square, William Lloyd Floyd, a larger-than-life Eastern European father, Chicago, and Wallace Nussbaum (to name a few) all make return appearances from The Snarkout Boys, Alan Mendelsohn, etc. These are things obviously dear to Mr. Pinkwater's heart, and he crafts this new/old story well, just as he did in his early books. Reading it is a lot like going to your favorite restaurant and ordering the usual. No real surprises, nothing really new, but satisfying nonetheless. It did leave me yearning to see some of these familiar themes recast with new plots or people - more of a variation on a theme rather than a remix. Perhaps we'll learn more about the education of Robert Nifkin as he heads to St Leon's for college - Portrait of the Artist as a Young Shmendrik, perhaps?

this is more adult than any of his others works of art. but none the less it was a good read

basically it is a high schoolers life. and a kid having to deal with his parents and theres not much more to say

Although Daniel Pinkwater has written better books (Borgel, Alan Mehndelson),this is a pretty good book. I like how it is in the format of a college application. Also, I like all of the descriptions of food. Keep churning out those great books, Mr.Pinkwater!

I thought that it was very amusing and interesting. I liked the writing style, and the main character and his adventures as well as his friends.