Inside, Outside: A Novel [Paperback]

Herman Wouk (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1, 1995

From the world of faith to the world of show business, the theater of war to the theater of presidential politics, a novel traces one Jewish family's dramatic, often hilarious adventures on the way to the American dream. Reprint. NYT.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Wouk's 1985 saga is a social comedy of Jewish-American life reaching from New York to Jerusalem and spanning much of the 20th century.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About the Author

Herman Wouk (born May 27, 1915) is an bestselling American author, with a number of notable novels to his credit, including The Caine Mutiny, The Winds of War, and War and Remembrance. He was born in New York City, into a Jewish family that had immigrated from Russia, and received an A.B. from Columbia University. He was first a radio scriptwriter, and worked with Fred Allen, then in 1941 worked for the US government on radio spots selling war bonds. Wouk then joined the United States Navy and served in the Pacific Theater, an experience he later characterized as educational; "I learned about machinery, I learned how men behaved under pressure, and I learned about Americans." His first ship was the USS Zane, then he was second-in-command on the Southard. He started his writing career onboard, working on a novel during his off-duty hours. He married Betty Sarah Brown in 1945, with whom he had three sons, became a fulltime writer in 1946, and published his debut novel, Aurora Dawn in 1947. In 1952, The Caine Mutiny received the Pulitzer Prize. In 1998, he received the Guardian of Zion Award.

Product Details

• Paperback: 656 pages
• Publisher: Back Bay Books (November 1, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0316955299
• ISBN-13: 978-0316955294
• Product Dimensions: 5.4 x 1.5 x 8.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #636,252 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Herman Wouk earned his living as a scriptwriter for Fred Allen before serving in World War II. His career as a novelist spans nearly six decades and has brought him resounding international acclaim. He lives in Palm Springs, California.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

42 of 43 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wouk is superb, January 24, 2001

By 

HeyJudy "heyjudy" (East Hampton, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Inside, Outside: A Novel (Paperback)

There's no such thing as a bad book by Herman Wouk, and the breadth of his writing is almost as vast as the depth. To think that one man wrote MARJORIE MORNINGSTAR, THE CAINE MUTINY, THIS IS MY GOD, THE WINDS OF WAR, WAR & REMEMBRANCE, DON'T STOP THE CARNIVAL plus a half dozen others simply boggles the imagination.

Along with DON'T STOP THE CARNIVAL, Wouk's funniest book, INSIDE, OUTSIDE is an easier read than most of the other topics he has tackled. Set in a recent decade, the title refers to the fact that in Jewish families, some people use one name at home, their Hebrew, "inside" name and the Anglicized version of that same name out in the big world. Along with the name chosen go two different and distinctive aspects of their personalities.

It seemed clear on reading INSIDE, OUTSIDE that the hero's sister, Lee, is the all-grown up version of Marjorie Morningstar. This is not Herman Wouk's most important book, far from it, but it is one of his easiest works to read. The story he has told, as always, is an interesting one. There is no such thing as a bad book when Mr. Wouk is the author.

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Wouk lightens up in 1st novel following War and Remembrance, July 20, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Inside, Outside: A Novel (Paperback)

Inside, Outside is a sometimes rambling but ultimately engrossing story of a young man growing up in New York City in the 1920s and 1930s. Structured as the memoir of a functionary in the Nixon White House, the text cuts between "the present day" (the collapsing administration and the Israel-Egyptian war) and the narrator's reminisinces.

The story is told by Israel David Goodkind, now a high powered corporate and civil rights attorney, then favored son of a Bronx laundryman and his wife, "a rabbi's a daughter". Both his parents are devout jews, his grandfather a Talmudic scholar, and the book's title tells of I. David's split worlds as he struggles with the dubious rewards of assimilation.

The first hundred pages or so seem a bit unanchored, drifting in short chapters from his mother's upbringing to his father's childhood, from late night meetings with Nixon (never mentioned by name) to phone calls from his old childhood chum, the famed Jewish! writer Peter Quat (any resemblance to Philip Roth is purely intentional). But soon the story tightens both in the past as Goodkind leaves Columbia and takes work as a radio gagman, to the present, as Israel goes to war again. The last half is an engrossing read, and ultimately draws close parallels between the story of a young Jewish american and the future of the Jewish state.

If you like Wouk (especially if you have read his primer on the Jewish faith, This is My God) you will probably enjoy Inside, Outside. It's several degrees less instense than the harrowing War and Remembrance, but no less a hymn to Judaism at its core. It's also frequently amusing and often moving in its character portrayals.

22 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars GREATEST BOOK I HAVE EVER READ, June 18, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Inside, Outside: A Novel (Paperback)

Though this is the story of a Jewish boy growing up in New York, it felt to me that Wouk had met my soul one day and probed it of its deepest thoughts. No book I have ever read has spoken this directly to me. The theme of alienation is one that anyone, anywhere, Jew or Gentile, male or female can identify with.

It also helps that this is one of the funnier books I have read in a long time. It is a true gem.