The J-Word [Paperback]

Andrew Sanger (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 2010

Did I say I was Jewish? I should be Jewish all of a sudden?

Argumentative, Yiddish-speaking, eighty-year-old Jack Silver agrees to care for his grandson, Danny. When Jack is beaten up by an anti-Semitic gang, he and Danny secretly set out to outwit the thugs and bring them to justice.

Editorial Reviews

Review

A charming tale... a delightful read. A vivid picture of the perplexing muddle that is the capital's Jewish population today. --Jewish Chronicle (London)

For an exploration of Jewish identity, I strongly recommend Andrew Sanger's new novel The J-Word. --Ruth Gledhill, The Times (London)

Fast-moving and thought-provoking. A thrilling read. --Canada Post

A remarkably accomplished debut from a talented writer. --Modern British Fiction, Suite101.com

A fascinating exposure of the vagaries of Jewish identity and its impact on individual lives. A considerable achievement. --Hampstead & Highgate Express (London)

The J-Word is the most fantastic novel I've read for many a year and I strongly recommend it. When I got to the end I turned back to page one and read it again. It was just as good second time round. --Chas Newkey-Burden, oyvagoy.com

"A beautiful, thoughtful portrait of the anxieties and paradoxes of modern Jewish life." --Linda Grant

About the Author

Andrew Sanger is an award-winning freelance journalist and travel writer who has lived and worked in several countries, including Greece, India, the USA, and several years in the Languedoc region of southern France. He has contributed to a wide spectrum of print and online publications, including most UK national newspapers. Andrew Sanger now lives in NW London, UK.

Product Details

• Paperback: 340 pages
• Publisher: Snowbooks (January 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1905005954
• ISBN-13: 978-1905005956
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,317,207 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I'm the author of The J-Word. After thirty years as a travel journalist and guidebook writer, I found myself wanting to write about something much closer to home.

My first novel, The J-Word was published in the UK in 2009 by Snowbooks (and released in the US in 2010). I'm glad to say it was very well received and has had excellent reviews. It's set in Golders Green, a Jewish district in London, England.

The J-Word has been featured at London's Jewish Book Week and Hampstead & Highgate Literary Festival. To read about The J-Word and see what reviewers thought of it, see http://www.andrewsanger.com/The-J-Word

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The J-Word tells the story of an elderly Jewish man called Jack Silver. I say he's Jewish, but he flatly denies it. Jack is resolutely secular and long ago repudiated everything Jewish. He likes to think of himself as English. Jack is asked to come to Golders Green (London's largest Jewish neighborhood) to care for his 10-year-old grandson, Danny. Of course, the brilliant young Danny knows nothing at all about his Jewish heritage, and Jack's certainly not about to discuss it with him.

When Jack is beaten up by an antisemitic gang, it changes everything. At first, Jack is helped by a more religious Jew, who advises him to go to the police. But Jack doesn't do that. He and Danny secretly set out to outwit and track down the thugs and bring them to justice. The hunt takes Jack into memories of his own childhood and the two unlikely heroes discover a shared identity spanning generations that eventually draws the whole family together.

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Apart from The J-Word, I've written about thirty travel guides, mainly to different regions of France - especially Provence, Languedoc, Burgundy and Picardy - but also to Flanders, Lanzarote, Tenerife, Ireland and Israel. Some have been successful, and most of them have been translated into several languages. I've contributed to a wide spectrum of British national newspapers, magazines and websites, too, and for ten years I was the editor of French Railways' customer magazine.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful read, March 19, 2010

By 

Dick Stanley (Austin, TX, United States) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The J-Word (Paperback)

This is a wonderful novel about the Jews of London, observant and secular, and their struggles with identity and anti-Jewish hostility ("In every generation..."). Jack Silver, who thought he raised a secular like himself discovers otherwise and is charmingly transformed by a tradition-seeking grandchild. There is also the fractured, multicultural British welfare state and the delays, indifference and friction it inevitably produces. I was already smitten with the author's 4th edition of Fodor's Exploring Israel (which is a visit all by itself) so I was not surprised to find he had such a good story in him and the talent to convey it with humor and substance. I can't imagine how anyone could be anything but pleased with either volume. And in light of the probability that The J-Word will not be seconded for some time, I have begun reading it again.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Challenging and thought provoking, February 10, 2010

By 

Jenny Woolf (London, England) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The J-Word (Paperback)

Literate, entertaining and thought provoking. The English background gives an added twist to this powerful book about a man who is forced to think closely about his Jewish identity in the modern world - an identity he has previously neglected. Unsettling and controversial,it may leave you uneasy.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Jewish Fiction Debut, January 12, 2010

By 

Mike Gerrard "Author of Strip till Dead" (Green Valley, Arizona, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The J-Word (Paperback)

I'm not Jewish, just like good literary fiction, and was really impressed by this book. I know Golder's Green in London a little, and it helped me get to know it a whole lot better, especially of course the Jewish community. The characters are really believable, and I was very moved by the story, and the way one man tries to pursue justice after a horrific assault. He does the kinds of things that are both brave and foolhardy, and you admire him for it.

The J-Word is also, like the best of Jewish fiction that I've read (e.g. Philip Roth), hilariously funny.