Jewball [Kindle Edition]

Neal Pollack (Author)

Book Description

1937. The gears of world war have begun to grind, but Inky Lautman, star point guard for the South Philadelphia Hebrew Association, America's greatest basketball team, is dealing with his own problems.

His coach has unwittingly incurred a massive gambling debt to the Bund, a group of American Nazis. His main basketball rival is self-righteously leading public protests against homegrown American fascism. And his girlfriend wants him to join a Jewish student organization that's all talk and no action. It's more than Inky can deliver. He just wants to play ball and occasionally beat people up for money.

When the Bund comes calling for what it’s owed, Inky has to make a stand for his ragtag bunch of teammates and the coach that got them into this mess. With the Bund closing in, Inky's game isn’t just basketball anymore. It becomes a battle that pits Jewish pride against Nazi fascism.

The tides of history are flowing against a guy like Inky. Can he make his free throws and still make it through the season alive? Get ready. This…is Jewball.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"With his new novel, the author of Alternadad and Stretch steps boldly into the world of direct digital publishing."--Propeller Magazine.
"An intriguing experiment...Pollack has chutzpah." --The Jewish Daily Foward.

About the Author

Neal Pollack is the author of the cult classic The Neal Pollack Anthology of American Literature, the novel Never Mind the Pollacks, and the memoirs Alternadad and Stretch: The Unlikely Making of a Yoga Dude. A graduate of Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, he is a frequent contributor to the New York Times, Slate, Salon, GQ, Vanity Fair, and Maxim. He lives with his wife and son in Austin, Texas.

Product Details

• File Size: 349 KB
• Print Length: 256 pages
• Publisher: Thomas & Mercer (March 27, 2012)
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
• Language: English
• ASIN: B0078XGBTQ
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• X-Ray: Enabled
• Lending: Enabled
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #42,352 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

30 of 34 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Huzzah! A novel with fighting, sex, drugs and sports! November 28, 2011

By Ben Brown

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

There is a scene in this book that is so tense that it caused me to break into sweats and miss my subway stop. Jewball is a fast paced, action packed novel halfway between a noir detective story and a sports history biopic. I don't like sports or crime novels, but I loved this book.

Neal Pollack is a very talented author. You may remember his comedy and satire writing from the early days of the McSweeney's publishing world. Or, you may have read one of his hilarious and humanizing memoirs. Well, now he's written a real, proper smash-em-up novel with real characters and plots and both sex scenes and basketball scenes that will make your palms moist.

Buying this as an ebook is a steal - if you were buying this book from an international corporate conglomerate instead of directly from Neal, you would be paying 5 times as much.

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Neal is the Baller! November 21, 2011

By G. Robillard

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

Jewball is great, unexpected fun. It was a fast weekend read, but I had to slow down at the end because I wanted more. Neal Pollack combines two unlikely elements, his sharp wit and the right touch of noir. Wait, plus basketball! Set in 1930's Philadelphia, the novel pulls of the unexpected: with the dark shadow of World War 2 and the Holocaust looming, there's an unexpected exuberance and optimism for the lives of inner city Jews in America.

-- G. Xavier Robillard, author of Captain Freedom

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Surprising New Book That Moves As Fast As A Dirty Ball Game October 17, 2011

By JT

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

Neal Pollack has done it again. Breaking the bounds of any typical book, "Jewball" is a challenge to encapsulate or box into a type. You can read about the concept, but trust a picky reader -- this is absolutely worth a buy, even if you're NOT:

A: Jewish
B: A white supremacist
C: A huge basketball fan
D: Used to references to peach baskets (no, that's not a dirty term)
E: Aware of the healing properties of brisket

"Jewball" moves fast as heck, bouncing from character to character, city to city, as fast as the starring 1930s Philadelphia basketball team does. The characters are complicated -- the protagonist is no one-note hero -- and there's a lot of action on an off the basketball court.

Even if I weren't a fan of Neal's previous work, the concept here would have caught my eye and interested me. And, as an author-sympathizer, I will always do my best to support indepdendent publishing. So if you're up for a great, fast, intelligent read with a bit of blood, history, and a good dose of smart-ass, download this book (or get the paperback, which I understand is in the works as of this review date).

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