The Kiss of the Prison Dancer [Hardcover]

Jerome Richard (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Richard's debut is a sympathetic but ungainly portrait of a Holocaust survivor struggling to move beyond his terrible past. Max Friedman supposes he survived "because he didn't really care, not since the day he learned his wife had been killed, or as the Sonderkommando had put it, was den Schornstein hinauf," or up the chimney. Now he leads a pleasureless, lonely life in 1970s San Francisco, filing papers for a social service agency by day and wandering Golden Gate Park at night. His only regular companion is Shmuel, a co-worker and fellow refugee. Late one night in the park, Max is startled by a young man dashing out of the bushes; the next day, he learns that a young woman has been found murdered nearby. While the authorities arrest a neo-Nazi named Mortimer Holtz-who proclaims his innocence-Max knows that the real killer is the boy. Max forces himself to find and confront the boy, who turns out to be a confused kid named Harold Kirby, who claims he killed the girl by accident. Max, surprisingly, decides to keep his secret. But at the same time "he could not let Holtz suffer for what the boy did. He could not let Holtz become a kind of Jew." The narrative takes a turn when, after another happenstance meeting, Max begins courting Clara Axelrod, a vivacious widow who manages to inject some joy into his haunted existence. The irony of a Jew defending a Nazi is one best left understated, but Richard is heavy-handed, and the plot takes some implausible turns. How Max comes to terms with his conscience is the biggest and thus most problematic one.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 197 pages
• Publisher: Permanent Pr Pub Co (May 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1579621023
• ISBN-13: 978-1579621025
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,225,747 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ideal book club book, June 22, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: The Kiss of the Prison Dancer (Hardcover)

Jerome Richards has created a nuanced, thought-provoking and well-crafted novel in his debut, "The Kiss of the Prison Dancer." Set in San Francisco in the 1970s, it is a gripping meditation on responsibility, guilt and ethics. The protagonist, Max Friedman, is a solitary Holocaust survivor who is confronted with a haunting moral dilemma.
"Kiss of the Prison Dancer" would make a perfect book club discussion choice: it is relatively short, but packed full of interesting ideas and situations to discuss.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Thoughtful, Haunting Tale, August 2, 2004

By 

Greenwich Villager "Manhattan Montanan" (New York City, New York USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Kiss of the Prison Dancer (Hardcover)

Set in San Francisco in 1977, it is the story of Max Friedman. I won't recap the plot as the Publisher's Weekly review (above) does that, although I disagree with that reviewer's take. Richard's handling of the complex moral issues is far from heavy-handed. It is at once intricate and straight-forward. In fact, I cannot recall a truly literary psycological novel with prose more open, accessible and free of pomposity or affectations of style. Like AS I LAY DYING (but free of Faulkner's dense-as-concrete prose) it is a short novel about a small life that ends up a deep and gigantic story; like the best of Hemmingway (but with more intelligence and self-awareness) it is a dramatically human story told in simple words and phrases. But Richard's opening opus is in a class by itself in terms of literary comparisons except in the catagory of excellence. Tone, mood, characterization, description, setting and all the other writerly tasks are wonderfully handled. Richard is a master of the telling detail and the right word, exemplifying Mark Twain's comment that the right word is to another word as the lightning is to the lightning bug. It is a joy to read well-written serious prose handled with such expert delicacy. The ending is an eye-opening surprise, but given the characterization, it is the only one that is possible or believable. I agree with another reviewer that it would be an excellent book club choice (Oprah, are you listening?). Although it reads as a page-turner, this is one for the ages and will keep you thinking and talking about it long after you've turned its last amazing page.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Transformative, August 16, 2004

By 

MGS "Voracious Reader" (Pittsburgh, PA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Kiss of the Prison Dancer (Hardcover)

After finishing the first chapter of Jerome Richard's Kiss of the Prison Dancer, I was convinced that the protagonist, Max Friedman, was real and that I HAD TO speak to him before it was too late. This reaction was doubly remarkable because, first of all, I am not the kind of reader who loses herself in a fictional universe. Secondly, Max, a loner who dwells almost entirely in the world of his thoughts and memories, is unlike anyone I have ever met. Fortunately for other readers, characters in books do not hear the shouted urgings of their readers and the novel continues to end as Richard intended it to conclude.
Kiss of the Prison Dancer is about a murder, a man, Max, who witnesses the murderer runing from the crime scene and what Max does next. I won't spoil the rest by telling you what Max does, but rest assured that it's not what you might think. When I emerged from this gripping novel, I needed to discuss it with another reader. Fortunately, other readers are more responsive than fictional characters. I think everyone who reads it will want to talk about this well-written, memorable novel that pulls you in and leaves you changed. A must read!