Pictures of Fidelman [Paperback]

Bernard Malamud (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd (February 24, 1972)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0140033629
• ISBN-13: 978-0140033625
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,814,436 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not his best but still worthwhile, January 2, 2003

By 

V. J. ELIA "Veejer" (Cape May, NJ United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Pictures of Fidelman: an exhibition (Hardcover)

Pictures of Fidelman is a series of six fairly independent tales of Arthur Fidelman, a Bronx Jew and failed painter who has traveled to Rome to write on Giotto. He seems unable to move forward with his new life nor to completely let go of his desire to be a successful painter. He bounces around Italy trying to find himself (or maybe lose himself) but never seems to accomplish either. The fifth of the stories is an attempt by Malamud at stream of consciousness (the title of the story is "Portraits of the Artist") otherwise they are typically Malamud who writes cleanly and passionately.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The wittier, lighter side of Malamud, December 11, 2004

By 

Reader Col (Nashville, TN) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Pictures of Fidelman (Hardcover)

This is a series of six episodes in the life of New Yorker Arthur Fidelman, a painter who once aspired to be great, but didn't know how to get there, and now cannot identify what he wants in life, or how to get it. He moves to Italy and is promptly taken advantage of in every way imaginable, while he runs into some quirky and amusing characters who teach him many life-lessons and eventually help him discover his own identity.

This is a terrific and imaginative work and each misadventure that Fidelman embarks on is unique and funny. I pictured a "slightly stranger looking than Woody Allen" character, full of paranoia and uncertainty, and yet plodding along, tentative, determined to experience something new and creative.

5.0 out of 5 stars A Nice Breezy Read, March 16, 2003

By 

Michael D. Kittell "mikhl" (Ardmore, PA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Pictures of Fidelman (Paperback)

This book was for sale at the school Book Fair when I was in third grade. I liked the cover so I bought it. No one said anything at the time but they did not act too surprised when I asked why the lady called the man a Pig, beast, onanist! Also the line about the cross... kids read the darndest things