Responsible Men: A Novel (Hardcover)

~ (Author)
Key Phrases: Viva Deluxe, Rabbi Weinberg, Boy Scout (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Wrapped up inside this debut novel about a shady salesman is a warm tale of father-son reconciliation. Like his father, Caleb, Max Wolinsky is a salesman - but he's always had a bit of the con in him, starting with his college days scalping tickets in his hometown of Philly. The bright point of Max's life was his marriage to Sandy and the birth of their son, Nathan, but now Max and Sandy are divorced, and Max is relegated to dropping in from Key Largo for his son's Philadelphia bar mitzvah. Caleb no longer sells, but spends his days taking care of his brother Abe, who has been left nearly mute by a stroke. Even 13-year-old Nathan has it tough: his grandfather is pressuring him to join a kosher Boy Scout troop instead of letting him play baseball. As soon as he lands in town, Max starts a scam involving shares in a nonexistent retirement community - a scam that runs him afoul of some nasty former partners-in-crime. But hope is on the horizon, too, in the form of Nathan's scoutmaster Mervyn Spiller, who has an elaborate scheme to import cheap Boy Scout uniforms from China. If some of these plot elements feel a bit too convenient, Schwarzschild makes up for it with evocative descriptions of his low-rent Philadelphia setting. Worn-out diners, bunker-like synagogues, no-frills bowling alleys, he clearly knows his terrain.
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From Booklist

Is there really such a thing as a responsible man? Max Wolinsky, a swindling salesman, finds himself forced to face this question when he revisits his Philadelphia stomping grounds. After a year of exile in Florida, following his wife's infidelity, Max returns to see his father and stroke-impaired uncle and to attend his son Nathan's bar mitzvah, but the trip goes sour when old associates want in on his latest scam. As Max gears up for a midlife crisis, young Nathan must deal with his mother's new relationship and with the peculiarities of his Jewish Boy Scout troop. While Nathan is stuck in a kosher camp during his mother's Hawaiian vacation with her lover, Max begins to question his own duplicity and meets a woman who might just keep him honest. An astute understanding of children of divorce coupled with a mature grasp of the pitfalls and pratfalls of adulthood bring depth to this debut. Schwarzschild's accomplished, no--nonsense prose captures one family's attempt at responsibility and reconciliation on the dingy, desperate Philly streets. Misha Stone
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 344 pages
• Publisher: Algonquin Books (April 8, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 156512409X
• ISBN-13: 978-1565124097
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.8 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,518,349 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent first novel., February 14, 2006

By	John Lewis "uneasy_rhetoric" (Sacramento, CA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I rarely have the opportunity to read a novelists first work until long after I've read other works. Then, I am frequently disappointed.

Schwarzschild, however, has written a novel he will have to live up to in future work. It is populated with memorable (if sometimes not fully explored) characters who defy archetypes, making them that much more human.

Structurally, the novel is plot driven. The characters move from scene to scene quickly and each story arc feeds into the central story around the main character, Max's, return to Philadelphia.

There's a lot to love about this book. I'd recommend it to anyone looking for a well-paced story populated by interesting characters with a hopeful (but not exactly happy) ending. There's much in this book to make you think about the human condition and to wonder about why we make the choices we make.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars brilliant debut novel, June 20, 2005

By	parisreader (New York) - See all my reviews

I wish simply to second the previous five-star reviews, which capture the value and values of this wonderful book. The many characters are insightfully drawn, and the author shows real affection for the main ones, foibles and all. The writing is superb, and the acknowledgments at the end -- to Tobias Wolff, John L'Heureux, ZZ Packer, William Kennedy, and others -- show that the author has had some excellent models. Sometimes first novels are described as "promising," but this one reveals a full-fledged talent. If Schwarzschild can follow this magnificent book with others of equal quality, he will become one of the major figures in American letters.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful story, September 9, 2005

By	N. Bonner (Philadelphia, PA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I didn't expect to like a book where the man character is a scam artist--but I did. Max Wolinsky returns to Philadelphia to attend his son's bar mitzvah. He also intends to pull off one last scam so he can pay for his aging father and uncle to move to a delux senior center. The story isn't about the scam itself, but about the relationships of the Wolinsky men, their hopes, dreams and mistakes. The book is full of warmth, humor and wonderful characters. As other reviewers have said, it is a book to read again and again. I look forward to more books from this writer.