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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
This Is An Interesting Novel By Richler - But Not His Best,
This review is from: Son of a Smaller Hero (New Canadian Library) (Mass Market Paperback)
This is a good 200 page novel by Richler and if was a bit longer and had a bit more character development this would be a 5 star novel. As a point of reference, I have read all of Richler's major works and a few of his early novellas. This was written near the beginning of his career. It follows his first book, The Acrobats, which can be best described as muddled. That novel has not stood up well to the test of time, and there should be no doubt why. It is not good. But Richler wrote more than The Acrobats - all better - and the second novel, the present work, is far better and gives us a taste of what will follow later.
I like Richler's work, but from my reading of his novels it is clear that Richler went through a number of writing phases. Contrary to his critics, he did experiment with his writing. If anything his middle books have too much sex or are even obsessed with sex, while some of his later books such as Solomon Gursky are a bit too ambitious or overly complicated. The present work is from the early years and follows his St. Urbain theme. In short, the present book is more like his latter books, even though it was written early in his career. Modecai Richler (1931 to 2001) grew up in Montreal and that city is the setting for many of his stories. Many of his novels are about Jews living in Canada and Britain post WWII. He is best known for his tales of life in and around St. Urbain Street. That is an area of three story buildings or walk up row houses located just east of the mountain in Montreal, and north of the commercial center of the city. At one time this was the center of Jewish immigrant life in Montreal. His break out novel wa Duddy Kravitz which is still a great read whether you have seen the movie or not. Still, I like his last book, Barney's Vision, which is his best written piece of work. The novel lacks the edge and drama of Duddy Kravitz but has things in it that make it better. This present short novel was written early in his career and it is entertaining. The present book is about three generations of a Jewish family and in particular the story of the twenty year old son, Noah, and his relationship with his father who is "the smaller hero" and his grandfather, a strict and more orthodox Jew. This is part a "self discovery" story and part a love story with a thirty year old woman outside the faith. The first 50 pages wander, but then the story settles down and it is a good novel. Comparing it to Richler's first novel, The Acrobats, we see a much more focused effort with fewer and more interesting characters. Overall, it is similar to some of his later novels written decades later. It is good but not great.
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