Jew Boy

by Alan Kaufman

Jew Boy tells the story of a young boy growing up in the complex shadow of his mother’s survival of the Holocaust. He struggles to comprehend what it means to be Jewish as he deals with the demons haunting his mother and attempts to escape his wretched home life by devoting himself to high school football. He eventually hitchhikes across the country, coming face-to-face with the very phantoms he has fled.

Genres: Jewish, Memoir, Nonfiction

412 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2000

About the author

Alan Kaufman's novel Matches was published by Little, Brown and Company in the Fall of 2005. David Mamet has called Matches "an extraordinary war novel," and Dave Eggers has written that "there is more passion here then you see in twenty other books combined." Kaufman's critically-acclaimed memoir, Jew Boy (Fromm/Farrar,Strauss, Giroux), has appeared in three editions, hardcover and paperback, in the United States and Great Britain. He is the award-winning editor of several anthologies, the most recent of which, The Outlaw Bible of American Literature, was recently reviewed on the cover of the New York Times Book Review. There are two more volumes in Kaufman's Outlaw anthology series: The Outlaw Bible of American Poetry and The Outlaw Bible of American Esaays. He has taught in the graduate and undergraduate schools of the Academy of Art University and in writing workshops in San Francisco. His work has appeared in Salon, The Los Angeles Times, The San Francisco Chronicle, Partisan Review and The San Francisco Examiner. Kaufman has been widely anthologized, most recently in Nothing Makes You Free: Writings From Descendents of Holocaust Survivors (WW Norton). Kaufman is a member of PEN American Center. Kaufman's papers and manuscripts are on deposit in the Special Collections Library of the University of Delaware and he is profiled in the Europa Biographical Reference Series.


BIBLIOGRAPHY

Matches, a novel (Little, Brown); (Constable & Robinson, UK) Jew Boy, a memoir (Fromm/FSG); (Constable & Robinson, UK; Uitgeverij Ten Have, Holland) The Outlaw Bible of American Poetry (Thunder's Mouth Press; Basic Books) The Outlaw Bible of American Literature (Thunder's Mouth Press; Basic Books) The Outlaw Bible of American Poetry (Thunder's Mouth Press; Basic Books) The New Generation: Fiction For Our Time From America's Writing Programs (Anchor/Doubleday) Who Are We? Poems (Davka/Wordland Books LTD)

Reviews

[Ricky · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book needed an editor. And it could have stood to have been broken into two or three separate books. It seems like a rough draft. Sometimes he comes across as petulant or whiny or otherwise unpleasant but there is something in that that seems insightful though.

[Marc · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brilliant autobiography. Alan Kaufman has not only channeled the beats, he IS a beat, through and through. Like children of alcoholics, children of holocaust survivors have their own harrowing stories to tell.

[SqueakyChu · Rating 5 out of 5]

Alan Kaufman has a very dramatic way of telling his own story. He begins by recalling life with his Holocaust-survivor mother and post office night shift worker father, his project to collect comic books to get rich, his episode of being beaten up by a neighborhood bully, and his bout with a frightening asthma exacerbation. This was all in the Bronx New York of his childhood. Each chapter then continues as a story unto itself and quite the self-examination of the most memorable experiences of Kaufman’s life.

Kaufman’s a good writer. His narrative is detailed and gritty, and he gives a fairly detailed picture about what it felt like to be in his shoes at some tougher times of his life.

The chapter about Kaufman’s time incarcerated in Nebraska, I found particularly terrifying. Maybe it’s a reflection of the current political climate I find myself in, but reading about this young Jewish man as a prisoner after traveling lightheartedly and then being exposed to undeserved psychological terror was disconcerting to read.

This book, more than anything else, spoke to me about the author’s relationship with Judaism and how it always has been a battle for him. He described the psychological battles his mother, a traumatized Holocaust survivor, showered him with, and yet still, as a young adult, he felt the need to identify as a Jew as well as to defend Jews.

By the end of this book, I was deeply moved and completely captivated by Kaufman’s reflections of what it means to be a Jew. Truly this part of his writing brought me to tears as being a Jew is as wonderful as it is fraught.

The book ends with a powerful poem as this book’s author is also a poet.

I had read his novel [Matches] a long while ago. I liked that book very much although it was a disturbing read. I’d very much like to read more of Kaufman’s work.

[Valley · Rating 1 out of 5]

The narrator (author) starts as a tween/teenage boy growing up in a poor Bronx neighbourhood. Although they are not devoute, his family is Jewish. His mother survived the Nazis in Europe as a child and her trauma scars are felt throughout the narrator's life. He tries to find his identity amongst the other poor children at school, exploring interests in sports and writing while navigating bullies, racial & religious tension, puberty, and the inner workings of his family. He has a brief jaunt to Denver, his first real experience away from "home", and attempts to explore h9s writing talents in college.

Towards the end, the book jumps to his adult life in the middle east exploring Isreal and as a soldier. He returns home to America to sober up and become the poet he was meant to be, later touring in Germany where he sees the renewed Neo-Nazi hatred There is mention of wives and children, but there is very little detail. This last section of the book rrally doesn't fit with the rest of the story or style...

Unfortunately I felt the author tried too hard to make the writing metaphorical and "pretty". It detracted from the story and understanding the emotions of the main character, leaving me no connection or feelings (negative or positive) about him.

[Millie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Gave it a few tries - it was way too minute, he focused on his horrible bar mitzvah party to a stupid degree. Very ...macho or something. Vulgar...ish?
I dunno. Bummed me out that it wasn't better.

[behsforensics]

Cutting is for Who Are We?
By Alan Kaufman

[Dan Sifri · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jew boy/ Alan Kaufman
I'm interested in Jewish life in America. So this autobiographical book has the favorite ingredients to my taste. and it is really is fascinating to me: the writer is telling us about his childhood and early life and what it's like to grow up in the Bronx to a mother, who is a Holocaust survivor, loading him with all her problems and guilt feelings that she had, and a father who was born in America, but with no education and therefore had to work in a physical job with little income. Alan Kaufman was a Jewish kid – It is very important part of his being. The relationships he had with other youths of different minority groups - in the neighborhood. The abuses he got at home and the harassments in the street... And how, when the first opportunity came, he escaped from this home in order not to return to it again…
Later he tells us about some of his adventures in America and Israel where he became a soldier but I think that the last part of the book is less coherent and a little bit weaker but even so most of the book makes a good reading,
I like it and enjoyed reading it.

[Jeannette Katzir · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reading Jew Boy was a lot like being in a car, heading to someplace nice, but he road there was a combination of bumpiness, swirls and detours and at the end you end up not exactly where you thought you would.
Jew is written beautifully, BUT, and no offense to the author who is the main character of the memoir, but I didn't like you at all. He was unlikeable and I had absolutely no pity for him. The end of the book was disjointed and made no sense, but jumped around, trying in some way to close up the lose ends, except I couldn't figure out what they were.
But the man can write. Some of the scenes were great, but they seemed to be slanted toward men, boy, and people who like manly kinds of things, masturbation, screwing just for the hell of it, fighting, football . . . no exactly my cup of tea.
Would I recommend the book . . . . not really, but the parts where he goes out of himself and writes feelings and stuff without trying to be so macho are very good.
It's a mixed bag.

[Donna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Alan Kaufman did a wonderful job describing his life as he grew up. From his upbringing in the Bronx to the many escapades he had made this book read more like a novel. He wrote of his many travels across the United States and overseas and of the many different types of people he met and cultures. He had a wild ride, but to him it was worth every minute.

Thanks for a wonderful book Mr. Kaufman.

[Lois Flaherty · Rating 4 out of 5]

Writing is brilliant at times. Very absorbing but with significant hiatuses. His slide into alcoholism isn't described. He hardly mentions his twin brother after his childhood. His struggles with his identity as a Jew and with his abusive childhood are movingly described however.

[Marie · Rating 3 out of 5]

It started off well and was interesting to read about his childhood. But the last part of the book felt rushed

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

A big read about the son of a Holocaust survivor. As I am the daughter of one, this resonated strongly. And he is a survivor himself. Perhaps we, the first post war generation also had to survive.