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Ein Cent für ein Leben

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New York in den Zwanzigerjahren. Zwei junge jüdische Männer, Jacob Berkowitz und Sholem Lipsky, lehnen sich gegen das Schicksal ihrer Eltern auf, die vor den Progromen aus Russland geflohen waren und nun in Amerika als Arbeiter ausgebeutet werden. Jacob wird Gangster, der im Sold der Arbeitgeber auf Streikende einprügelt, Sholem Gewerkschaftsmitglied. Während eines hitzigen Gefechts hat Jacob ihm ein Auge ausgeschlagen. Sholem weiß, dass die Arbeiter ihre Forderungen allein mit Streiks nicht durchsetzen können. Deshalb will er die Gangster dazu bringen, an ihrer Seite gegen die Streikbrecher vorzugehen. Dafür bietet er genau einen Cent mehr, als die Bosse zahlen. Doch das ist nur der erste Schritt in Sholem Lipskys Plan. Denn er sinnt auf Rache gegen Jacob. Vom Autor des Bestsellers "Der Junge, der Träume schenkte".

Audiobook

First published January 1, 2012

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About the author

Luca Di Fulvio

16 books260 followers
Luca di Fulvio was born in Italy. He is an italian writer.
Di Fulvio studied dramaturgy at the Accademia d'Arte Drammatica Silvio D'Amico in Rome under Andrea Camilleri. Then he was half a year as a member of The Living Theatre, where he could work in London together with Paola Bourbons, Sergio Graziani, Mario Maranzana, Andrzej Wajda and Julian Beck.
Since 1996, Di Fulvio has also worked as a writer. Some of his novels were published in German. In 2008 he published the novel "La gang dei sogni", which also in English under the title since 2011 The boy who dreams gave is available. In the novel, he focuses not only violence against women, but also processes the lives of immigrants in New York City in the 1920s, where he was close to Martin Scorsese's epic Gangs of New York-based, according to his own statement.

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5 stars
23 (16%)
4 stars
53 (37%)
3 stars
54 (37%)
2 stars
11 (7%)
1 star
2 (1%)
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
Profile Image for Berengaria.
1,121 reviews214 followers
January 7, 2025
3 stars

short review for busy readers:
A decently weighted novella about the Jewish mob in New York in the 1920s and their involvement with the feuds between unions and employers. A bit simplistic and melodramatic, but the tensions between rich West Jews (Germany) and poor East Jews (Poland, Russia) are succinctly and illustratively rendered.

in detail:
Two Russian Jewish friends immigrate to New York City in the early 1900s. Their sons, born in America, are tired of seeing their passive, long-suffering fathers take crap from all sides and live in kosher poverty in the belief that's what makes a good Jew.

Both boys choose to make something of themselves...one choosing gang crime to make himself rich and powerful on the backs of other Jews, and the other choosing to become a union organiser to better the lot of all Jewish workers.

Hatred and violent clashes between the two are pre-programmed, even though they both come from the same background and want the same thing -- their share of the American pie.

This story was originally written as a digital exclusive for the Italian newspaper Il Corriere della Sera under the title Kosher Mafia.

The only translation seems to be into German. I listened to it as a 2-CD German language unabridged audio book read by Philipp Shepmann.
Profile Image for Andrea.
953 reviews48 followers
May 31, 2021
Eine deprimierende Kurzgeschichte, die zeigt, wie sinnlos Gewalt und Rache sind
Profile Image for Greta.
57 reviews4 followers
September 8, 2021
libro corto, circa 100 pagine, non sono descritti molto bene i personaggi, storia abbastanza scontata. racconta di due ragazzi ebrei diversi ma con lo stesso destino. sono rimasta abbastanza delusa, pensavo meglio.
18 reviews
November 28, 2012
Eine Kurzgeschichte über Einwanderer in Amerika. Das die Hauptpersonen Juden sind wird zwar im Dunstkreis des Buches immer wieder herausgestellt, aber eigentlich nicht wichtig. Vielmehr finde ich es spannend wie in einer so kurzen Geschichte soviel Wut, Trauer und Sinnlosigkeit stecken kann.
Wer mal 1h Zeit hat und öfter mal an irgendeiner Haltestelle steht, dem sei diese Kurzgeschichte empfohlen.
Profile Image for Gabriele Romano.
23 reviews4 followers
May 9, 2015
Questo libro l'ho letto perché, l'edizione con la copertina presente su questa pagina di goofreads, era in vendita insieme al corriere della sera(2011), formando una collana di piccoli libri che compongono gli "inediti d'autore".
Libro di un 80ina di pagine, un po noioso e a tratti scontato... c'è di meglio, sopratutto nella collana dove è stato venduto questo libro.
Profile Image for Annabella.
3 reviews12 followers
June 14, 2013
Well constructed short story.

Predictable for Luca di Fulvio fans, bittersweet.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews