What do you think?
Rate this book
Jewball
From the bestselling satirist and memoirist Neal Pollack comes a funny, gritty historical noir about a tough Jew on the brink and about a great American game coming into its own.
1937. The gears of world war have begun to grind, but Inky Lautman, star point guard for the South Philadelphia Hebrew Association, America's greatest basketball team, is dealing with his own problems. His coach has unwittingly incurred a massive gambling debt to the German-American Bund. His main basketball rival is self-righteously leading public protests against the rise of homegrown American fascism. And his girlfriend wants him to join a Jewish student organization that's all talk and no action. It's more than Inky can deliver. He just wants to play ball and occasionally beat people up for money. The tides of history are flowing against a guy like Inky. Can he make his free throws and still make it through the season alive?
This...is Jewball.
1937. The gears of world war have begun to grind, but Inky Lautman, star point guard for the South Philadelphia Hebrew Association, America's greatest basketball team, is dealing with his own problems. His coach has unwittingly incurred a massive gambling debt to the German-American Bund. His main basketball rival is self-righteously leading public protests against the rise of homegrown American fascism. And his girlfriend wants him to join a Jewish student organization that's all talk and no action. It's more than Inky can deliver. He just wants to play ball and occasionally beat people up for money. The tides of history are flowing against a guy like Inky. Can he make his free throws and still make it through the season alive?
This...is Jewball.
258 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 5, 2011
28 people are currently reading
212 people want to read
About the author
Neal Pollack
51 books124 followersNeal Pollack’s first book, The Neal Pollack Anthology of American Literature, was published in 2000, becoming an (almost) instant cult classic. His debut novel, Never Mind the Pollacks, hit shelves in 2003, and was shamelessly promoted by his band, The Neal Pollack Invasion. In 2007, he published Alternadad, a best-selling memoir. In 2010, Pollack became a certified yoga teacher and published Stretch, a nonfiction account of his adventures in American yoga culture. He has contributed to The New York Times, Wired, Slate, Yoga Journal, and Vanity Fair, among many other publications. Thomas & Mercer published his historical noir novel Jewball in March 2012, and debuted his "yoga detective" novel, Downward-Facing Death, in serialized fiction form in September, 2012. His latest book, a time-traveling romantic comedy called Repeat, will be published in March 2015. He and his wife, the painter Regina Allen, live with their son in Austin, Texas.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 46 reviews
June 7, 2017
Funny, Interesting, and Educational
Despite the weird title, this is a great story told well and lovingly. The characters are (literally) real, and the story is engrossing and amusing. It reads easily and is full of atmospheric language and settings that reminded me of not only the American History I've read, but also of stories my grandpa told me of his days as a bootlegger and as a labor leader during the Thirties and Forties. Read this book.
Despite the weird title, this is a great story told well and lovingly. The characters are (literally) real, and the story is engrossing and amusing. It reads easily and is full of atmospheric language and settings that reminded me of not only the American History I've read, but also of stories my grandpa told me of his days as a bootlegger and as a labor leader during the Thirties and Forties. Read this book.
November 25, 2016
Quick read, actually learned quite a bit.
While reading I felt as I was sitting on the sideline during each game. I don't know much about American Jewish history, but this book surprised and saddened me.
While reading I felt as I was sitting on the sideline during each game. I don't know much about American Jewish history, but this book surprised and saddened me.
April 26, 2018
Read it
If you like basketball read it if you're Jewish read it if you like humor read it if you like history read it if you like a gritty tail read it absolutely inventive fantastic book loved it
If you like basketball read it if you're Jewish read it if you like humor read it if you like history read it if you like a gritty tail read it absolutely inventive fantastic book loved it
unfinished
August 9, 2019Wasn't for me.
I started it but quickly realized the profanity wouldn't be letting up. Too much for me.
I started it but quickly realized the profanity wouldn't be letting up. Too much for me.
January 9, 2013
Jewball is a fictionalization of a part of true American history that I was completely unaware of and included real life characters that I never even knew existed. It was a great romp into the origins of the NBA as well as the major players and events that surrounded a Jewish basketball association and their clashes with the American Nazi movement. I was unaware that both of these were real, and this story is an absolute joyride into the brutality and excitement of the clashes and encounters of these two groups and their ultimate goal of superiority (one racial, the other basketballial... basketballial?)
The format of this book is a lot different than I expected. Frankly, I almost feel cheated by the cover design. It is sleek and stylish with the Nazi eagle emblem crest thing that they had, but I am not entirely sure that this would be better suited to a more pulp-fictiony sort of design. This book read like a pulp novel, and it is very accessible and fast. I am not saying that Pollack is a bad writer - this book fits the format quite well, but I believe that my response to this book may have been different if I went into it thinking it would be a pulp book - almost like when watching a Troma film, knowing that you are getting a Troma film, and being happy with five stars FOR a Troma film. I feel like the descriptions and marketing that I was led into this with made me think it was going to be a better book. But as a pulp it is excellent with good guys fighting Nazis, and getting drunk, and laid, and late night parties, and traveling, and more violence, and basketball, and women playing basketball (gasp!), and women then partying and getting drunk with the players, and ... well... It is that. As a pulp it is an excellent, fun book.
Jewball is lot of fun, and I look forward to reading more of his work.
The format of this book is a lot different than I expected. Frankly, I almost feel cheated by the cover design. It is sleek and stylish with the Nazi eagle emblem crest thing that they had, but I am not entirely sure that this would be better suited to a more pulp-fictiony sort of design. This book read like a pulp novel, and it is very accessible and fast. I am not saying that Pollack is a bad writer - this book fits the format quite well, but I believe that my response to this book may have been different if I went into it thinking it would be a pulp book - almost like when watching a Troma film, knowing that you are getting a Troma film, and being happy with five stars FOR a Troma film. I feel like the descriptions and marketing that I was led into this with made me think it was going to be a better book. But as a pulp it is excellent with good guys fighting Nazis, and getting drunk, and laid, and late night parties, and traveling, and more violence, and basketball, and women playing basketball (gasp!), and women then partying and getting drunk with the players, and ... well... It is that. As a pulp it is an excellent, fun book.
Jewball is lot of fun, and I look forward to reading more of his work.
July 19, 2013
I generally avoid the whole roster of what I've always felt were overly self-absorbed McSweeney's authors, but Jewball was free in the slim-pickings Kindle Lending Library, and it sounded like an interesting story that was not about the author and the greatness thereof, so I gave it a try.
Jewball is fiction, but its premise is true, and most of the characters were real people. Pollack writes about the South Philadelphia Hebrew Association basketball team in the late 1930s - at the time, one of the best basketball teams in the country during an era when the sport of basketball was still being codified. Although not a mystery in any way, the book is written in the style of a hard-boiled detective novel, which makes it fast-paced and engrossing but at the same time holds the reader at arm's length from the characters.
Told from the perspective of star player Inky Lautman, Jewball details the team's run-ins with the Bund, an American Nazi organization, with occasional detours into Inky's love life. The genre's choppy style prevents the romance aspect from feeling suitably complex, though it works well for the conflicts between Inky, his team, and the Bund.
Overall, Jewball is fun and even a little bit educational while still staying too much on the surface to carry much of a punch. It's a great way to fill a few idle hours (it made for perfect airplane reading) but I can't really recommend it other than as an enjoyable time-waster.
Jewball is fiction, but its premise is true, and most of the characters were real people. Pollack writes about the South Philadelphia Hebrew Association basketball team in the late 1930s - at the time, one of the best basketball teams in the country during an era when the sport of basketball was still being codified. Although not a mystery in any way, the book is written in the style of a hard-boiled detective novel, which makes it fast-paced and engrossing but at the same time holds the reader at arm's length from the characters.
Told from the perspective of star player Inky Lautman, Jewball details the team's run-ins with the Bund, an American Nazi organization, with occasional detours into Inky's love life. The genre's choppy style prevents the romance aspect from feeling suitably complex, though it works well for the conflicts between Inky, his team, and the Bund.
Overall, Jewball is fun and even a little bit educational while still staying too much on the surface to carry much of a punch. It's a great way to fill a few idle hours (it made for perfect airplane reading) but I can't really recommend it other than as an enjoyable time-waster.
September 26, 2013
Truly, Madly, Bouncy
Neal Pollack's Jewball is - amazingly - based on real characters and events. But the story might appeal to anyone with a love of chicken soup and basketball.
It seems that American Jews had a lot more to do with popularising basketball than I ever imagined, and they had 'skin in the game.' The SPHA team (South Philadelphia Hebrew Association) were pre-NBA stars of the Twenties and Thirties and are the pre-cursors to the Philadelphia Warriors. In this zany story, they play the Aryans, a team put together by the German American Bund, sort of a Joe Louis-Max Schmeling contest. The focus is on a real player, Inky Trautman, a rough and tumble hero, who plays like a demon, fights like a boxer and has the moral compass of an escaped lunatic.
This is yet another example of gonzo Jewish comedy writing, not unlike Michael Chabon's Yiddish Policemen's Union or Shalom Auslander's Hope: A Tragedy. It seems aimed directly at Jews, but I think it is funny enough to entrap a few Gentiles ready for a deep dip in Marx Brother's type schmaltz.
Fun, light, and out of it's mind kampf
Neal Pollack's Jewball is - amazingly - based on real characters and events. But the story might appeal to anyone with a love of chicken soup and basketball.
It seems that American Jews had a lot more to do with popularising basketball than I ever imagined, and they had 'skin in the game.' The SPHA team (South Philadelphia Hebrew Association) were pre-NBA stars of the Twenties and Thirties and are the pre-cursors to the Philadelphia Warriors. In this zany story, they play the Aryans, a team put together by the German American Bund, sort of a Joe Louis-Max Schmeling contest. The focus is on a real player, Inky Trautman, a rough and tumble hero, who plays like a demon, fights like a boxer and has the moral compass of an escaped lunatic.
This is yet another example of gonzo Jewish comedy writing, not unlike Michael Chabon's Yiddish Policemen's Union or Shalom Auslander's Hope: A Tragedy. It seems aimed directly at Jews, but I think it is funny enough to entrap a few Gentiles ready for a deep dip in Marx Brother's type schmaltz.
Fun, light, and out of it's mind kampf
June 2, 2012
I bought this on impulse at the same time I picked up Calico Joe, and maybe because of that association, I thought this book was about baseball, even though I read the description. Oops. I'm not as interested in basketball, but the subject matter of this book was still interesting: a Jewish basketball team in America during Hitler's rise to power in Germany. Apparently a lot of the book is factual, and it was an area entirely unknown to me. Ultimately, though, the book was too slangy for my taste. It seemed like one of those pulpy detective novels (that I guess I've never really read) where all the girls are "broads" and there's a stream-of-consciousness feel to the narration. Probably that was intentional, but it's just not my style. I found the main character irritating and his love interest unbelievable -- but like I said, the factual background of the story was quite interesting, and someone who enjoys the style of this book might really love it.
October 17, 2016
After a hundred pages or so, I was becoming disappointed in this book. I had expected the writing to be a bit more screwball, in keeping with the screwball (screwball, Jewball) concept. For the most part, "Jewball" is pretty straight-faced and straight forward. Then I realized something - despite the tongue-in-cheek title, Pollack did not write a goofy spoofy novel. It is not meant to be screwball. Pollack is being absolutely sincere. Like Rich Cohen's "The Avengers" and "Tough Jews," and movies like "Defiance" and "The Uprising," Pollack is "revising" history (using actual history as a basis). He doesn't subscribe to the notion that Jews are always bookish, conflicted, nebbish-y, victims of themselves and others. In his world, Jews are tough, physical, ruthless, cunning, and the victims of nobody. Not only do they not let themselves be victimized by their would-be persecutors, they wipe them out. Sure, Pollack uses some humor to present his story , but he is earnest in saying that Jews are to be taken seriously as strong and significant people.
June 8, 2012
Fast and fun story about a Jewish basketball team from South Philly in the late 1930's, based in fact, but fictionalized for effect. The style of writing is audacious and utterly unique. I learned quite a few new idioms, curses, and Yiddish terms (most of which were included in the Kindle dictionary, but others I had to look up on Google). The characters were well drawn, and their interaction was fun to watch. The story stayed fast-paced throughout with an undercurrent of tension building to a satisfying conclusion. Being neither Jewish nor interested in basketball, I still enjoyed the ride. Favorite quote -- "Just when you start to get good, he said, that's when you need to practice the most."
June 24, 2012
I read Pollack's "Stretch" a little while back, a non fictional book about yoga told in a casual, humorous, conversational style. I was curious to see how his fictional "voice" might differ. It differs quite a bit, but I found it equally enjoyable. The language of "Jewball" is pithy, and peppered with colorful similes. The characters and strong and vibrant, and there is a nice balance between funny and serious.
One other thing I really liked about this novel - it is about basketball, which is probably the only sport in which I've had the vaguest interest... and that interest is miniscule. However, Pollack describes the game so well that I had no problem understanding what was going on - and actually getting really absorbed in it.
Recommended. :)
One other thing I really liked about this novel - it is about basketball, which is probably the only sport in which I've had the vaguest interest... and that interest is miniscule. However, Pollack describes the game so well that I had no problem understanding what was going on - and actually getting really absorbed in it.
Recommended. :)
August 17, 2012
Highly recommended! Not done yet but another excellent find on Kindle $3.99 and under. A Jeweish basketball team in Philly in the late 1930's. Historical fiction involving the Bund again, the German group that the Nazis were hoping would undermine America from within in the lead up to WWII who of course is looking to undermine the SPHA team.
Gritty as hell with great characters,especially the lead Inky Lautman and the Coach. Every game is a battle as the Jewish team is hated by all opponents and literally has to run for their lives sometimes post game.
Gritty as hell with great characters,especially the lead Inky Lautman and the Coach. Every game is a battle as the Jewish team is hated by all opponents and literally has to run for their lives sometimes post game.
October 8, 2012
I picked this up to read on my Kindle Fire during a recent airplane trip just because it sounded unusual. This turned out to be a surprisingly fun read. This story is based on a real-life Jewish basketball team in the 1930's, and it's told in a hard-boiled but very humorous style. The dialogue is era-perfect, and the story is very fast-paced. My only complaint is that the book moves so fast that the climax and ending seemed sketchy and too pat. Other than that, this is a unique and enjoyable read that should appeal to anyone who likes basketball history or hard-boiled fiction.
November 12, 2014
Although a historical novel, this is not the usual kind for me as it's all about Sport. Basketball in fact.
An interesting take on interracial tensions, particularly poignant given our modern times. Good story line but just TOO much narrative about dribbling the ball on court and superb passes they'd made. If I could have had a non-sports fan version without those passages, it would probably have gone up to 4*.
Good pacey writing, fun plot with some laugh out-loud moments.
Worth a read if history and sport are your things.... 3* from me.
An interesting take on interracial tensions, particularly poignant given our modern times. Good story line but just TOO much narrative about dribbling the ball on court and superb passes they'd made. If I could have had a non-sports fan version without those passages, it would probably have gone up to 4*.
Good pacey writing, fun plot with some laugh out-loud moments.
Worth a read if history and sport are your things.... 3* from me.
December 10, 2011
Normally, I would be put off by a book with this title, but so far, it is very interesting. It is fiction but about the apparent dominance of Jewish basketball players in the 1930s. It touches on pre-war antisemitism, including the strength of the Bund in the United States. I'm reading it on my iPad, so I won't be finishing it instantly.
I do find myself reading multiple books at the same time - including one on my iPod.
Too many books - and technologies - so little time.
I do find myself reading multiple books at the same time - including one on my iPod.
Too many books - and technologies - so little time.
February 18, 2014
I never thought I would read a book about a pre-WWII Jewish basketball league in Philly. But I have to say it was pretty interesting. I really liked how it talked about the different leagues and how each brought a different style (finesse vs agression, offense v. defense) to basketball which eventually developed into modern basketball. I also liked how it was roughly based on factual events.
March 13, 2013
Neal Pollack has always been someone that sees the mundane (yoga, parenting) through a weirdly punk filter. That in mind, how about a prewar historical sports thriller? This is a funny page-turner that I would recommend to anyone. Pollack treats this Kindle book like a throwaway but I truly had a great time.
January 3, 2012
A good quick read. There probably aren't too many historical fiction books about basketball in the 1930s. I didn't know much about the basketball history or the history of the Bund and the rise of Nazism in the US prior to World War 2.
April 14, 2012
A great novel that combines history, sociology, and sports. It tells the tale of a young Jewish basketball star in the 1930's, a time when Jews actually dominated the sport of basketball, who gets caught up in love, the Nazi rise to power, and his own ego.
June 14, 2012
Straight-to-Amazon published, Jewball's plot was as surprising as its title. Filled with characters based on real people, but placed in fictional situations, the book reads quick and maintains your interest in its truthiness. Give it a try.
August 27, 2014
This was an entertaining, easy ready. I learned alot about a factionalized version of a real team and league that I would've never believed existed, in addition to drama concerning the nazis in America during this time.
May 23, 2012
The only basketball noir story I've ever read.
May 27, 2012
Though the title is slightly offensive, its an interesting historical fiction account of prejudice and life in America before world war ii.
June 9, 2012
I thought the book was disappointing. Too light on basketball and to heavy on the rest of the plot.
June 26, 2012
Fun insight into a area I knew nothing about: the Jewish contribution to basketball.
July 26, 2012
A fast-paced, funny yarn (mostly based on true events) about an all Jewish basketball team in the late 1930's US and their encounters with fascists, mobsters, and dilettantes.
August 25, 2015
A catchy noir underdog story... fast-paced and really witty. I didn't even mind that it was about sports!
November 2, 2012
Fun, well-paced and an intriguing story. It's no 'war and peace' but it's an entertaining piece of writing.
March 11, 2013
Strange title for a good book on a sports area and teams I never knew about.
All the better when you read the historical background to the book.
All the better when you read the historical background to the book.
April 26, 2013
I would give this book a 2.5. It just wasn't what I was expecting. I was looking for a basketball historical fiction novel set during wwII... not such a gangster novel.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 46 reviews