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The Bacon Fancier: Four Tales
In this unique volume, four distinct stories spanning four centuries are woven together by a common theme, the Jewish experience in a Gentile world, as the human protagonists fight the evil of anti-Semitism with unexpected results. Reprint.
- GenresFictionShort Stories
224 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 1997
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
October 6, 2021
Four short stories, all with some "enjoyment" factor, but this is not a book that I would suggest to my friends. Perhaps it is because I don't enjoy short stories all that much. I did not find the stories suspenseful or gripping.
The first takes place in an unstated time in the Jewish ghetto in Venice - likely the 1500's.
The second concerns Queenie, a Gentile, who is taken in by a Jewish man, creating local scandal. this story was rather enjoyable.
The third story was my favorite, about several characters on a transatlantic ocean liner.
The fourth was a confusing story about theatre actors and the Russian Mafia.
The first takes place in an unstated time in the Jewish ghetto in Venice - likely the 1500's.
The second concerns Queenie, a Gentile, who is taken in by a Jewish man, creating local scandal. this story was rather enjoyable.
The third story was my favorite, about several characters on a transatlantic ocean liner.
The fourth was a confusing story about theatre actors and the Russian Mafia.
April 25, 2023
(3.5)
I read this primarily for the opening story, "The Monster" (from the perspective of Shakespeare's Shylock) and that remains the standout for me. While the entire collection is fairly interesting and I never struggled to keep reading, I did find that Isler's lazy approach to other oppressed groups (women, Rromani people, fat people, disabled people) undercut the potential power of his writing, especially given how revitalizing it is to be handed a collection entirely about Jewish people with Jewish protagonists and themes.
This lack of solidarity also winds up making his protagonists all feel very lonesome and resigned, when in fact there is a lot of hope in this world-- don't know that I'm a fan of a book which posits Jewish existence as an endless disillusionment; an endless disabusing of naivety and innocence. With that said, the stories themselves all stand out to me for different reasons.
THE MONSTER
Kind of world-changing. The approach Isler takes to humanizing Shylock without making him a "good person" is impressive & works very well for the various things he's going for. I feel like I'd be spoiling it to talk too much more (and admittedly I'm very scatter-brained on this) but I was more than impressed.
THE BACON FANCIER
Aaaaaaaaand our protagonist slept with a sixteen year old homeless girl who becomes his 'wife' :D I was off board. Also not a very... emotionally affecting...? story? I find it retreads a lot of the 'loss of innocence in the face of public humiliation' 'Jewish protag is nonetheless kind of a dick' material of THE MONSTER, except far less effectively. I just don't see why it needs to exist once THE MONSTER has done all of that so much better AND in the context of MoV.
THE CROSSING
I admit I was obsessed with Oscar Wilde in this one. Because, yes, Oscar fucking Wilde is in this one. He's on a ship with our protagonist, David Arthur Goldstone, and they become occasional and unlikely allies as Wilde makes little jokes about how society doesn't like either of them. Not factually correct to reality by any means, but wonderful to watch, and left me feeling so bittersweet because it was just so fucking fun and Wilde was such a well-written fop, and I wish this could have been true. Again Isler wants his protagonist to believe in something naively before having his hopes dashed, though, which really.... retreads things at this point. But Wilde! 100% worth reading just for Wilde. Wish the [insert all of Isler's issues with writing other minorities] wasn't in there, though.
THE AFFAIR
Worth reading just to get to the text Dreyfus: The Musical. Unbelievably funny script excerpts. Tragic that 90% of this story is our protagonist Nice Guy-ing an abused Catholic woman. Why do all four of these stories feature a Jewish dude slathering after a non-Jewish woman and why do none feature a Jewish dude happily in a relationship with a Jewish woman? Many fascinating questions for Isler. Very good title pun, though!
I'd recommend this for a few individual stories, but I don't know that I'm going to be running through the streets screaming about it. A genuine shame, because each aside from the title story, the other three were interesting, and both THE MONSTER and THE CROSSING are fascinating for their rewriting of history/literature-- I'd honestly recommend those just on their own.
I read this primarily for the opening story, "The Monster" (from the perspective of Shakespeare's Shylock) and that remains the standout for me. While the entire collection is fairly interesting and I never struggled to keep reading, I did find that Isler's lazy approach to other oppressed groups (women, Rromani people, fat people, disabled people) undercut the potential power of his writing, especially given how revitalizing it is to be handed a collection entirely about Jewish people with Jewish protagonists and themes.
This lack of solidarity also winds up making his protagonists all feel very lonesome and resigned, when in fact there is a lot of hope in this world-- don't know that I'm a fan of a book which posits Jewish existence as an endless disillusionment; an endless disabusing of naivety and innocence. With that said, the stories themselves all stand out to me for different reasons.
THE MONSTER
Kind of world-changing. The approach Isler takes to humanizing Shylock without making him a "good person" is impressive & works very well for the various things he's going for. I feel like I'd be spoiling it to talk too much more (and admittedly I'm very scatter-brained on this) but I was more than impressed.
THE BACON FANCIER
Aaaaaaaaand our protagonist slept with a sixteen year old homeless girl who becomes his 'wife' :D I was off board. Also not a very... emotionally affecting...? story? I find it retreads a lot of the 'loss of innocence in the face of public humiliation' 'Jewish protag is nonetheless kind of a dick' material of THE MONSTER, except far less effectively. I just don't see why it needs to exist once THE MONSTER has done all of that so much better AND in the context of MoV.
THE CROSSING
I admit I was obsessed with Oscar Wilde in this one. Because, yes, Oscar fucking Wilde is in this one. He's on a ship with our protagonist, David Arthur Goldstone, and they become occasional and unlikely allies as Wilde makes little jokes about how society doesn't like either of them. Not factually correct to reality by any means, but wonderful to watch, and left me feeling so bittersweet because it was just so fucking fun and Wilde was such a well-written fop, and I wish this could have been true. Again Isler wants his protagonist to believe in something naively before having his hopes dashed, though, which really.... retreads things at this point. But Wilde! 100% worth reading just for Wilde. Wish the [insert all of Isler's issues with writing other minorities] wasn't in there, though.
THE AFFAIR
Worth reading just to get to the text Dreyfus: The Musical. Unbelievably funny script excerpts. Tragic that 90% of this story is our protagonist Nice Guy-ing an abused Catholic woman. Why do all four of these stories feature a Jewish dude slathering after a non-Jewish woman and why do none feature a Jewish dude happily in a relationship with a Jewish woman? Many fascinating questions for Isler. Very good title pun, though!
I'd recommend this for a few individual stories, but I don't know that I'm going to be running through the streets screaming about it. A genuine shame, because each aside from the title story, the other three were interesting, and both THE MONSTER and THE CROSSING are fascinating for their rewriting of history/literature-- I'd honestly recommend those just on their own.
June 11, 2016
These four stories each have a Jewish protagonist, though the settings as well as the time-periods are different. The protagonists themselves are not particularly likable, even when telling their own stories. Even so, they are consistently treated more badly than they deserve by the gentiles around them, whether in a small community or on a ship. And there is a sense of resignation, that this is simply the way things are, that made the stories rather depressing to me.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews