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The Yid: A Novel
A DEBUT NOVEL OF DARING ORIGINALITY, THE YID GUARANTEES THAT YOU WILL NEVER THINK OF STALINIST RUSSIA, SHAKESPEARE, THEATER, YIDDISH, OR HISTORY THE SAME WAY AGAIN
Moscow, February 1953. A week before Stalin's death, his final pogrom, "one that would forever rid the Motherland of the vermin," is in full swing. Three government goons arrive in the middle of the night to arrest Solomon Shimonovich Levinson, an actor from the defunct State Jewish Theater. But Levinson, though an old man, is a veteran of past wars, and his shocking response to the intruders sets in motion a series of events both zany and deadly as he proceeds to assemble a ragtag group to help him enact a mad-brilliant plot: the assassination of a tyrant.
While the setting is Soviet Russia, the backdrop is Shakespeare: A mad king has a diabolical plan to exterminate and deport his country's remaining Jews. Levinson's cast of unlikely heroes includes Aleksandr Kogan, a machine-gunner in Levinson's Red Army band who has since become one of Moscow's premier surgeons; Frederick Lewis, an African American who came to the USSR to build smelters and stayed to work as an engineer, learning Russian, Esperanto, and Yiddish; and Kima Petrova, an enigmatic young woman with a score to settle. And wandering through the narrative, like a crazy Soviet Ragtime, are such historical figures as Paul Robeson, Solomon Mikhoels, and Marc Chagall.
As hilarious as it is moving, as intellectual as it is violent---with echoes of Inglourious Basterds and Seven Samurai---THE YID is a tragicomic masterpiece of historical fiction.
Moscow, February 1953. A week before Stalin's death, his final pogrom, "one that would forever rid the Motherland of the vermin," is in full swing. Three government goons arrive in the middle of the night to arrest Solomon Shimonovich Levinson, an actor from the defunct State Jewish Theater. But Levinson, though an old man, is a veteran of past wars, and his shocking response to the intruders sets in motion a series of events both zany and deadly as he proceeds to assemble a ragtag group to help him enact a mad-brilliant plot: the assassination of a tyrant.
While the setting is Soviet Russia, the backdrop is Shakespeare: A mad king has a diabolical plan to exterminate and deport his country's remaining Jews. Levinson's cast of unlikely heroes includes Aleksandr Kogan, a machine-gunner in Levinson's Red Army band who has since become one of Moscow's premier surgeons; Frederick Lewis, an African American who came to the USSR to build smelters and stayed to work as an engineer, learning Russian, Esperanto, and Yiddish; and Kima Petrova, an enigmatic young woman with a score to settle. And wandering through the narrative, like a crazy Soviet Ragtime, are such historical figures as Paul Robeson, Solomon Mikhoels, and Marc Chagall.
As hilarious as it is moving, as intellectual as it is violent---with echoes of Inglourious Basterds and Seven Samurai---THE YID is a tragicomic masterpiece of historical fiction.
320 pages, Paperback
First published February 2, 2016
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 161 reviews
January 22, 2016
What an odd little book. It was recommended on Twitter by Gary Shteyngart, so I knew I was in for a ride. With elements of Shakespeare and Yiddish theater, a rag-tag group decides to assassinate Stalin just before the pogroms of 1953 are to begin. The book is structured in three acts including lines of dialogue formatted as though part of a script and throughout I kept imagining this on a stage rather than a screen.
The patchwork of characters and absurdities is never dull and The Yid is filled with gallows humor, as are most good Russian novels. Definitely recommended for anyone who likes contemporary Russian novels.
The patchwork of characters and absurdities is never dull and The Yid is filled with gallows humor, as are most good Russian novels. Definitely recommended for anyone who likes contemporary Russian novels.
June 17, 2024
"We are not.... What's that word?" "Farflokin."
Paul Goldberg's novel, "The Yid", madcap and highly serious, is set in Moscow during the week before the death of Stalin on March 1, 1953. The premise of the book is that Stalin had planned a large scale action against the Jews in the USSR, including pogroms and killings followed by mass deportations. The plan coincided with Stalin's death and was not carried out.
In Goldberg's novel, a mixed group of characters come together in a plot to assassinate Stalin before this contemplated second Holocaust. The group includes an aging actor from the former State Jewish Theater, a gifted Jewish surgeon, an African American engineer, a young woman immigrant, a former member of the Jewish bund, and an elderly Christian woman who had been a friend of the great poet Anna Akhmanova. The group observes the beginnings of the planned action, following the notorious and historical "Doctor's Plot" and works to take action with several preliminary killings along the way.
The novel is wordy with a varied tone. It is presented in the form of a three-act Shakespearean play with comments and editorializing from the narrator. The characters often speak in idiomatic and expressive Russian or Yiddish which is presented in the text and then translated. Portions of the story are told in play-like dialogue.
The book offers a detailed portrayal of life in Stalinist Russia and extends back through the Russian Revolution. The actor and the physician were both war heroes prior to assuming their roles in civilian life. The book describes their exploits in the army and in Moscow's celebrated Yiddish Theater and in the operating room. The book has a great sense of intellectual liveliness and of particularity with depictions of famous poets, novelists, scientists, actors, and others who for a time were attracted to what appeared to be the promise of Communism and of an egalitarian society. The book also shows the rampant anti-Semitism in the USSR with its libels and violence against Jewish people.
As a whole, the storyline of the book is broad implausible and involuted, and sometimes confusing. The reader is pulled in too many different directions. The flashbacks into the lives of the many characters often are intrusive making the book difficult to follow.
The book works best in its many individual scenes, even when these scenes do not hang together. The many scenes of violence and killing are sharply done and would not be out of place in a Tarrantino film. The portrayals of the Yiddish Theater and its actors and writers are wonderfully done, as are the portrayals of Paul Robeson, Shmuel Halkin, Akhmatova, John Scott (an American who wrote a book called "Beyond the Urals" about his experiences working in the USSR) and many others. The portrayal of Jewish life, largely but not entirely secular, is fondly done. The thugs and criminals of Moscow are convincingly portrayed as are the insidious preparations for the planned pogrom and deportation.
In short, the book suffers from its organization, from attempting too many things, and from its shifts in tone. The book's many particular scenes, discussions of character and of ideas, and portrayals of Soviet life and of the madness of the totalitarian state outweigh these deficiencies and on the whole make the book rewarding.
Robin Friedman
Paul Goldberg's novel, "The Yid", madcap and highly serious, is set in Moscow during the week before the death of Stalin on March 1, 1953. The premise of the book is that Stalin had planned a large scale action against the Jews in the USSR, including pogroms and killings followed by mass deportations. The plan coincided with Stalin's death and was not carried out.
In Goldberg's novel, a mixed group of characters come together in a plot to assassinate Stalin before this contemplated second Holocaust. The group includes an aging actor from the former State Jewish Theater, a gifted Jewish surgeon, an African American engineer, a young woman immigrant, a former member of the Jewish bund, and an elderly Christian woman who had been a friend of the great poet Anna Akhmanova. The group observes the beginnings of the planned action, following the notorious and historical "Doctor's Plot" and works to take action with several preliminary killings along the way.
The novel is wordy with a varied tone. It is presented in the form of a three-act Shakespearean play with comments and editorializing from the narrator. The characters often speak in idiomatic and expressive Russian or Yiddish which is presented in the text and then translated. Portions of the story are told in play-like dialogue.
The book offers a detailed portrayal of life in Stalinist Russia and extends back through the Russian Revolution. The actor and the physician were both war heroes prior to assuming their roles in civilian life. The book describes their exploits in the army and in Moscow's celebrated Yiddish Theater and in the operating room. The book has a great sense of intellectual liveliness and of particularity with depictions of famous poets, novelists, scientists, actors, and others who for a time were attracted to what appeared to be the promise of Communism and of an egalitarian society. The book also shows the rampant anti-Semitism in the USSR with its libels and violence against Jewish people.
As a whole, the storyline of the book is broad implausible and involuted, and sometimes confusing. The reader is pulled in too many different directions. The flashbacks into the lives of the many characters often are intrusive making the book difficult to follow.
The book works best in its many individual scenes, even when these scenes do not hang together. The many scenes of violence and killing are sharply done and would not be out of place in a Tarrantino film. The portrayals of the Yiddish Theater and its actors and writers are wonderfully done, as are the portrayals of Paul Robeson, Shmuel Halkin, Akhmatova, John Scott (an American who wrote a book called "Beyond the Urals" about his experiences working in the USSR) and many others. The portrayal of Jewish life, largely but not entirely secular, is fondly done. The thugs and criminals of Moscow are convincingly portrayed as are the insidious preparations for the planned pogrom and deportation.
In short, the book suffers from its organization, from attempting too many things, and from its shifts in tone. The book's many particular scenes, discussions of character and of ideas, and portrayals of Soviet life and of the madness of the totalitarian state outweigh these deficiencies and on the whole make the book rewarding.
Robin Friedman
February 23, 2018
Lately I've been devouring books about Stalinist Russia and this was no exception. The Yid is largely based on factual events that occurred in February 1953 when Stalin ordered a pogram to solve Russia's Jewish problem with massive deportations to Siberia. A group of misfits come together to commit regicide by killing Stalin. There is an abundance of humor in this book that made me laugh out loud multiple times and I really appreciated the Russian and Yiddish that was peppered throughout. I learned so much about this time period and spent much time on Google looking up the individuals and events that were mentioned. The most interesting character was Lewis who was African-American and moved to Russia to escape Jim Crow for Communism that does not discriminate due to race - or so he thought. This is a great book that I enjoyed more than I orginally anticipated.
March 1, 2016
Fascinating! Original!
Obviously, it "spoke" to me on a personal level since I am a Russian Jew, emigrated from Moscow in '79 at the age of 20. Many places and names were very familiar (Malakhovka, Kuntsevo, all of center of Moscow...). I even met the widow of Alexis Granovsky, founder of GOSET.
I do hope that despite such specific references this book would be read and appreciated by American readers, not necessarily of Jewish or Russian background, but anyone who appreciates alternative history, dark humor, theater, "Inglorious Basterds", Gogol, Bulgakov, Pushkin, Shakespeare etc. Or has heard of Paul Robeson.Or "King Lear".
I hope such associations will whet your curiosity. It is well worth it.
Obviously, it "spoke" to me on a personal level since I am a Russian Jew, emigrated from Moscow in '79 at the age of 20. Many places and names were very familiar (Malakhovka, Kuntsevo, all of center of Moscow...). I even met the widow of Alexis Granovsky, founder of GOSET.
I do hope that despite such specific references this book would be read and appreciated by American readers, not necessarily of Jewish or Russian background, but anyone who appreciates alternative history, dark humor, theater, "Inglorious Basterds", Gogol, Bulgakov, Pushkin, Shakespeare etc. Or has heard of Paul Robeson.Or "King Lear".
I hope such associations will whet your curiosity. It is well worth it.
Read
February 2, 2016It's Moscow in 1953, a week before Stalin's death, and the government arrives to arrest an elderly Jewish actor, Solomon Shimonovich Levinson. But looks, and age, can be deceiving and instead their actions set off a series of wild events all with one goal: assassinate Stalin. Fearless, violent, and fierce, and featuring a ragtag gang of conspirators, The Yid is a wildly imaginative look at an attempt on Stalin's life, and an inventive historical novel.
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February 10, 2016
Paul Goldberg’s The Yid is such an original work that it’s hard to know where to begin with a review. Goldberg tells the stories of six friends—four of them Jewish—who cook up a plan to kill Stalin at the same time that Stalin is developing plans to expel (with some other kinds of elimination as well) all Jews from Russia. Solomon Levinson, who sets the novel’s action in motion is a former Red Russian fighter who later became an actor in the Moscow State Jewish Theater (no longer in existence). When members of the secret police arrive to arrest him, Levinson puts on the performance of a lifetime, first confounding, then killing them.
The action of the novel spirals out chaotically after this. Levinson’s friend Frederick Lewis, an African-American engineer from the US living in Russia to avoid the racism of his home country, agrees to help get rid of the bodies. Next the pair head to the home of their friend the doctor Aleksander Kogan, who owns a dacha where they hope to hide the bodies. As the novel progresses, they are joined by Kima, a young woman whose father was killed in a previous purge; Moisey Semyonovich, who like Levinson and Kogan is a former revolutionary; and Ol’ga Fydorovna, who was once a companion to radical poets, most now dead.
If this were all there was to the novel, it would still be a grand success of dark humor, but the omniscient narrator comments on the action, exploring and critiquing it the way a theater critic might approach a new play. In a sense, The Yid is a text that annotates itself. The badinage (in both Russian and Yiddish), while fit for a comedy of manners, has some of humanity’s deepest questions at its heart, with observations that are simultaneously heart-breaking and hilarious.
In short: The Yid is a remarkable work of fiction, genuinely unique (a word that gets thrown around far too often), offering a teetering balance of history, humor, and tragedy. Read it.
The action of the novel spirals out chaotically after this. Levinson’s friend Frederick Lewis, an African-American engineer from the US living in Russia to avoid the racism of his home country, agrees to help get rid of the bodies. Next the pair head to the home of their friend the doctor Aleksander Kogan, who owns a dacha where they hope to hide the bodies. As the novel progresses, they are joined by Kima, a young woman whose father was killed in a previous purge; Moisey Semyonovich, who like Levinson and Kogan is a former revolutionary; and Ol’ga Fydorovna, who was once a companion to radical poets, most now dead.
If this were all there was to the novel, it would still be a grand success of dark humor, but the omniscient narrator comments on the action, exploring and critiquing it the way a theater critic might approach a new play. In a sense, The Yid is a text that annotates itself. The badinage (in both Russian and Yiddish), while fit for a comedy of manners, has some of humanity’s deepest questions at its heart, with observations that are simultaneously heart-breaking and hilarious.
In short: The Yid is a remarkable work of fiction, genuinely unique (a word that gets thrown around far too often), offering a teetering balance of history, humor, and tragedy. Read it.
March 9, 2016
I am surprised by the good reviews of this claptrap. It is more like a schlocky Soviet version of “The King and I” than like “Catch 22” as a few reviewers claimed. It begins well enough. The Jewish actor Solomon Levinson elegantly eviscerates three Stalinist goons who come to his apartment to “disappear” him. It was an elegant surprising beginning. I thought I was going to love the book. The problem is that this motif is repeated over and over again until it becomes mere shtick. It gets two stars only because of the first chapter. It quickly becomes ludicrous as opposed to absurd, and by the end, infuriating. The conclusion, which I initially thought would be both hilarious and terrifying landed with a total thud- predictable and hollow. The repeated references to Shakespeare, Pushkin and Chekov made the stilted and annoying style only seem worse. Read instead Anthony Marra’s “The God of Love and Techno”- a truly imaginative and poetic work also starting in the Stalinist period.
May 22, 2016
The Yid
Mysterious Book Report No. 245
by John Dwaine McKenna
The legacy of Joseph Stalin, the ruthless dictator of the Soviet Union during the 1930s, 40s and early 50s, is one of famine, endless bloodshed and tens of millions of deaths due to malfeasance, malevolence and gross mismanagement. It was an era of terror for ordinary citizens . . . a time when neighbor spied upon neighbor and a careless word of criticism could result in torture, imprisonment in a Siberian gulag, or even execution in some cases. It was an epoch that dripped with blood and remained cloaked in mystery. But now that’s changing. And thanks to one of the most remarkable debut novels we’ve ever reviewed, light is starting to shine into ever-smaller nooks and crannies of those torturous years.
The Yid, (Picador/ St Martin’s Press, $26.00, 301 pages, ISBN 978-1-250-07903-9) by Paul Goldberg is part historical, part anecdotal, and part biographical, it is well-researched, well-informed, well-written, erudite, zany, action-packed, profane, blood-drenched and sparkles with repartee as well as being loaded to the gills with gallows humor and pathos. It begins in the last week of February, 1953 during the wee hours of the morning when a Black Maria . . . a paddy wagon used by agents of state security (the KGB) to pick up and transport enemies of the state to a Moscow prison called the Lubyanka, where they’ll be kept, interrogated and tortured before being executed or deported to freezing work camps in Siberia . . . a place from which many never return. But on this night, Tuesday, February 24, 1953 at precisely 2:37 a.m., amid rumors that ‘Papa Joe’ Stalin is about to launch a last great program to rid the Soviet Union of all of it’s two million Jews, three uniformed officers come to arrest an old man. His name is Solomon Shimonovich Levinson, a former actor at the now defunct State Jewish Theater. He’s an old Yid--a derogatory term for Jews--and most likely decrepit. The lieutenant and his pair of enlisted men expect a routine arrest without complication, for he’s old, a Yid and lives alone. No wife, no kids or others to weep and wail or beg for his life. Indeed, when he opens the door Levinson . . . dressed in long purple shorts, brown undershirt, a red robe and sporting an ascot about his neck . . . looks like a clown. His response however, is both unexpected and unlike anything the three state security agents have ever experienced, and it’s just the opening act of what becomes a wild, complex plot to assassinate a well-protected, paranoid despot and mass-murderer. It’s an act of madness, to be carried out by a group of aged, educated and disaffected veterans of “The Great Patriotic War,” as they call the Russian Revolution, along with a young communist woman and a middle-aged, black American engineer who’s an enthusiastic socialist expat fleeing the racism of his native country. They are in fact, the most unlikely cast of characters one could imagine, on a suicidal, daft mission . . . all under an impending cloud of doom in the form of a second Holocaust. It is the stuff of legend . . . or utter folly!
Mysterious Book Report No. 245
by John Dwaine McKenna
The legacy of Joseph Stalin, the ruthless dictator of the Soviet Union during the 1930s, 40s and early 50s, is one of famine, endless bloodshed and tens of millions of deaths due to malfeasance, malevolence and gross mismanagement. It was an era of terror for ordinary citizens . . . a time when neighbor spied upon neighbor and a careless word of criticism could result in torture, imprisonment in a Siberian gulag, or even execution in some cases. It was an epoch that dripped with blood and remained cloaked in mystery. But now that’s changing. And thanks to one of the most remarkable debut novels we’ve ever reviewed, light is starting to shine into ever-smaller nooks and crannies of those torturous years.
The Yid, (Picador/ St Martin’s Press, $26.00, 301 pages, ISBN 978-1-250-07903-9) by Paul Goldberg is part historical, part anecdotal, and part biographical, it is well-researched, well-informed, well-written, erudite, zany, action-packed, profane, blood-drenched and sparkles with repartee as well as being loaded to the gills with gallows humor and pathos. It begins in the last week of February, 1953 during the wee hours of the morning when a Black Maria . . . a paddy wagon used by agents of state security (the KGB) to pick up and transport enemies of the state to a Moscow prison called the Lubyanka, where they’ll be kept, interrogated and tortured before being executed or deported to freezing work camps in Siberia . . . a place from which many never return. But on this night, Tuesday, February 24, 1953 at precisely 2:37 a.m., amid rumors that ‘Papa Joe’ Stalin is about to launch a last great program to rid the Soviet Union of all of it’s two million Jews, three uniformed officers come to arrest an old man. His name is Solomon Shimonovich Levinson, a former actor at the now defunct State Jewish Theater. He’s an old Yid--a derogatory term for Jews--and most likely decrepit. The lieutenant and his pair of enlisted men expect a routine arrest without complication, for he’s old, a Yid and lives alone. No wife, no kids or others to weep and wail or beg for his life. Indeed, when he opens the door Levinson . . . dressed in long purple shorts, brown undershirt, a red robe and sporting an ascot about his neck . . . looks like a clown. His response however, is both unexpected and unlike anything the three state security agents have ever experienced, and it’s just the opening act of what becomes a wild, complex plot to assassinate a well-protected, paranoid despot and mass-murderer. It’s an act of madness, to be carried out by a group of aged, educated and disaffected veterans of “The Great Patriotic War,” as they call the Russian Revolution, along with a young communist woman and a middle-aged, black American engineer who’s an enthusiastic socialist expat fleeing the racism of his native country. They are in fact, the most unlikely cast of characters one could imagine, on a suicidal, daft mission . . . all under an impending cloud of doom in the form of a second Holocaust. It is the stuff of legend . . . or utter folly!
May 14, 2020
Alternate history that is part Shakespeare, part Chekhov, and a little Tarantino? Sold. This novel is not like anything I have read before. I was tempted halfway to give it 3 stars because I did not feel particularly connected with the characters (and did not expect it to be an ensemble, honestly), but that was my fault for misunderstanding what this book is meant to be. The singular Yid (a slur for Jews in Stalinist Russia) of the title led me to believe there was only one, but all the characters (Jewish or not) were Yids in the end. They all chose their side. This book will appeal to anyone who loves experimental literature and plays, like Rosencrantz and Guildenstern or Waiting for Godot (and probably Pushkin as well, though I have not read him). It is of course very bleak (appropriate for the setting and time) and bloody, but it’s also very historically informative, well-researched, and often wryly funny. The last line is, in fact, a punchline. I love tragicomedy.
March 30, 2017
A political, theatrical, racial, philosophical, comical, horrific romp through a few days at the end of February 1953, as Stalin prepares to eradicate the Jews from Russia. What if, instead of dying of natural causes at his dacha, his end was hastened along by an unlikely band of Jewish, African-American, and Russian resistance fighters? It probably helps to know a little about Russian history to enjoy this book--but I know almost nothing and I picked a lot up from context clues.
May 25, 2016
Perhaps I am too generous with my praise. How else to honor friends and heroes? To condemn cowards and tyrants?
Here we have a small group of people who recognize the signs, who have learned from history. They realize Stalin is about to purge again, this time Russian Jews. Faced with what for them is irrefutable fact, they choose to act, one by one pulled into the 'conspiracy'; one by one choosing to stay.
The premise is outrageous, the humor mordant, blunt, and dark by turns and blends. The characters delightful, the language often interspersed with supposedly incomprehensible phrases for an English-only reader but somehow achieving, like Joyce in "Finnegan's Wake", an elusive, undefined but understandable quality.
A potpourri of people---Jews, men, women, a Negro, old, young---strewn across the Russian countryside. A delightful party.
Recommended.
Here we have a small group of people who recognize the signs, who have learned from history. They realize Stalin is about to purge again, this time Russian Jews. Faced with what for them is irrefutable fact, they choose to act, one by one pulled into the 'conspiracy'; one by one choosing to stay.
The premise is outrageous, the humor mordant, blunt, and dark by turns and blends. The characters delightful, the language often interspersed with supposedly incomprehensible phrases for an English-only reader but somehow achieving, like Joyce in "Finnegan's Wake", an elusive, undefined but understandable quality.
A potpourri of people---Jews, men, women, a Negro, old, young---strewn across the Russian countryside. A delightful party.
Recommended.
November 10, 2016
I couldn't get past Act I. The story line was interesting but I found the pages of backstory, written as asides, totally confusing. Mix in the liberal use of Russian and Yiddish and I was lost. Read about 100 pages and gave up.
June 13, 2016
Why Read: I found the Yid already purchased on my Kindle… But then again, considering the amount of random book-buying moments I find myself in on a daily basis, it’s not too surprising to find books that I may or may not have bought waiting for me. After reading the description, I was fairly sold. Who says no to fun Russian absurdism after all?
Review: There is no question that this book was weird. I’m not even thinking about the plot or the insane characters that come and go t this point: I’m purely talking about style. It’s not a play, but at times the dialogue is written as though for stage directions. It’s definitely NOT a play, but there are three acts. There’s written Russian, but it’s not in Cyrillic. There’s Yiddish, that somehow is understandable to my German ears. I’m not even at the substantive part of this review and I’m already losing it when trying to describe how this book totally turns your understanding of Russia and the Soviet Union upside down (but in a good way – don’t worry).
Speaking of the plot… one of the reasons I enjoyed Yid so much was how the structure mirrored the chaos throughout the book. When a chapter ended, I was never sure what was coming next. Would a new character arise (and therefore a quick backstory), or would we continue forward in the plans to assassinate Stalin and hopefully halt the upcoming slaughter of all Russian Jews? You never knew. That’s what part of made the book so exciting, and I treasured each moment – even though it was a bit confusing, and at times – it was frustrating to be introduced to yet another character……….. only to see them dead three pages later.
The main characters of the troupe generally tended to stick around, and once the pace picked up – I started to learn their quirks, and understand how humour and theatre tactics were used to construct some kind of acting pretence around this crazy and suicidal mission. What was Levinson doing? Who knew? Most likely he was just “saying shit,” but as the reader, you could never really be sure. The backstories were more daunting, filled with orphans, racism and some really sad moments of clarity. I can particularly remember a moment when one of the characters is reflecting on his move from America to Russia and questioning: racism or political ideology? What leads to a worse end?
In the end, that’s what made this book such an enjoyable read. The tone alternates between dry humour and dark truth in the same page, switches between gruesome violence and laugh-out-loud scenes like something from a Wild Western film, and through to the end: I never quite got the hang of catching on until it was too late. The beauty of this book is in its surprises. They will just keep coming, trust me.
Rating: 4/5 Stars
Review: There is no question that this book was weird. I’m not even thinking about the plot or the insane characters that come and go t this point: I’m purely talking about style. It’s not a play, but at times the dialogue is written as though for stage directions. It’s definitely NOT a play, but there are three acts. There’s written Russian, but it’s not in Cyrillic. There’s Yiddish, that somehow is understandable to my German ears. I’m not even at the substantive part of this review and I’m already losing it when trying to describe how this book totally turns your understanding of Russia and the Soviet Union upside down (but in a good way – don’t worry).
Speaking of the plot… one of the reasons I enjoyed Yid so much was how the structure mirrored the chaos throughout the book. When a chapter ended, I was never sure what was coming next. Would a new character arise (and therefore a quick backstory), or would we continue forward in the plans to assassinate Stalin and hopefully halt the upcoming slaughter of all Russian Jews? You never knew. That’s what part of made the book so exciting, and I treasured each moment – even though it was a bit confusing, and at times – it was frustrating to be introduced to yet another character……….. only to see them dead three pages later.
The main characters of the troupe generally tended to stick around, and once the pace picked up – I started to learn their quirks, and understand how humour and theatre tactics were used to construct some kind of acting pretence around this crazy and suicidal mission. What was Levinson doing? Who knew? Most likely he was just “saying shit,” but as the reader, you could never really be sure. The backstories were more daunting, filled with orphans, racism and some really sad moments of clarity. I can particularly remember a moment when one of the characters is reflecting on his move from America to Russia and questioning: racism or political ideology? What leads to a worse end?
In the end, that’s what made this book such an enjoyable read. The tone alternates between dry humour and dark truth in the same page, switches between gruesome violence and laugh-out-loud scenes like something from a Wild Western film, and through to the end: I never quite got the hang of catching on until it was too late. The beauty of this book is in its surprises. They will just keep coming, trust me.
Rating: 4/5 Stars
July 11, 2023
this was such an odd little book. was honestly kinda confused for about 99% of it. but i do appreciate a good historical fiction
April 7, 2016
This was a 3.5 read for me
My thoughts:
A satirical mad-cap adventure tale makes excellent use of effectively blending history, family stories and ingenious imagination.
It is February 1953 and Stalin is about to unleash his biggest pogrom – the elimination of Jewish people from Russia, but as the reader will learn in the first pages the cast of eclectic characters have a plan to foil this plan.
I quickly became endeared to the characters as every time it looked like they were doomed – their imperturbable demeanor got them out of a dodgy situation.
The play-like format organizes the story (into three acts) and the script-like dialogue that provides the philosophical musing among the characters as they proceed to their fantastical task at hand.
While there are comedic incidents, there are many sobering truths that serve to illustrate the madness of the time and place.
Overall, this is a solid debut that entertains and educates and is a welcome addition to the historical fiction genre.
My thoughts:
A satirical mad-cap adventure tale makes excellent use of effectively blending history, family stories and ingenious imagination.
It is February 1953 and Stalin is about to unleash his biggest pogrom – the elimination of Jewish people from Russia, but as the reader will learn in the first pages the cast of eclectic characters have a plan to foil this plan.
I quickly became endeared to the characters as every time it looked like they were doomed – their imperturbable demeanor got them out of a dodgy situation.
The play-like format organizes the story (into three acts) and the script-like dialogue that provides the philosophical musing among the characters as they proceed to their fantastical task at hand.
While there are comedic incidents, there are many sobering truths that serve to illustrate the madness of the time and place.
Overall, this is a solid debut that entertains and educates and is a welcome addition to the historical fiction genre.
August 7, 2016
Perhaps I didn't give this book enough effort, but I found the narrative confusing and frustrating.
The present and past were broken up so often that the author felt to repeat information. Not to mention that writing the same phrase in three languages, meant further repetition.
The book has some good ideas, and an interesting subject, but it bounced around too much for me to care about what was happening or who was involved.
The present and past were broken up so often that the author felt to repeat information. Not to mention that writing the same phrase in three languages, meant further repetition.
The book has some good ideas, and an interesting subject, but it bounced around too much for me to care about what was happening or who was involved.
July 22, 2016
The author tried to do too much: narrate a story (about a former actor), include a historical event (the death of Stalin), create a script (centered on this event), involve characters from the actor's past and present (none of which is fully developed), and translate to/from three languages (Yiddish, Russian, Hebrew). The language issue was the most distracting. A very disappointing effort, in my opinion
January 21, 2016
Combines comedy and drama as a rag tag band of Russian Jews and an American Black plot Stalin's assassination.
Read
January 28, 2016I tip my hat to Paul Goldberg. A lot of people I know are going to love this steeped in Yiddish tale.
December 26, 2018
jews own gallows humor
October 7, 2021
This book exceeded all expectations and was a grand slam for me. Perhaps it happened to tick all of my boxes: slightly quirky story, definitely quirky characters, unconventional story-telling at times (including use of mixed means of communicating dialogue -very intentionally, not just for giggles), dark humor, subtle erudition, very good writing, and pithy observations about the nature of a variety of things (including race relations in the US, theater and the creative arts, Marxism, Stalinism (to the degree that is an -ism). But wait, there's more...
The book centers around a band of unlikely (and yet, as demonstrated, all too likely) cohorts who are trying to extricate their feet from he flaming bag of dog poop in which they unwittingly stepped, namely Stalinist Russia. They muddle through the expected persecutions (e.g., relating to their Jewish identities (no matter how strictly a Marxist-Leninist a Jew any character might have been)) and the completely illogical persecutions (not to imply that the former had real logic...but to wit, at one point - a comedic highlight in my view - the Head of a Hospital creates a yarn by which Jewish doctors had been successfully recruited by the Nazi's (and probably the CIA at the same time) so as to infiltrate Russia and kill the Russian Jews themselves...and thereby...win? I am probably not doing the leaps and twists justice...but it was a gem. the band includes a Black American engineer, who comes to Russia as a welder and ingratiates himself with the plot. The point is made as to how easily one could find oneself (no matter the true nature of your loyalties) on the wrong side of things in that time and place.
The dark humor extends through typical Yiddish/Jewish humor and does a really good job of it at that. The author does a masterful job of finding the absurd in just about anything encountered. While he clearly is no fan of Stalinism and makes no effort to shield it from all-due criticism...he doesn't protect his characters from their own flaws and foibles either.
Some readers complain about the amount of Russian and Yiddish strewn throughout the book. Compared to other books I have read which featured foreign languages and then dealt with translating them for readers, I found this one to be seamless. Goldberg employed a variety of methods of getting his point across and in doing so made it very effective. Sometimes he plopped a translation in, sometimes he indirectly provided the translation supplying it through the reactions/actions of a non-speaking characters, and other times he even went so far as to not translate the meaning at all but to only imply it. It worked for me. Unlike the other works mentioned above, I never felt as if I were listening to a language course or lecture.
The book did make me wish I brought more background knowledge about particular Russian artists/activists of the time. Like other works which are highly informed, every time I bothered to look something up, I was rewarded with new information. This is truly a work of historical fiction, drawing very much on the realities of the time and using them to the reader's ultimate benefit. I cannot recommend this enough...it was brilliant.
The book centers around a band of unlikely (and yet, as demonstrated, all too likely) cohorts who are trying to extricate their feet from he flaming bag of dog poop in which they unwittingly stepped, namely Stalinist Russia. They muddle through the expected persecutions (e.g., relating to their Jewish identities (no matter how strictly a Marxist-Leninist a Jew any character might have been)) and the completely illogical persecutions (not to imply that the former had real logic...but to wit, at one point - a comedic highlight in my view - the Head of a Hospital creates a yarn by which Jewish doctors had been successfully recruited by the Nazi's (and probably the CIA at the same time) so as to infiltrate Russia and kill the Russian Jews themselves...and thereby...win? I am probably not doing the leaps and twists justice...but it was a gem. the band includes a Black American engineer, who comes to Russia as a welder and ingratiates himself with the plot. The point is made as to how easily one could find oneself (no matter the true nature of your loyalties) on the wrong side of things in that time and place.
The dark humor extends through typical Yiddish/Jewish humor and does a really good job of it at that. The author does a masterful job of finding the absurd in just about anything encountered. While he clearly is no fan of Stalinism and makes no effort to shield it from all-due criticism...he doesn't protect his characters from their own flaws and foibles either.
Some readers complain about the amount of Russian and Yiddish strewn throughout the book. Compared to other books I have read which featured foreign languages and then dealt with translating them for readers, I found this one to be seamless. Goldberg employed a variety of methods of getting his point across and in doing so made it very effective. Sometimes he plopped a translation in, sometimes he indirectly provided the translation supplying it through the reactions/actions of a non-speaking characters, and other times he even went so far as to not translate the meaning at all but to only imply it. It worked for me. Unlike the other works mentioned above, I never felt as if I were listening to a language course or lecture.
The book did make me wish I brought more background knowledge about particular Russian artists/activists of the time. Like other works which are highly informed, every time I bothered to look something up, I was rewarded with new information. This is truly a work of historical fiction, drawing very much on the realities of the time and using them to the reader's ultimate benefit. I cannot recommend this enough...it was brilliant.
August 16, 2019
In this tale, an unlikely group hatch a plot to kill Stalin. One of them narrowly escapes being arrested and taken away by Stalin's minions. He manages to kill the three people who came after him. After that happened, he had to figure out a way to get away with the murders and save his own life. With the help of a few of his friends, they hatch a crazy plot to kill Stalin.
I won't tell you how it ends. You will have to read the book yourself to find out.
I won't tell you how it ends. You will have to read the book yourself to find out.
March 11, 2020
3.5 stars. Russia in 1953, alternate history of the death of Stalin right before he was to kick off a(nother) pogrom against the Jews. Merry band of weirdo misfits is endearing and the story is pretty well structured but mostly I loved the odd bits of history where you felt the warp of the real fabric of How Things Were show through. Spent an hour nerding about Stalin after this was done. What a deplorable asshole.
November 28, 2021
This is a peculiar little book. I expected nothing and I can’t believe I’ve almost robbed myself off that experience and took it back to the library. My only wish is to see Ritchie turn this book into a movie. With the wit and black humour and the horror. What a vibe
July 13, 2021
Messy. I couldn’t tell what was going on for half of it.
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August 21, 2025Impudently hilarious and a real challenge to pigeon-hole. It would be a shame to call it a Soviet "Inglorious Basterds" because of the gratuitous violence, but the cheeky subversion is there, for sure. Had a great time reading this. Catharsis for those whose countries have fallen to authoritarianism in '25.
February 2, 2016
There’s no lock on a mouth | There’s no one as deaf as he who will not listen | Thieves and those in love both love darkness | Things are not as quickly achieved as conceived | Things can’t be bad all the time, nor good all the time | Things may get worse before they get better | Thistle sticks to clothes and disease to the body | Those who can’t bite should not show their teeth | Three things cannot be hidden: love, coughing and poverty | Time brings wounds and heals them | Time can alter everything | Time is the best physician | To be miserly is worse than to steal | To every answer you can find a new question | To every new song one can find an old tune | To fall down you manage alone but it takes friendly hands to get up | To have money is a good thing; to have a say over the money is even better | To make promises and to love don’t cost any money.
Well, what has the above got to do with The Yid: A Novel by Paul Goldberg? Well, actually nothing but a lot as I’m fascinated with Yiddish sayings, proverbs, phrases, aphorisms, curses, and insults. I was immediately able to connect the two, and the resulting entertainment which I derived from this well thought-out historical novel as a diverse and disorderly group of people come together to plot the assassination of Stalin was absolutely worth the time. It is a fun and drama-filled story soaked in Yiddish tale but made in Russia.
The year is 1953, and the place is Moscow. Stalin is determined to carry out his own pogrom to exterminate the Jewish people. But a ragtag group decides to be a step of him, and plotted to have him eliminated. The characters are idiosyncratic but interesting. Author Paul Goldberg writes in such a style that there is never a dull moment. The novel also serves as a commentary on the period, and readers get to take an inside look from outside on Russia during the Stalin-era. While the mischievous nature of the book may not go down well with some readers, the incongruities and farcicalities worked fine with me as an entertaining read. I definitely recommend this book for anyone who likes a light read!
Well, what has the above got to do with The Yid: A Novel by Paul Goldberg? Well, actually nothing but a lot as I’m fascinated with Yiddish sayings, proverbs, phrases, aphorisms, curses, and insults. I was immediately able to connect the two, and the resulting entertainment which I derived from this well thought-out historical novel as a diverse and disorderly group of people come together to plot the assassination of Stalin was absolutely worth the time. It is a fun and drama-filled story soaked in Yiddish tale but made in Russia.
The year is 1953, and the place is Moscow. Stalin is determined to carry out his own pogrom to exterminate the Jewish people. But a ragtag group decides to be a step of him, and plotted to have him eliminated. The characters are idiosyncratic but interesting. Author Paul Goldberg writes in such a style that there is never a dull moment. The novel also serves as a commentary on the period, and readers get to take an inside look from outside on Russia during the Stalin-era. While the mischievous nature of the book may not go down well with some readers, the incongruities and farcicalities worked fine with me as an entertaining read. I definitely recommend this book for anyone who likes a light read!
March 6, 2016
Okay, an old Jewish actor, a Jewish doctor, and an African American engineer try to get rid of the bodies of three of Stalin's police sent to arrest the old comedian. It's not a joke! It's Moscow in 1953, during Stalin's "Doctors' War" when he arrested as many physicians as possible (who were mostly Jewish) in advance of his plan for a pogrom the size of which would dwarf Hitler's effort.
There's schtick and Shakespeare, some history of the Yiddish theater in Russia. The characters are surprising, and you get a good sense of how Russians lived/survived at that time, paranoid and grief stricken at the loss or disappearance of loved ones. but somehow "The Yid" never clicked with me and I had my own struggle to reach the end. It was too picaresque for me, too free floating and surreal, which I guess is right for a novel set in that time and place.
There's schtick and Shakespeare, some history of the Yiddish theater in Russia. The characters are surprising, and you get a good sense of how Russians lived/survived at that time, paranoid and grief stricken at the loss or disappearance of loved ones. but somehow "The Yid" never clicked with me and I had my own struggle to reach the end. It was too picaresque for me, too free floating and surreal, which I guess is right for a novel set in that time and place.
March 9, 2016
This was actually 3-1/2 stars for me. I liked the combination of fiction and nonfiction. While I recognized that this was a good book that had me laughing out loud in places, and dealt with an interesting topic (Stalin's plan to carry out a "final solution" of his Russian Jews), I got bogged down repeatedly in the Russian and Yiddish languages, even though they were usually translated into English. Also there were long monologues that had me reading twice. I don't mind doing that in a nonfiction book, but in a novel I want to read smoothly and immerse myself in the flow.
February 6, 2017
A very strange book and hard to follow in places because of the non English words (Russian, Yiddish) spread liberally through out. Some sly humor and violence but nothing too hard to take. Definitely different than any other book I have read and I am not sure I would want to read many more like it. The horribleness and hopelessness of Stalin's USSR shows through on every page. Ugh! what a time. Let us hope never to be there again.
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