What do you think?
Rate this book
Dubin's Lives
With a new introduction by Thomas Mallon
Dubin's Lives (1979) is a compassionate and wry commedia, a book praised by Christopher Lehmann-Haupt in The New York Times as Malamud's "best novel since The Assistant . Possibly, it is the best he has written of all."
Its protagonist is one of Malamud's finest characters; prize-winning biographer William Dubin, who learns from lives, or thinks he those he writes, those he shares, the life he lives. Now in his later middle age, he seeks his own secret self, and the obsession of biography is supplanted by the obsession of love--love for a woman half is age, who has sought an understanding of her life through his books. Dubin's Lives is a rich, subtle book, as well as a moving tale of love and marriage.
Dubin's Lives (1979) is a compassionate and wry commedia, a book praised by Christopher Lehmann-Haupt in The New York Times as Malamud's "best novel since The Assistant . Possibly, it is the best he has written of all."
Its protagonist is one of Malamud's finest characters; prize-winning biographer William Dubin, who learns from lives, or thinks he those he writes, those he shares, the life he lives. Now in his later middle age, he seeks his own secret self, and the obsession of biography is supplanted by the obsession of love--love for a woman half is age, who has sought an understanding of her life through his books. Dubin's Lives is a rich, subtle book, as well as a moving tale of love and marriage.
368 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1977
21 people are currently reading
667 people want to read
About the author
Bernard Malamud
159 books487 followersBernard Malamud was an American novelist and short story writer. Along with Saul Bellow, Joseph Heller, Norman Mailer and Philip Roth, he was one of the best known American Jewish authors of the 20th century. His baseball novel, The Natural, was adapted into a 1984 film starring Robert Redford. His 1966 novel The Fixer (also filmed), about antisemitism in the Russian Empire, won both the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 57 reviews
October 18, 2018
This is about a biographer, his wife and his mistress. Also about marriage, mid-life crises, family relationships and love ties. William Dubin, has chosen to become a biographer because by writing biographies he reasons he will be able to grasp another person’s life. Maybe through understanding others he would come to understand himself. He has written biographies on Robert Frost, Henry Thoreau, Abraham Lincoln and Mark Twain. Now he is writing about D. H. Lawrence whose complicated love relationships have him analyzing his own. The book has quotes and interesting personal tidbits about the above named and others such as Montaigne, Carlyle, Mahler and Schubert. I like the peppering of quotes. I like how Dubin sought to understand himself by understanding how others have thought. He personalizes others’ life philosophies.
What drew me most to the book is its perfect mirroring of how New Englanders in the late 60s and early 70s viewed the world. Nixon, Watergate, and the Vietnam War set the background, as well as free love, flower power, Zen and an innocence and naivety in the belief that with a little protest problems will be solved and all will get better. Reading the book now, four decades after its publication in 1977, one is struck by both what has changed and what remains the same.
The writing mirrors East Coast mannerisms and dialog. Dubin lives with his wife in a rural community in upper New York State near the Vermont border. With his lover, who by the way is half his age, there are frequent trips to the Big City and occasionally abroad too. The son, a Vietnam deserter, is off to Sweden and Russia. The daughter is in Los Angeles and into Zen.
In its ability to so well capture a past time and place, one can today classify this as a book of historical fiction. Of course, when Malamud wrote it he was writing of contemporary times. I felt at home, but for others of later generations, it provides a learning experience.
Malamud describes nature—flowers, birds. seasons and storms--beautifully and accurately. He quite simply writes well. He captures guilt, through characters’ hearing of voices and steps-- here the writing borders on the Gothic. He draws sex in ways some may view as too erotic, but not to one of the Hippie generation. Thinking through the why of people’s behavior is much of what this book is about.
The book should have been better edited and thus shorter. Despite this, I liked it a lot.
If you are looking for a book that draws people who learn their lessons and improve, the book is probably not for you. If you are born in the forties or fifties or are curious about the Hippie generation, appreciate good writing and can deal with people who fumble, seek understanding but still fail, give the book a try.
I listened to an audiobook narrated by Victor Bevine. I felt the narration started off stilted. By the end I liked it a lot. I have given the narration four stars.
****************
The Assistant 4 stars
Dubin's Lives 4 stars
The Fixer 4 stars
A New Life 3 stars
My Father Is a Book 2 stars
The Tenants TBR
Bernard Malamud: A Writer's Life TBR
What drew me most to the book is its perfect mirroring of how New Englanders in the late 60s and early 70s viewed the world. Nixon, Watergate, and the Vietnam War set the background, as well as free love, flower power, Zen and an innocence and naivety in the belief that with a little protest problems will be solved and all will get better. Reading the book now, four decades after its publication in 1977, one is struck by both what has changed and what remains the same.
The writing mirrors East Coast mannerisms and dialog. Dubin lives with his wife in a rural community in upper New York State near the Vermont border. With his lover, who by the way is half his age, there are frequent trips to the Big City and occasionally abroad too. The son, a Vietnam deserter, is off to Sweden and Russia. The daughter is in Los Angeles and into Zen.
In its ability to so well capture a past time and place, one can today classify this as a book of historical fiction. Of course, when Malamud wrote it he was writing of contemporary times. I felt at home, but for others of later generations, it provides a learning experience.
Malamud describes nature—flowers, birds. seasons and storms--beautifully and accurately. He quite simply writes well. He captures guilt, through characters’ hearing of voices and steps-- here the writing borders on the Gothic. He draws sex in ways some may view as too erotic, but not to one of the Hippie generation. Thinking through the why of people’s behavior is much of what this book is about.
The book should have been better edited and thus shorter. Despite this, I liked it a lot.
If you are looking for a book that draws people who learn their lessons and improve, the book is probably not for you. If you are born in the forties or fifties or are curious about the Hippie generation, appreciate good writing and can deal with people who fumble, seek understanding but still fail, give the book a try.
I listened to an audiobook narrated by Victor Bevine. I felt the narration started off stilted. By the end I liked it a lot. I have given the narration four stars.
****************
The Assistant 4 stars
Dubin's Lives 4 stars
The Fixer 4 stars
A New Life 3 stars
My Father Is a Book 2 stars
The Tenants TBR
Bernard Malamud: A Writer's Life TBR
October 22, 2023
Un uomo di mezza età, scrittore di necrologi di personalità letterarie, affermatosi poi come biografo, vive una tranquilla esistenza in un piccolo centro agricolo dello stato di New York. William Dubin sarebbe rimasto scapolo se un giorno alla sua scrivania non fosse giunta una lettera di una giovane vedova con figlio, in cerca - tramite la testata - di una possibile frequentazione maschile a scopo di matrimonio. Così William si sposa, sposa Kitty ancora legata al fantasma del suo Nathaniel, mentre lui, William, nel frattempo matura un certo successo con le sue biografie; pubblica “Vite brevi” compendio di tragiche e premature dipartite oltre che di illuminanti esistenze, ha all’attivo una bella biografia su Lincoln e di recente ha riscosso un congruo successo con quella di Thoreau.
William Dubin si prospetta fin dalle prime pagine come un personaggio imperdibile, è incontenibile nello snocciolare aneddoti sulle vite altrui, per ogni occasione è lì ad associare un’illustre esistenza. Schubert morto a trentuno anni , Cechov malato di tubercolosi , D.H Lawrence condannato dalla stessa patologia. E quest’ultimo, lo scrittore scandaloso de “L’amante di Lady Chatterley”, è l’oggetto del suo ultimo studio, di lui scriverà una biografia grandiosa. In realtà mentre ormai è più vicino ai sessanta che ai cinquanta, diventato padre anche di Maud , ma allontanatisi entrambi i figli ormai grandi, attraversa una crisi esistenziale che va a coincidere con il suo essere fedifrago, il suo rapporto con la moglie diventa opprimente e tedioso mentre spunta come un bel fiore la giovanissima Fanny.
Ho letto con interesse le prime duecento pagine, protesa all’incompletezza di un uomo incapace di godere e di vivere la propria esistenza, saturo però delle vite altrui, di quegli uomini che in campo letterario avevano lasciato un segno. William vive ricostruendo i vissuti celebri mentre si perde correndo nella campagna, inseguendo una dieta, tentando di vivere il suo matrimonio, ripercorrendo però in maniera compulsiva le vite altrui. Anche la moglie, ben caratterizzata quanto lui, ha aumentato la curiosità col procedere della lettura che nel frattempo si è involuta nelle oltre cinquecento pagine in modo spesso triste e ripetitivo senza slanci narrativi interessanti nell’incedere ciclico delle stagioni. Nemmeno l’abilità, devo dire per me sorprendente rispetto all’idea più casta che mi ero fatta dell’autore, di rappresentare la sessualità all’interno del matrimonio e soprattutto fuori, ha mantenuto desta la mia attenzione pertanto ho faticato a portare a termine il romanzo trovandolo infine inconcludente e irrisolto come lo stesso Dubin, anche se efficace, riuscito e potente personaggio.
William Dubin si prospetta fin dalle prime pagine come un personaggio imperdibile, è incontenibile nello snocciolare aneddoti sulle vite altrui, per ogni occasione è lì ad associare un’illustre esistenza. Schubert morto a trentuno anni , Cechov malato di tubercolosi , D.H Lawrence condannato dalla stessa patologia. E quest’ultimo, lo scrittore scandaloso de “L’amante di Lady Chatterley”, è l’oggetto del suo ultimo studio, di lui scriverà una biografia grandiosa. In realtà mentre ormai è più vicino ai sessanta che ai cinquanta, diventato padre anche di Maud , ma allontanatisi entrambi i figli ormai grandi, attraversa una crisi esistenziale che va a coincidere con il suo essere fedifrago, il suo rapporto con la moglie diventa opprimente e tedioso mentre spunta come un bel fiore la giovanissima Fanny.
Ho letto con interesse le prime duecento pagine, protesa all’incompletezza di un uomo incapace di godere e di vivere la propria esistenza, saturo però delle vite altrui, di quegli uomini che in campo letterario avevano lasciato un segno. William vive ricostruendo i vissuti celebri mentre si perde correndo nella campagna, inseguendo una dieta, tentando di vivere il suo matrimonio, ripercorrendo però in maniera compulsiva le vite altrui. Anche la moglie, ben caratterizzata quanto lui, ha aumentato la curiosità col procedere della lettura che nel frattempo si è involuta nelle oltre cinquecento pagine in modo spesso triste e ripetitivo senza slanci narrativi interessanti nell’incedere ciclico delle stagioni. Nemmeno l’abilità, devo dire per me sorprendente rispetto all’idea più casta che mi ero fatta dell’autore, di rappresentare la sessualità all’interno del matrimonio e soprattutto fuori, ha mantenuto desta la mia attenzione pertanto ho faticato a portare a termine il romanzo trovandolo infine inconcludente e irrisolto come lo stesso Dubin, anche se efficace, riuscito e potente personaggio.
July 25, 2016
Malamud ha questa dote: prendere storie apparentemente banali, di ultimi, e renderle brillanti.
È la storia di un biografo, così intento nel narrare la vita degli altri, che dimentica di vivere la propria.
È la storia di una donna, moglie del biografo, imprigionata nel primo matrimonio da cui era rimasta vedova, che rende infelice la sua e la vita di chi gli sta intorno.
È la storia di una giovane donna che riporta la gioia nella vita del biografo.
Tradimenti, verità, finzioni si susseguono in un valzer di colpi di scena.
È la storia di un biografo, così intento nel narrare la vita degli altri, che dimentica di vivere la propria.
È la storia di una donna, moglie del biografo, imprigionata nel primo matrimonio da cui era rimasta vedova, che rende infelice la sua e la vita di chi gli sta intorno.
È la storia di una giovane donna che riporta la gioia nella vita del biografo.
Tradimenti, verità, finzioni si susseguono in un valzer di colpi di scena.
September 28, 2022
La lingua non è vita. Io ho rinunciato a vivere per scrivere vite.
quasi 🌟🌟🌟🌟
Romanzo che mi ha mandato in crisi come è in crisi il protagonista.
William Dubin è un biografo il quale - dopo una serie di fortunate biografie su Thoreau, Twain e Abramo Lincoln - incappa nella stesura della vita "scandalosa" di D.H. Lawrence. L’autore di “L’amante di Lady Chatterley” porta in essere l'adulterio nella vita precisa e metodica del biografo cinquantenne.
Se fosse una storia di un triangolo amoroso, l'avrei abbandonato. Idem se fosse stato un elogio alla pippa mentale. Le vite di Dubin sono anche questo eppure sono arrivato alla fine e sento che c'è molto in queste 500 e passa pagine.
L'intreccio di vite vortica in una spirale (non quella di Fanny) complessa perchè complessa è la vita reale. Nella vita reale si prova noia e io l'ho provata in molti parti del romanzo ma, nonostante questo, non me ne sono distaccato. Penso che la bravura di Malamud sia tutta qui: Riuscire a mostrarti il tedio e la stasi di vite incompiute o che sarebbero potute lasciandotele interessanti
E per metterlo in atto sfrutta, tra i tanti momenti di impasse, il susseguirsi delle stagioni e i pensieri del protagonista
Il passato trasuda leggenda: non si ricava argilla pura dal fango del tempo. Non esiste vita che possa essere ricreata integralmente, così come è stata. E ciò equivale a dire che ogni biografia è, in ultima analisi, narrativa. Che cosa dice, questo, della natura della vita, e qualcuno vuole davvero saperlo?
C'è anche la tematica del matrimonio, della psicologia delle relazioni con azioni che, ancora una volta, non risultano sensazionalistiche ma reali e quindi più vere.
Forse un po' troppo lungo. Alcune riflessioni diluiscono la storia e rischiano di annacquarla (o peggio di farla abbandonare).
Un accenno va' al finale comico e a un umorismo rocambolesco che irrompe senza preavviso nell'arco dell'intera trama.
quasi 🌟🌟🌟🌟
Romanzo che mi ha mandato in crisi come è in crisi il protagonista.
William Dubin è un biografo il quale - dopo una serie di fortunate biografie su Thoreau, Twain e Abramo Lincoln - incappa nella stesura della vita "scandalosa" di D.H. Lawrence. L’autore di “L’amante di Lady Chatterley” porta in essere l'adulterio nella vita precisa e metodica del biografo cinquantenne.
Se fosse una storia di un triangolo amoroso, l'avrei abbandonato. Idem se fosse stato un elogio alla pippa mentale. Le vite di Dubin sono anche questo eppure sono arrivato alla fine e sento che c'è molto in queste 500 e passa pagine.
L'intreccio di vite vortica in una spirale (non quella di Fanny) complessa perchè complessa è la vita reale. Nella vita reale si prova noia e io l'ho provata in molti parti del romanzo ma, nonostante questo, non me ne sono distaccato. Penso che la bravura di Malamud sia tutta qui: Riuscire a mostrarti il tedio e la stasi di vite incompiute o che sarebbero potute lasciandotele interessanti
E per metterlo in atto sfrutta, tra i tanti momenti di impasse, il susseguirsi delle stagioni e i pensieri del protagonista
Il passato trasuda leggenda: non si ricava argilla pura dal fango del tempo. Non esiste vita che possa essere ricreata integralmente, così come è stata. E ciò equivale a dire che ogni biografia è, in ultima analisi, narrativa. Che cosa dice, questo, della natura della vita, e qualcuno vuole davvero saperlo?
C'è anche la tematica del matrimonio, della psicologia delle relazioni con azioni che, ancora una volta, non risultano sensazionalistiche ma reali e quindi più vere.
Forse un po' troppo lungo. Alcune riflessioni diluiscono la storia e rischiano di annacquarla (o peggio di farla abbandonare).
Un accenno va' al finale comico e a un umorismo rocambolesco che irrompe senza preavviso nell'arco dell'intera trama.
November 13, 2023
l'esergo a inizio romanzo "dammi la continenza e la castità, ma non ora" è il leit motiv di tutto il romanzo
l'ultima scena è tanto romantica quanto erotica ... ha lo stesso effetto, comico e spiazzante, del verso di dante "ed ei avea del cul fatto trombetta"
William Dubin e Moses Herzog sono compari
l'ultima scena è tanto romantica quanto erotica ... ha lo stesso effetto, comico e spiazzante, del verso di dante "ed ei avea del cul fatto trombetta"
William Dubin e Moses Herzog sono compari
March 27, 2020
If you're a man looking to be more attractive to the ladies and aren't having much luck, perhaps one tactic to consider is changing one's profession in the hope that some professions may be considered "sexier" than others. I'm sure we can all think of some candidates and while a certain facet of the movie industry might try to convince us that "handyman in the summer" is a viable option, perhaps a left-field possibility for those of us not blessed with six-packs could be . . . biographer?
Not just "biographer" but "middle-aged biographer", which is the mental leap that Malamud requires us to make in the course of reading this novel. And while the concept itself might elicit a raised eyebrow from a reader perhaps more slightly versed in reality, I have to say he does a pretty good job of at least making the scenario seem plausible and grounded in something resembling the real world.
His next to last novel (and depending on who you talk to, his last good one) and the longest of his that I've read so far, it concerns the writer William Dubin. A lawyer in his much younger days, he eventually took to writing and has published several successful biographies (and received an award from LBJ for his work on a Thoreau biography), the latest of which is a work in progress on DH Lawrence, he of the shockingly sexy novels because everyone in pre-WWII England seemed to believe that babies came from wishing very hard and no one ever touched each other ever, or even wanted to. He's having some trouble getting his notes together for the book, made worse by worries about money, his wife's neuroses and the idea of getting older as a man in his late fifties.
Then his wife hires a new cleaning lady, twenty-something Fanny, who doesn't mind finding excuses to not clean in order to talk to Dubin, who equally doesn't mind having an attractive young woman chat with him. Well, as you can imagine one thing leads to another and its off to the races we go, only lacking clothes.
Something that I've found Malamud is good at is this ability to construct a world, limited perhaps in its scope but one that still complete, around his characters so what they inhabit feels like a piece, informed and shaped by their own concerns and cares with still enough surprises remaining that they have to constantly react to the ground shifting beneath them. The length of the book seems to give him the room to stretch out into a more deliberate pace (not that he's a pulse-pounding writer but the shorter stuff feels positively feverish compared to this) and with the added space to improvise he finds ways to stretch out. This is the first Malamud novel that feels international, as Dubin for various reasons winds up globetrotting to Venice and Stockholm and the changes in scenery help break up a novel that essentially has to keep you interested in a man's attempts to have his woman and his other woman at the same time.
It’s a premise we've all read and seen (and perhaps, unfortunately, experienced) all too often and while I don't know if Malamud does anything groundbreaking here (not for nothing, its still an older man with a much younger woman . . . come on, Bernard, if "All That Heaven Allows" could pull it off in the mid-fifties, so could you!) what he does continue to excel at is creating characters that feel like they bring the sum total of their experiences, even the ones we're not privy to, to the decisions they make and actions they take, so that the plot of the novel, such as it is, feels more organic than anything else. Its not plot-twisty kind of story so if you intend to read this on the edge of your seat to see if Bernard and Fanny are able to pull off their latest tryst or if Dubin will manage to finish his book before all the women in his life exhaust him, you're going to be sorely disappointed. Those concerns factor into the book but its more of a gradual unfolding, as Dubin and his wife Kitty and their kids and their neighbors and Fanny all interact in various combinations, creating this push-pull feel that drives the novel.
This sort of relaxed attitude makes it highly contemplative, either in Dubin's thoughts as he goes on his many long walks, or in the conversations he has with the people in his life. Everyone's attempting to understand themselves or understand everyone else or make themselves understood, whether its his college age daughter's search for love, or their son's struggle with being an overseas deserter during the Vietnam War era, or Fanny's desire to figure out what she wants out of life . . . everyone is trying, maybe not very well and maybe hurting other people in the course of that trying but still making the attempt. A lot of the book seems devoted to people measuring the gap between where they'd thought they'd be and where they are and how feasible it is to cross it in the time they think they have remaining and trying to decide what degree of acceptance they're willing to live with. They try to ignite, they try to recapture, they try to break out and if none of that works as well as they'd hoped it would, you have to wonder if its because their plans aren't as well thought out as they could be or if that's just how the world is.
Throughout the novel there's a sense of history that I like, the gradual accumulation of not only the events in your own life but the lives of those who came before and how that weight can still warp the present day if you let it, and always will to some extent no matter how much you try to avoid it. It’s a novel that feels like everyone has lived before the book started and will keep going on when its finished, and this is just the period of their lives that we're peeking in on. It gives some conversations extra weight, like the discussions between Dubin and his wife about their marriage. On the one hand they feel fraught with the sort of tension that arrives when matters are near coming apart but on the other hand it’s a feint of sorts . . . it only feels frayed because it’s the first time we're seeing these discussions. Attitudes and quirks that everyone has gotten used to are new to us (I think Malamud overdoes it on Kitty's obsessions but it may be a casualty of the novel's length because we see so much of it) and to an extent that's part of the fun, watching people put on an old play with some new guest actors that haven't totally memorized their lines. That sense that things are just enough out of joint to throw comfortable chaos out of whack made the book go quickly for me and I found it as absorbing as his other novels. At the end it still feels unsettled, which I think is the only conclusion you can have to something like this . . . it may resolve well, but chances are it won't and if you keep hoping you'll get to a point where you'll know for sure, you may find certainty is always hovering both too close and just out of reach and by the time you reach that certainty it may be too late for the knowing to matter.
Not just "biographer" but "middle-aged biographer", which is the mental leap that Malamud requires us to make in the course of reading this novel. And while the concept itself might elicit a raised eyebrow from a reader perhaps more slightly versed in reality, I have to say he does a pretty good job of at least making the scenario seem plausible and grounded in something resembling the real world.
His next to last novel (and depending on who you talk to, his last good one) and the longest of his that I've read so far, it concerns the writer William Dubin. A lawyer in his much younger days, he eventually took to writing and has published several successful biographies (and received an award from LBJ for his work on a Thoreau biography), the latest of which is a work in progress on DH Lawrence, he of the shockingly sexy novels because everyone in pre-WWII England seemed to believe that babies came from wishing very hard and no one ever touched each other ever, or even wanted to. He's having some trouble getting his notes together for the book, made worse by worries about money, his wife's neuroses and the idea of getting older as a man in his late fifties.
Then his wife hires a new cleaning lady, twenty-something Fanny, who doesn't mind finding excuses to not clean in order to talk to Dubin, who equally doesn't mind having an attractive young woman chat with him. Well, as you can imagine one thing leads to another and its off to the races we go, only lacking clothes.
Something that I've found Malamud is good at is this ability to construct a world, limited perhaps in its scope but one that still complete, around his characters so what they inhabit feels like a piece, informed and shaped by their own concerns and cares with still enough surprises remaining that they have to constantly react to the ground shifting beneath them. The length of the book seems to give him the room to stretch out into a more deliberate pace (not that he's a pulse-pounding writer but the shorter stuff feels positively feverish compared to this) and with the added space to improvise he finds ways to stretch out. This is the first Malamud novel that feels international, as Dubin for various reasons winds up globetrotting to Venice and Stockholm and the changes in scenery help break up a novel that essentially has to keep you interested in a man's attempts to have his woman and his other woman at the same time.
It’s a premise we've all read and seen (and perhaps, unfortunately, experienced) all too often and while I don't know if Malamud does anything groundbreaking here (not for nothing, its still an older man with a much younger woman . . . come on, Bernard, if "All That Heaven Allows" could pull it off in the mid-fifties, so could you!) what he does continue to excel at is creating characters that feel like they bring the sum total of their experiences, even the ones we're not privy to, to the decisions they make and actions they take, so that the plot of the novel, such as it is, feels more organic than anything else. Its not plot-twisty kind of story so if you intend to read this on the edge of your seat to see if Bernard and Fanny are able to pull off their latest tryst or if Dubin will manage to finish his book before all the women in his life exhaust him, you're going to be sorely disappointed. Those concerns factor into the book but its more of a gradual unfolding, as Dubin and his wife Kitty and their kids and their neighbors and Fanny all interact in various combinations, creating this push-pull feel that drives the novel.
This sort of relaxed attitude makes it highly contemplative, either in Dubin's thoughts as he goes on his many long walks, or in the conversations he has with the people in his life. Everyone's attempting to understand themselves or understand everyone else or make themselves understood, whether its his college age daughter's search for love, or their son's struggle with being an overseas deserter during the Vietnam War era, or Fanny's desire to figure out what she wants out of life . . . everyone is trying, maybe not very well and maybe hurting other people in the course of that trying but still making the attempt. A lot of the book seems devoted to people measuring the gap between where they'd thought they'd be and where they are and how feasible it is to cross it in the time they think they have remaining and trying to decide what degree of acceptance they're willing to live with. They try to ignite, they try to recapture, they try to break out and if none of that works as well as they'd hoped it would, you have to wonder if its because their plans aren't as well thought out as they could be or if that's just how the world is.
Throughout the novel there's a sense of history that I like, the gradual accumulation of not only the events in your own life but the lives of those who came before and how that weight can still warp the present day if you let it, and always will to some extent no matter how much you try to avoid it. It’s a novel that feels like everyone has lived before the book started and will keep going on when its finished, and this is just the period of their lives that we're peeking in on. It gives some conversations extra weight, like the discussions between Dubin and his wife about their marriage. On the one hand they feel fraught with the sort of tension that arrives when matters are near coming apart but on the other hand it’s a feint of sorts . . . it only feels frayed because it’s the first time we're seeing these discussions. Attitudes and quirks that everyone has gotten used to are new to us (I think Malamud overdoes it on Kitty's obsessions but it may be a casualty of the novel's length because we see so much of it) and to an extent that's part of the fun, watching people put on an old play with some new guest actors that haven't totally memorized their lines. That sense that things are just enough out of joint to throw comfortable chaos out of whack made the book go quickly for me and I found it as absorbing as his other novels. At the end it still feels unsettled, which I think is the only conclusion you can have to something like this . . . it may resolve well, but chances are it won't and if you keep hoping you'll get to a point where you'll know for sure, you may find certainty is always hovering both too close and just out of reach and by the time you reach that certainty it may be too late for the knowing to matter.
May 5, 2020
Malamud scrive molto bene, ma questo romanzo -la crisi di mezz’età di un intellettuale che perde la testa per la solita invereconda puttanella- l’ho trovato terribilmente, terribilmente deprimente. Il lettore viene trascinato insieme al protagonista in un vortice intollerabile di squallore e di meschinità. Vorrei non averlo letto. Spero solo che non tutti gli uomini siano come Dubin.
Read
October 16, 2018E' incredibile come questo autore ne "Il Commesso" abbia detto tantissimo con poche parole e qui invece con tantissime parole non dice nulla. Noioso fino all'inverosimile.
Sig. Dubin prendi le tue vite e va a quel paese!
Sig. Dubin prendi le tue vite e va a quel paese!
June 9, 2016
Malamud was an exceptional writer. So exceptional, it seems, that he was able to craft a novel about marriage and infidelity for an exhausting 386 pages and still keep my interest for the majority of the ride. Though, I must say, this is the fifth book I've read of his (I've also read The Natural, The Fixer, The Assistant, and The Tenants), and also my least favorite, mostly because of its redundancy. No lie, this book could have been trimmed by at least 100 less pages. At least!
And while yes, I know this book is about much more than love and marriage - Dubin is a biographer, so the title is a bit of a play on words -it just didn't do it for me. Something was just missing, and it was pretty glaring. It may have been the protagonist, since I felt no sympathy for him whatsoever. He was a bit of a scumbag.
Besides marriage and cheating, this book also has a heavy focus on masculinity and the idea of aging. But honestly, the concepts in this book are long and drawn out, and even with the beautiful prose that Malamud provides, it's hard to look at the book in its entirety and put it on the same level as, say, The Fixer or The Assistant. It's definitely worth a read, but not if it's the first book you're going to read of Malamud's. That should be The Fixer.
And while yes, I know this book is about much more than love and marriage - Dubin is a biographer, so the title is a bit of a play on words -it just didn't do it for me. Something was just missing, and it was pretty glaring. It may have been the protagonist, since I felt no sympathy for him whatsoever. He was a bit of a scumbag.
Besides marriage and cheating, this book also has a heavy focus on masculinity and the idea of aging. But honestly, the concepts in this book are long and drawn out, and even with the beautiful prose that Malamud provides, it's hard to look at the book in its entirety and put it on the same level as, say, The Fixer or The Assistant. It's definitely worth a read, but not if it's the first book you're going to read of Malamud's. That should be The Fixer.
December 21, 2011
¡Cuanto Roth! La pastoral americana le debe mucho a este Dubin.
April 9, 2009
Long ago, a creative writing teacher recommended this book to me. I've finally read it, and in turn I highly recommend it. Malamud shows a mastery of prose and an immense talent for description. His passages describing the changing seasons are incredible!
At first, the author's tendency to bend the "laws" of punctuation and grammar threw me a little. The first twenty pages didn't hold my interest, but after that I adjusted to his style and grew to appreciate it. It was worth persevering.
The book tells a story that is at once absorbing, sensual, frustrating and heartbreaking. Whatever the author's intentions, I found the title character to be rather less than admirable -- and normally a book with an unlikeable protagonist would be hard-pressed to keep my interest. This one did earn my interest, and even gained moments of insight and sympathy that brought me inside the flaws of the main character and allowed me to understand him, even if I never exactly liked the man.
I recommend this book for its deep exploration of a flawed man as he grapples with love, aging, and temptation. Well done.
At first, the author's tendency to bend the "laws" of punctuation and grammar threw me a little. The first twenty pages didn't hold my interest, but after that I adjusted to his style and grew to appreciate it. It was worth persevering.
The book tells a story that is at once absorbing, sensual, frustrating and heartbreaking. Whatever the author's intentions, I found the title character to be rather less than admirable -- and normally a book with an unlikeable protagonist would be hard-pressed to keep my interest. This one did earn my interest, and even gained moments of insight and sympathy that brought me inside the flaws of the main character and allowed me to understand him, even if I never exactly liked the man.
I recommend this book for its deep exploration of a flawed man as he grapples with love, aging, and temptation. Well done.
March 9, 2020
Malamud is one of my favorite writers but I must admit I didn't enjoy this one. It's the story of a married biography writer in his late 50's who has an affair with a young girl. It's the type of thing some people enjoy reading about but I have no interest in. As I was reading, the thought occured to me that this could have been written by just about any writer and it was a shame that someone as talented as Malamud found it necessary to write.
May 20, 2013
la vita di dubin, biografo di mezza età, che si intreccia con le vite dei personaggi di cui scrive e con quelle di sua moglie e della sua giovanissima amante fanny. buffo e tragico, nello svelare le contraddizioni e le miserie di ognuno di noi; più leggo i libri di malamud e più amo questo autore.
October 25, 2014
Way too long. Really didn't like the book. Very dysfunctional and not-likeable characters.
September 21, 2025
Dubin’s Lives by Bernard Malamud
Wonderful, 10 out of 10
After The Assistant and The Fixer this is the third book by Barnard Malamud that I enjoy so much that I took time finishing it.
As opposed to the first two masterpieces, where the characters had little in common with me, in Dubin’s Lives I identify with the main character.
We have about the same age, and many of the issues that disturb him have been present in my life, especially recently.
That does not mean that I agree or understand the important decisions that Dubin takes and the choices he makes.
The main aspect that is hard to comprehend has to do with his marriage and the affair that he has with Fanny.
The marriage has a weird debut, with Kitty and Dubin deciding that they should love each other and marry.
- How do you do that?
- Well, this is somehow another shared experience…
To some extent, I understand this moment, for I have also said to myself that I need to settle down and give up the tomcat life.
Then there are also times when I wonder if my spouse likes me or she thinks that I am a no good selfish male pig…
Which I may be, I have not determined yet.
Kitty is very disappointed with her husband and this is again a familiar feeling, for I had my own occasions to depress my wife.
That being said, the people in the novel are fictitious and their complications do not find their way here, in this house.
For instance, Fanny is off to Venice with the philandering fifty five year old and things fall apart after a promising debut.
When Dubin returns to the hotel room, Fanny is having sex with the gondolier and this does not stop here.
However awkward and surreal, this casual sex is followed by yet another intimate relationship with the captain of a small boat.
The captain of the small boat that takes tourists to the airport has enough appeal to get Fanny to bed and this is already promiscuous.
At least from where I see it, but that is probably a different background an education and a culture that permits affairs for the macho male- only.
I did not like these two escapades even if I still felt that Dubin should have made a clean break with his spouse and settle with the (much) younger woman.
For a long time, the writer and his wife seem to do not much else but fight each other and make one another miserable.
They seemed to have good moments but the time spent with Fanny appeared to be sensational, without the negativity of the troubled marriage.
Dubin comes to the point where he offers very little to his wife who is unhappy, enters therapy and has an affair of her own.
- Why go on like this?
- One personal answer is that marriages have ups and downs and it is worth fighting for a long relationship
As for other answers, regarding marriage- the bible is written by John Gottman, the Supreme Guru who predicts with 90% accuracy which marriages will work, after only some minutes of listening the conversations- his amazing book- 7 Principles of Making Marriage Work
As for Dubin’s Lives –it is an amazing book
Wonderful, 10 out of 10
After The Assistant and The Fixer this is the third book by Barnard Malamud that I enjoy so much that I took time finishing it.
As opposed to the first two masterpieces, where the characters had little in common with me, in Dubin’s Lives I identify with the main character.
We have about the same age, and many of the issues that disturb him have been present in my life, especially recently.
That does not mean that I agree or understand the important decisions that Dubin takes and the choices he makes.
The main aspect that is hard to comprehend has to do with his marriage and the affair that he has with Fanny.
The marriage has a weird debut, with Kitty and Dubin deciding that they should love each other and marry.
- How do you do that?
- Well, this is somehow another shared experience…
To some extent, I understand this moment, for I have also said to myself that I need to settle down and give up the tomcat life.
Then there are also times when I wonder if my spouse likes me or she thinks that I am a no good selfish male pig…
Which I may be, I have not determined yet.
Kitty is very disappointed with her husband and this is again a familiar feeling, for I had my own occasions to depress my wife.
That being said, the people in the novel are fictitious and their complications do not find their way here, in this house.
For instance, Fanny is off to Venice with the philandering fifty five year old and things fall apart after a promising debut.
When Dubin returns to the hotel room, Fanny is having sex with the gondolier and this does not stop here.
However awkward and surreal, this casual sex is followed by yet another intimate relationship with the captain of a small boat.
The captain of the small boat that takes tourists to the airport has enough appeal to get Fanny to bed and this is already promiscuous.
At least from where I see it, but that is probably a different background an education and a culture that permits affairs for the macho male- only.
I did not like these two escapades even if I still felt that Dubin should have made a clean break with his spouse and settle with the (much) younger woman.
For a long time, the writer and his wife seem to do not much else but fight each other and make one another miserable.
They seemed to have good moments but the time spent with Fanny appeared to be sensational, without the negativity of the troubled marriage.
Dubin comes to the point where he offers very little to his wife who is unhappy, enters therapy and has an affair of her own.
- Why go on like this?
- One personal answer is that marriages have ups and downs and it is worth fighting for a long relationship
As for other answers, regarding marriage- the bible is written by John Gottman, the Supreme Guru who predicts with 90% accuracy which marriages will work, after only some minutes of listening the conversations- his amazing book- 7 Principles of Making Marriage Work
As for Dubin’s Lives –it is an amazing book
July 19, 2023
Entre un matrimonio desgastado, una tortuosa relación con una amante joven y la escritura de la biografía de D.H. Lawrence transcurre la historia del protagonista, Dubin, un hombre bien entrado en los cincuenta que vive con su esposa en un ambiente rural no lejos del Nueva York de mediados del siglo pasado.
La importancia del diálogo y de la humanidad de los personajes destacan en esta novela de Malamud, ya que su trama es sencilla y el narrador, en tercera persona, no se entretiene con juegos experimentales. Los temas son también de gran hondura filosófica, aunque el autor nunca recarga de digresiones su narrativa, sino que acompaña a sus personajes, especialmente a Dubin, en sus disquisiciones varias: filosóficas, literarias, familiares, amorosas o, simplemente, cotidianas y triviales. La esposa de Dubin, Kitty, parece un personaje emborronado, que no termina de definirse, aunque quizás hay que entender este retrato a medias como parte de la angustia depresiva que arrastra Kitty. Más fuerza como personaje cobra Fanny, amante de Dubin, cuya juventud y voluntad le permiten un desarrollo único en la historia. Aunque al principio muestra defectos de amante estereotípica (caprichosa, desdeñosa y cruel), Fanny pronto nos demostrará que esa era solo la visión limitada de Dubin, hombre erudito pero que dista mucho de ser perfecto.
Por otra parte, las historias secundarias de Maud, hija del matrimonio, y de Geralt, hijo de Kitty y su anterior marido, cumplen cada una con su cometido, aunque no siempre aportan mucho a la lectura. Geralt es un desertor de la guerra de Vietnam, por lo que su relato sitúa la historia privada del matrimonio en un problemático contexto político global, mientras que el relato desmigajado de Maud sugiere el tema trágico de que todo hijo acaba pareciéndose a sus padres. En la novela, es Dubin quien busca más activamente a sus hijos, ya que Kitty vive hundida en el recuerdo de Nathanael, su anterior marido, a quien Dubin no ha podido superar en sus funciones de esposo.
A medida que Dubin avanza, se atasca y vuelve a avanzar en su escritura de la biografía de Lawrence, los demás personajes le recuerdan que vive más en las otras vidas que en la suya propia. Y así parecen demostrarlo no solo el título de la novela, sino también las numerosas citas de Dubin, que quiere enfrentarse a la realidad a partir de la ficción, y, en definitiva, sus numerosos pequeños fracasos. La lectura me ha recordado a otros autores norteamericanos, como Philip Roth (The Dying Animal) o Saul Below (Ravelstein; The Actual), por la cantidad de diálogo, el entorno neoyorquino y la importancia de temas como el erotismo, la amistad, el matrimonio, la soledad y la literatura.
Desde luego, no es poco lo que Malamud nos ofrece en Las vidas de Dubin: una novela con estilo propio, que transmite mucha sensación de realidad; un cuidado balance de la prosa, que no resulta ni descarnada ni florida; y una visión melancólica y angustiante de la humanidad que, sin embargo, no descarta ni la empatía ni el sentido del humor.
June 24, 2022
A biographer friend of mine recommended this novel because the main character is a biographer. I had to get it from Interlibrary loan because our county library did not own a copy, which tells you something I suppose. But I'd never read Malamud except for a few short stories in anthologies. I was very disappointed. I was expecting more, I guess, but this is really another self-involved white male midlife crisis story from the era when Alice Adams, Raymond Carver, and a lot of the writers I admire were fighting to get published. Leaves me wondering (again) how Malamud, Roth, Updike, Bellow et al managed to be kings of the literary mountain for so long. William Dubin in this novel does reflect on the relationship of being a biographer to his own life but not with much insight. His crisis occurs when he's writing a biography of D. H. Lawrence. Instead of thinking about his own life and what to do about it, he mistreats his wife, practically ignores his children, and has an affair with a 23-year-old housekeeper. It feels more like a story from the Fifties than the Seventies.
July 30, 2021
Dubin's Lives is such a subtle, compassionate and wry masterpiece of literary work. A very rich and highly-readable novel that tells an unlikely, but moving tale of love and marriage. I totally enjoyed this. Bernard Malamud was one hell of a writer!
abandoned
August 20, 2020Raramente abbandono i libri. La vivo come una colpa da parte mia. Un libro brutto, preferisco leggerlo fino alla fine e poi maledire l'autore e la sua discendenza nei secoli.
Ci sono però casi in cui vengo miracolosamente risparmiato dall'umiliazione di leggere un libro brutto. Succede raramente.
Una volta mi hanno rubato lo zaino con un libro (che trovavo noiosissimo) di Borges. Nello zaino c'era anche il portafogli, ma questi sono dettagli. Questa volta, invece, il libro è proprio sparito di suo. Sono chiaramente segnali divini, e li chiamerò Acts of God, come gli americani, per dargli la giusta importanza.
E quindi questa non può essere una recensione, perché il libro non l'ho finito, e io per regola non posso recensire libri non finiti. La definirei piuttosto un'ode alla saggezza divina, che mi ha letto nel profondo del cuore e mi ha risparmiato travasi di bile.
Il libro è perso da qualche parte, forse in provincia di Grosseto, forse su un treno della linea tirrenica, forse è in mare. A chi lo trova, il libro è vostro, buona lettura. Il mio cuore è in pace.
- - Edit - -
Rileggendo quello che ho scritto, non mi sembra di essere stato giusto con questo libro. Do l'impressione che sia brutto, inutile e noioso, mentre a me è sembrato solo troppo lungo e difficile da leggere.
Brutto non è, anzi, ci sono dei passaggi davvero belli. Come questo sotto, che a volte rileggo, e di cui ogni volta mi stupisco, perché è in grado di descrivere un mondo intero in poche, precisissime parole. Parla dei figli che crescono, un tema che raramente mi lascia indifferente.
One day their childhood, and your enjoyment of it, was over. They take off as strangers, not confessing who they presently are. You tried to stay close, in touch, but they were other selves in other places. You could never recover the clear sight of yourself in their eyes.
Ci sono però casi in cui vengo miracolosamente risparmiato dall'umiliazione di leggere un libro brutto. Succede raramente.
Una volta mi hanno rubato lo zaino con un libro (che trovavo noiosissimo) di Borges. Nello zaino c'era anche il portafogli, ma questi sono dettagli. Questa volta, invece, il libro è proprio sparito di suo. Sono chiaramente segnali divini, e li chiamerò Acts of God, come gli americani, per dargli la giusta importanza.
E quindi questa non può essere una recensione, perché il libro non l'ho finito, e io per regola non posso recensire libri non finiti. La definirei piuttosto un'ode alla saggezza divina, che mi ha letto nel profondo del cuore e mi ha risparmiato travasi di bile.
Il libro è perso da qualche parte, forse in provincia di Grosseto, forse su un treno della linea tirrenica, forse è in mare. A chi lo trova, il libro è vostro, buona lettura. Il mio cuore è in pace.
- - Edit - -
Rileggendo quello che ho scritto, non mi sembra di essere stato giusto con questo libro. Do l'impressione che sia brutto, inutile e noioso, mentre a me è sembrato solo troppo lungo e difficile da leggere.
Brutto non è, anzi, ci sono dei passaggi davvero belli. Come questo sotto, che a volte rileggo, e di cui ogni volta mi stupisco, perché è in grado di descrivere un mondo intero in poche, precisissime parole. Parla dei figli che crescono, un tema che raramente mi lascia indifferente.
One day their childhood, and your enjoyment of it, was over. They take off as strangers, not confessing who they presently are. You tried to stay close, in touch, but they were other selves in other places. You could never recover the clear sight of yourself in their eyes.
September 7, 2009
I don’t believe that I have ever read a book that's kept me emotionally engaged for the entire duration of the story and I hated this story. It tells of a man that creates his own tragedy by means of selfish decisions and self-serving actions; a man who repeatedly chooses to “reward” himself rather than honoring his human obligations to his wife, his family, and his friends.
The story, however, is simply the sugar (or sour) coating of the message. It grabs your attention while serving up a bit of life. While Dubin’s decisions are disgraceful, the process of a man growing old is universal. I know. The slow loss of everything that is youth constantly progresses towards its inescapable conclusion and unpleasant milestones are reached along the way. The decisions that are made at these milestones are what Dublin so tragically (but captivatingly) got wrong. The fact that Malamud captured a part of life’s progression and a few of these milestones made this a book worth reading.
The story, however, is simply the sugar (or sour) coating of the message. It grabs your attention while serving up a bit of life. While Dubin’s decisions are disgraceful, the process of a man growing old is universal. I know. The slow loss of everything that is youth constantly progresses towards its inescapable conclusion and unpleasant milestones are reached along the way. The decisions that are made at these milestones are what Dublin so tragically (but captivatingly) got wrong. The fact that Malamud captured a part of life’s progression and a few of these milestones made this a book worth reading.
August 11, 2016
When I looked at the back of the book to see what it was about I was dismayed. I wanted to read Malamud (I heard about him from Dorothy on the Golden Girls) but his titles in the Manila bookshop I was in were limited. Writing about having affairs with younger women seemed to be an obsession with the patriarchal writers of Malamud's time and didn't think I could find anything new from it. Still having lingered in the bookshop for too long I just went for it, and I was pretty happy about doing that. Immediately I was struck with the beauty of the writing. Though the descriptive writing is accurate and often original, what I like best is the dialogue. Dubin often speaks so thoughtfully about his biographical subjects; Fanny's attraction to him becomes almost believable when you hear the wisdom in his words. I felt the end a bit too wish fulfilling but I had learned to love the characters, especially Fanny, who comes across as absolutely well rounded and shimmering.
March 29, 2010
At tmes there is almost a sensory pleasure to be derived from Malamud's skill in style, detail and story line. In the end, though, it is a well-told story of a selfish, nearly solipsistic life, in a mode very specific (I think) to late-middle-aged males. Every decision Dubin makes s for himself, in his own interests, and as the novel goes on, he even turns the decisions and choices of others into nothing more than a means of justifying his own choices and decisions.
The book offers much to think about in terms of personal relationshops, Dubin with his wife, his mistress, his casual flings, his daughter and step-son, his friends. I often found myself thinking, "Why is he acting this way at this particular time?" One eventually figures out what a life would look like when it has become unmoored from any consideration outside of itself.
The book offers much to think about in terms of personal relationshops, Dubin with his wife, his mistress, his casual flings, his daughter and step-son, his friends. I often found myself thinking, "Why is he acting this way at this particular time?" One eventually figures out what a life would look like when it has become unmoored from any consideration outside of itself.
October 25, 2018
No stars, if possible.
Wow, what a misfire from old impotent Malamud!
Wow, what a misfire from old impotent Malamud!
November 23, 2018
Not for the miserably married!
September 13, 2025
First of all, I think Malamud is a terrific writer. The Magic Barrel is one of my favourite books of all time, so I was particularly interested to get my teeth into a full-length novel, rather than the brilliant vignettes of that other work.
And I came away disappointed.
There is a lot to like here. Malamud's writing is as sharp and poignant as ever and there is a nice irony in him writing a detailed, spiritual biography of a biographer who is unable to capture the heart and soul of his latest subject (DH Lawrence). The characterisation of Dubin is another great plus. He comes at his principle character from every angle, pinning him down and casting every light onto his actions, movements and motives so that it is impossible for him to escape the spotlight.
And yet . . . Nothing much really happens, which makes Dubin an odd subject choice. Yes, there is some interest in watching him have what is, fairly simply, a mid life crisis, but Malamud has little original to say about the events and Dubin is, without question, an unsympathetic character and not a particularly interesting one. This is made worse by the fact that the surrounding cast seem to be drawn from caricature - Kitty, the slightly wacky wife with some depressive neuroses or Fanny, the free-love chick (well, I suppose it was the 70s) who (for reasons that are unfathomable and never really explained ) finds Dubin, 30 plus years her senior, wildly attractive. The children,meanwhile, are barely drawn at all and their experiences - a reaction to the Vietnam war, a typically 70s trip towards Zen - seem utterly functional.
This might have been ok in a book a hundred or so pages shorter, but Dubin - like his slog with Lawrence - goes on and on. And, again, the choice of Lawrence is peculiar. While there are hints at how Lawrences work and life might parralel Dubin's, they are slight. You don't really get a sense that having Lawrence as a subject was critical (or used in an interesting way).
Three stars then for the commitment to the characterisation of Dubin and the quality of the writing.
Now I'll go back to the short stories!
And I came away disappointed.
There is a lot to like here. Malamud's writing is as sharp and poignant as ever and there is a nice irony in him writing a detailed, spiritual biography of a biographer who is unable to capture the heart and soul of his latest subject (DH Lawrence). The characterisation of Dubin is another great plus. He comes at his principle character from every angle, pinning him down and casting every light onto his actions, movements and motives so that it is impossible for him to escape the spotlight.
And yet . . . Nothing much really happens, which makes Dubin an odd subject choice. Yes, there is some interest in watching him have what is, fairly simply, a mid life crisis, but Malamud has little original to say about the events and Dubin is, without question, an unsympathetic character and not a particularly interesting one. This is made worse by the fact that the surrounding cast seem to be drawn from caricature - Kitty, the slightly wacky wife with some depressive neuroses or Fanny, the free-love chick (well, I suppose it was the 70s) who (for reasons that are unfathomable and never really explained ) finds Dubin, 30 plus years her senior, wildly attractive. The children,meanwhile, are barely drawn at all and their experiences - a reaction to the Vietnam war, a typically 70s trip towards Zen - seem utterly functional.
This might have been ok in a book a hundred or so pages shorter, but Dubin - like his slog with Lawrence - goes on and on. And, again, the choice of Lawrence is peculiar. While there are hints at how Lawrences work and life might parralel Dubin's, they are slight. You don't really get a sense that having Lawrence as a subject was critical (or used in an interesting way).
Three stars then for the commitment to the characterisation of Dubin and the quality of the writing.
Now I'll go back to the short stories!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 29, 2024
labor, love, long, least, last ...
a labor of love to read the longest and least (in my opinion) of Malamud's works, the last of his books on my shelf to be read ... I say labor of love because Malamud is one of my favorite writers but this book is a long and laborious reading experience ... this will be the only book by Malamud that I don't give 5 stars to ... I have had similar experiences with other favorite writers that I have "finished up" this year ... the last novel that I had to read by Ursula K. Le Guin was the longest, dullest of her career, the one time she was inspired to write an homage to 19th century lit ... the last collections of Alice Munro that I had to read, both an early and a later collection were her dullest in my experience, both of the books dulled by being too close to autobiography ... like Munro this longest of Malamud novels, of marriage, infidelity, the tortures of writing, New England rural life and aging suffers from being his closest to autobiography ... one of my favorite quotes about writing is from Muriel Spark, in which she remarks that she loves the characters she creates like "a cat loves a bird" and it occurs to me that perhaps when a writer ventures too far into the realm of autobiography this sort of relationship is off the table - it seems that loving one's literary alter-ego like a cat loves a bird would be almost impossible ... everything that Malamud puts into this book, there is just too much of it - too much of Dubin himself anyway - a little more of Fanny, the young woman Dubin has an affair with, might have been okay, I was a little more interested in Fanny's Life than Dubin's Lives ...
a labor of love to read the longest and least (in my opinion) of Malamud's works, the last of his books on my shelf to be read ... I say labor of love because Malamud is one of my favorite writers but this book is a long and laborious reading experience ... this will be the only book by Malamud that I don't give 5 stars to ... I have had similar experiences with other favorite writers that I have "finished up" this year ... the last novel that I had to read by Ursula K. Le Guin was the longest, dullest of her career, the one time she was inspired to write an homage to 19th century lit ... the last collections of Alice Munro that I had to read, both an early and a later collection were her dullest in my experience, both of the books dulled by being too close to autobiography ... like Munro this longest of Malamud novels, of marriage, infidelity, the tortures of writing, New England rural life and aging suffers from being his closest to autobiography ... one of my favorite quotes about writing is from Muriel Spark, in which she remarks that she loves the characters she creates like "a cat loves a bird" and it occurs to me that perhaps when a writer ventures too far into the realm of autobiography this sort of relationship is off the table - it seems that loving one's literary alter-ego like a cat loves a bird would be almost impossible ... everything that Malamud puts into this book, there is just too much of it - too much of Dubin himself anyway - a little more of Fanny, the young woman Dubin has an affair with, might have been okay, I was a little more interested in Fanny's Life than Dubin's Lives ...
March 22, 2025
Le vite di dubin
Finalmente, finalmente una lettura entusiasmante dopo alcuni libri deludenti e due o tre addirittura lasciati prima di finirli. Una lettura che ti impegna, ti avvolge, ti penetra profondamente!
Un’opera filosofica, psicanalitica e contemplativa, peraltro ironica e acuta, lirica. Un romanzo complesso, ricco, ipnotico, a tratti terribile, spaventoso nella chirurgica precisione con cui descrive alcune tra le miserie umane, come la progressiva avanzata della nebbia che divora la memoria. Eppure avvincente, sconcertante, introspettivo al punto di perdersi. Una prosa magistrale, un fascino che non so spiegare.
Matrimonio, adulterio, arte, passioni umane, letteratura, e natura, natura come cornice, come alleata, come obiettivo. Un compendio sull’esistenza, attraverso lo sguardo dei grandi della Letteratura, un’analisi meticolosa di ogni aspetto delle fasi della vita, di sottilissimo ed eccelso livello e torrenziale veemenza. Un ingegnoso impianto narrativo con cui Malamud esprime la sua visione esistenziale attraverso le vite che il suo protagonista cerca di raccontare. Sublime.
Ps: Dubin è odioso.
(…La malinconia del cielo grigio azzurro del l’autunno, quasi che qualche nascosto dio nordico, se non Ingmar Bergman, abitasse eternamente l’inverno, avvertendo la Svezia e lo straniero che non si trattava semplicemente di una stagione, ma di un regno.)
#bernardmalamud #levitedidubin #letteraturaamericana #letteraturaebraica #pulitzer #nationalbookaward #libribellissimi #librisulibri #librisullaletteratura #letture2025 #scrittoripreferiti #minimumfax #lettureconsigliate #leggere
Finalmente, finalmente una lettura entusiasmante dopo alcuni libri deludenti e due o tre addirittura lasciati prima di finirli. Una lettura che ti impegna, ti avvolge, ti penetra profondamente!
Un’opera filosofica, psicanalitica e contemplativa, peraltro ironica e acuta, lirica. Un romanzo complesso, ricco, ipnotico, a tratti terribile, spaventoso nella chirurgica precisione con cui descrive alcune tra le miserie umane, come la progressiva avanzata della nebbia che divora la memoria. Eppure avvincente, sconcertante, introspettivo al punto di perdersi. Una prosa magistrale, un fascino che non so spiegare.
Matrimonio, adulterio, arte, passioni umane, letteratura, e natura, natura come cornice, come alleata, come obiettivo. Un compendio sull’esistenza, attraverso lo sguardo dei grandi della Letteratura, un’analisi meticolosa di ogni aspetto delle fasi della vita, di sottilissimo ed eccelso livello e torrenziale veemenza. Un ingegnoso impianto narrativo con cui Malamud esprime la sua visione esistenziale attraverso le vite che il suo protagonista cerca di raccontare. Sublime.
Ps: Dubin è odioso.
(…La malinconia del cielo grigio azzurro del l’autunno, quasi che qualche nascosto dio nordico, se non Ingmar Bergman, abitasse eternamente l’inverno, avvertendo la Svezia e lo straniero che non si trattava semplicemente di una stagione, ma di un regno.)
#bernardmalamud #levitedidubin #letteraturaamericana #letteraturaebraica #pulitzer #nationalbookaward #libribellissimi #librisulibri #librisullaletteratura #letture2025 #scrittoripreferiti #minimumfax #lettureconsigliate #leggere
January 4, 2020
There were some spot-on reflections of marriage, relationships, ageing and loss of purpose throughout this book, although overall I found it a bit of a depressing read with a selfish and boring main character I didn't much like. The titular Dublin trots all over the countryside on his thin legs for sex, and has little of interest to say for himself. He is stuck in the lives of the literary figures whose biographies he writes (hence the title) but for me, I found the constant drawing on these people tedious as someone who doesn't know much about most of them. Strangely, the character I looked forward to seeing each time she appeared was Fanny, his young girlfriend. She was life and colour and spark which I guess reflects the impact she has on Dubin's grey life and why he likes her so much. Dubin's Lives has some densely and beautifully written prose although I have to say I ended up feeling swamped in nature and weather descriptions and skimmed large chunks of it!
May 1, 2025
This would have been a five-star book had it not really (IMO) gone a bit too far in the end with Dubin's affair. I was willing to stomach how dated that was and actually really enjoyed what otherwise felt like the timeless foibles of Dubin until the last ~75 pages, where things began to feel less poignant and more unfortunate. All of this said, this is the first I've read by Malamud and there's a lot to like here, particularly if you are a fan of what's known as the "white male fuck up novel".
March 1, 2020
The book started off wonderfully, with lots of character development and interesting perspectives. Dubin sometimes talked like a book. His take on normal events was generally filled with wise one-liners, which were fun to decipher. The second half of the book seemed to just go in circles but slow down with every page. Nothing seemed to be learned or change. To top it off, there were some racist undertones to finish the book
Displaying 1 - 30 of 57 reviews