Day of Atonement

by Jay Rayner

It is the early Sixties. Down the side of a dilapidated synagogue in North-west London, a great partnership is born. Apart, Mal Jones and Solly Princeton are two teenage no-hopers scrabbling about in the dirt. Together they are a world-beating team who turn a company selling chicken-soup machines to the Jewish mothers of Edgware into an international hotel and leisure empire. But success is never simple. Before long pressures draw them away from the comforts of their roots. They find themselves cutting corners, taking risks and breaking the law. Finally Mal has to confront his life, his friendship with Solly and where their very different ambitions have led them. Thirty-five years later as sunset ushers in the beginning of Yom Kippur, the Jewish day of atonement, Mal, his fortune gone, picks over the ruins of his past with his niece, Natasha. He tells her the story of the Sinai Corporation, of his best friend and business partner, Solly, and at last begins to ask how far must you go before you lose faith in yourself?

Genres: Book Club, Fiction

384 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1998

About the author

Jay Rayner is a British journalist, writer and broadcaster born in 1966.

Reviews

[Flapper72 · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like Jay Rayner. I listen to 'The Food Programme' on Radio 4. Have read one of his food books in the past and heard him talk about his Mum, Clare Rayner. I knew he was a Jew (cultural as opposed to practising) and didn't really think about the title of the book. Despite my name I'm not Jewish, cultural christian although now a proud born again atheist. Anyway, I very rarely give up on books but I very nearly gave up on this at about a third of the way through - it felt like it was awfully written, amateur and far too much emphasis of Judaism. Use of Jewish slang and yet very little that actually gave me any insight into Jews culture and way of living other than the very superficial understanding I already have. This is the story of two young Jewish lads, Mal (Moses) and Solly as they set up a business and they become multi millionaires. The opening chapter is Mal, living in a bedsit, being visited by his niece and her asking him to tell her all about what happened such that he ended up in the bedsit. In that opening chapter we were told he had been in prison. We then went back to the beginning to hear how the lads set up their business and it went 'stellar'. They meet their wives, we hear about their families and Mal and Solly's relationships with each other. As I say, I found the first third mind numbing, written in a very childish and immature way. I'm glad I stuck with it though as the book developed. The way the book was written seemed to change, the story developed and became interesting and, by the end of the book, I was glad that I'd read it. I still don't understand why it took so long to warm up, why it was 'overtly' Jewish just for the sake of it really, without imparting any knowledge or value/explanation on the story that could have been easily set in a tenth of the number of pages. I did enjoy the book though and, if the first third if the book were compressed into a tenth of that amount (which it could easily be) then this would be far more than just a mediocre read.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

A lovely well written book. Mal and Solly meet as teenagers in an alley at the side of Edgware synagogue. They grow up and become firm friends as their new company Sinai Corporation goes from strength to strength. A circular story that starts at the end. Mal is telling his niece the story of how they rose from nothing to become two of Britain's richest men. Everybody needs to eat, and everybody needs chicken soup.

[Jean M · Rating 4 out of 5]

It took a while for the story to really get going and then I was interested and involved, needing to know what was going to happen to the characters. You had a sense of foreboding as you knew something bad had to happen- why else was ex con Mal penniless in Herne Bay.

[Prctaxman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Philip Roth-type of book but from the U.K. rather than the U.S.

Ironically, I finished this on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement......although being a lapsed believer in anything, anymore, what can I say.....

[Beth · Rating 1 out of 5]

I don't know why I brought it, probably because it was 20p. It seems to be about chicken soup...?