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Wandering Stars: A Novel
“An uproarious, sprawling masterpiece by a grand Yiddish storyteller.” —O, The Oprah Magazine
Translated in full for the first time, one hundred years after its original publication, the acclaimed epic love story set in the colorful world of the Yiddish theater. Wandering Stars spans ten years and two continents, relating the adventures of Reizel and Leibel, young shtetl dwellers in late nineteenth-century Russia who fall under the spell of a traveling acting company. Together they run away from home to become entertainers themselves, and then tour separately around Europe, ultimately reuniting in New York. Wandering Stars is an engrossing romance, a great New York story, and an anthem for the magic of the theater.
Translated in full for the first time, one hundred years after its original publication, the acclaimed epic love story set in the colorful world of the Yiddish theater. Wandering Stars spans ten years and two continents, relating the adventures of Reizel and Leibel, young shtetl dwellers in late nineteenth-century Russia who fall under the spell of a traveling acting company. Together they run away from home to become entertainers themselves, and then tour separately around Europe, ultimately reuniting in New York. Wandering Stars is an engrossing romance, a great New York story, and an anthem for the magic of the theater.
457 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1909
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 39 reviews
March 17, 2014
Sholem Aleichem at his most expansive, clever and humorous. His weaving of Old World sensibilities with New World pragmatism through the lenses of love magnified by distance and time, through the ambition of stern fathers and the small-town idealization well into adulthood, he manages to capture something elusive and mysterious - the ethos of a colorful and fascinating era long gone and largely destroyed. In the same breath, he manages to trace the deeply ingrained motivations, delusions and single-mindedness of an artist as he goes from innocent child to sinner-for-the-first-time to shielded impresario to traitor to redeemed.
An amazing feat of imagination, language and humor.
An amazing feat of imagination, language and humor.
February 6, 2017
In an excellent translation from Yiddish, this story follows early 20th century Yiddish theatre performers as they traverse Europe and eventually arrive in New York City. Although the focus is on runaways Leibel/Leo and Reizel/Rosa who leave their village of Holeneshti to join the troupe, the book comes alive with the often hilarious secondary characters.
Originally serialized in a newspaper, the book's sprawling style doesn't quite suit my impatient reading nature, but I think the characters and scenes will stay with me for a long time. I liked that the ending came as a bit of a surprise.
Sholom Aleichem is the creator of Tevye the dairyman, and the village of Holeneshti is a twin to Anatevka.
Originally serialized in a newspaper, the book's sprawling style doesn't quite suit my impatient reading nature, but I think the characters and scenes will stay with me for a long time. I liked that the ending came as a bit of a surprise.
Sholom Aleichem is the creator of Tevye the dairyman, and the village of Holeneshti is a twin to Anatevka.
December 22, 2012
This is such a great book. The translators seem to have done a great job. The nuances of the original Yiddish remain true in its delivery in English. I can only imagine Tevye as the narrator of this story. Oy! Because my husband's great grandfather was a very successful Yiddish theater actor at the same time as this book was written, it is particularly resonant with me. Sholem Aleichem's description of immigrants coming to America, and his observations of "This American Life" are as applicable today as they were then. I can't wait to find other books about this same era and learn more about Yiddish theater.
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December 23, 2012great!!!!!!one of the best books ever!!!!!1
September 8, 2024
A wonderful contemporary representation of a historically underacknowledged culture.
Structurally it is made up of over 100 generally very short chapters, and tends to jump all over the place from person to person. Considering it was originally published in a serialised format that makes sense, however this doesn't lend itself so well to the modern published book form.
Fortunately the writing is very witty, the characters charming, and the story just engaging enough to hold your attention and capture you through all the messy twists and turns.
All in all, it's a great tragic rom-com. None of the characters get what they want or are truly happy in the end, but the way that it's written emphasises the importance of their experiences along the way, and the ending feels more tragically bittersweet and realistic than needlessly cruel. A really recommended read for anyone interested in yiddish history or a more alternative piece of historical fiction
Structurally it is made up of over 100 generally very short chapters, and tends to jump all over the place from person to person. Considering it was originally published in a serialised format that makes sense, however this doesn't lend itself so well to the modern published book form.
Fortunately the writing is very witty, the characters charming, and the story just engaging enough to hold your attention and capture you through all the messy twists and turns.
All in all, it's a great tragic rom-com. None of the characters get what they want or are truly happy in the end, but the way that it's written emphasises the importance of their experiences along the way, and the ending feels more tragically bittersweet and realistic than needlessly cruel. A really recommended read for anyone interested in yiddish history or a more alternative piece of historical fiction
March 11, 2014
Most reviews of this book focus on its view of Yiddish theatre and the performers. But what I found so introguing is its the lively depiction of Jewish characters, the recreation of a period in Jewish history, and the understanding of the struggle as the characters moved from the Lomza shtetl to London and then New York. As one reader comments, “A great range of ethics, morals, and practices is represented in the microcosm, so the work is humanizing.”
This is not a fine book in a literary sense - in the introduction, Tony Kushner calls it "a knotty, knobby odd novel of fits and starts and sudden jolts." It certainly didn’t emerge in the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. The plot to me isn't the point - the book has so much energy and passion, such feeling (what else did we expect?), such "tam," such sly humor, that I think it's great book for the right person.
This is not a fine book in a literary sense - in the introduction, Tony Kushner calls it "a knotty, knobby odd novel of fits and starts and sudden jolts." It certainly didn’t emerge in the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. The plot to me isn't the point - the book has so much energy and passion, such feeling (what else did we expect?), such "tam," such sly humor, that I think it's great book for the right person.
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February 1, 2023This is the best book I have never read. Unfortunately, this edition is the only unabridged English translation and it does not capture the original prose. The translator imposes her own narrative voice, incorrectly defines some Jewish terms (including in the glossary), and translates words that even native English speakers do not normatively say in English.
Perhaps someday we will be gifted a more faithful translation. In the meantime, even a shadow of Sholem Aleichem is still Sholem Aleichem. This is a magnificent and essential novel about the Yiddish theatre and Jewish-American immigrant experience.
Perhaps someday we will be gifted a more faithful translation. In the meantime, even a shadow of Sholem Aleichem is still Sholem Aleichem. This is a magnificent and essential novel about the Yiddish theatre and Jewish-American immigrant experience.
February 21, 2024
Twenty Eight of the planned forty volumes of Aleichem's works in Yiddish were published. A small percentage of his total output has been translated and published in English. I am a huge fan of his stories.
This long novel was published in Yiddish as a newspaper serial in Warsaw in 1909-1911. An English translation was published in an abridged edition in 1952. This 2009 edition is the first full English translation.
This is a big romantic saga. A Yiddish theater comes to a small Jewish village in Moldovia. A girl and a boy, who are in love, run away with the actors. They are separated. He becomes a famous leading actor in the Jewish theater. She becomes a famous singer. They each take a path through the small Jewish theater acting troops in Eastern Europe, then to London and then to New York City. They keep missing each other until they finally meet again in New York City.
The story is filled with adventures, digressions, characters, and coincidences. Aleichem is in love with the Jewish theater. He loves the stories of machinations, overnight successes and falls from glories. He fills the novel with clowns and prompters and restaurant owners and newspaper men, all of whom have stories to tell.
The first half of the book is better than the second. The farther he gets from the village of Holenshti, the more the story leans towards soap opera and away from a portrait of a way of life. The second half of the book was written, according to the afterward in this edition, under financial pressure. Aleichem spins out the two of them meeting for a couple of hundred pages when it seems like they could have easily found each other. Aleichem is also better at the small significant facts of daily life in the Village than he is in London or New York.
Most of the book is in Aleichem's distinctive voice. He is grabbing us by the lapels to tell us a story. He is full of pearls of wisdom. "Every Jewish town, no matter how poor, has its own Rothchild." He writes great Yiddish dialog, and his talk is full of great curses. One of the disappointments is the second half of the novel is that much of it is told in letters that do not have that same voice.
I give the first half of the book five stars. The second half three stars. Overall grade, four stars.
This long novel was published in Yiddish as a newspaper serial in Warsaw in 1909-1911. An English translation was published in an abridged edition in 1952. This 2009 edition is the first full English translation.
This is a big romantic saga. A Yiddish theater comes to a small Jewish village in Moldovia. A girl and a boy, who are in love, run away with the actors. They are separated. He becomes a famous leading actor in the Jewish theater. She becomes a famous singer. They each take a path through the small Jewish theater acting troops in Eastern Europe, then to London and then to New York City. They keep missing each other until they finally meet again in New York City.
The story is filled with adventures, digressions, characters, and coincidences. Aleichem is in love with the Jewish theater. He loves the stories of machinations, overnight successes and falls from glories. He fills the novel with clowns and prompters and restaurant owners and newspaper men, all of whom have stories to tell.
The first half of the book is better than the second. The farther he gets from the village of Holenshti, the more the story leans towards soap opera and away from a portrait of a way of life. The second half of the book was written, according to the afterward in this edition, under financial pressure. Aleichem spins out the two of them meeting for a couple of hundred pages when it seems like they could have easily found each other. Aleichem is also better at the small significant facts of daily life in the Village than he is in London or New York.
Most of the book is in Aleichem's distinctive voice. He is grabbing us by the lapels to tell us a story. He is full of pearls of wisdom. "Every Jewish town, no matter how poor, has its own Rothchild." He writes great Yiddish dialog, and his talk is full of great curses. One of the disappointments is the second half of the novel is that much of it is told in letters that do not have that same voice.
I give the first half of the book five stars. The second half three stars. Overall grade, four stars.
May 5, 2018
This is a warmhearted story centered around two talented Jewish youth from a modest Bessarabian (Bessarabia is a real place, it's near Romania) village (shtetl) who are enticed away by traveling Yiddish actors. Aleichem is best known for creating Tevye the milkman and the village of Anatevka, used much later for the musical Fiddler on the Roof. This 1909 publication in Yiddish (translated to English only this century) is a whole different set of characters and situations.
I chose this book in part as being connected to my ancestry. My great-grandparents were Russian/Romanian Jews who traveled America at the same time this book was written, although they had a vaudeville show, not Yiddish theater as such. Vaudeville is mentioned briefly in Wandering Stars as something cheap and inferior.
Where I dropped my rating from four to three stars was because the plot tended to drag on a bit too slowly, and the charming Yiddish voice that is well-created in the 21st Century translation is fun and interesting -- for me very reminiscent of my beloved grandfather -- but then again 420 pages of that is a bit much.
I chose this book in part as being connected to my ancestry. My great-grandparents were Russian/Romanian Jews who traveled America at the same time this book was written, although they had a vaudeville show, not Yiddish theater as such. Vaudeville is mentioned briefly in Wandering Stars as something cheap and inferior.
Where I dropped my rating from four to three stars was because the plot tended to drag on a bit too slowly, and the charming Yiddish voice that is well-created in the 21st Century translation is fun and interesting -- for me very reminiscent of my beloved grandfather -- but then again 420 pages of that is a bit much.
August 11, 2021
This book was funny, clever, and made me smile since I'm Jewish myself. A lot of the way the characters acted or spoke was very familiar and reminiscent of my family growing up. The book also seemed to drag on for a long time - the pacing was slow and it was occasionally hard to focus. Personally, I also wasn't fond of the ending. Wholly unsatisfying. It gives the impression that the author got bored and ended it because they didn't want to write anymore.
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July 15, 2023This is a beautiful piece of Judaica that should be treasured for all time, though I couldn't stick with it. It's distilled Jewish life and joy in the milieu of Fiddler on the Roof, full of humor and a rich opus of culture written in the increasingly chaotic tone of a play or musical. It in fact would make an excellent movie, and wish a modern rendition of it as that would be made.
March 6, 2025
אַן אינטערעסאַנט בוך, אפֿשר צו לאַנג, אָבער ס'איז קלאָר אַז שלום־עליכם האָט פֿאַרמאַכט די דערצײלונג, אַנדערש װי אין אַנדערע ביכער זײַנע (אין שטורעם, מאָטל פּײסי דעם חזנס אאַז"װ). ממש אַ פֿאַרגעניגן װי ער שפּיגלט אָפּ די ענדערונגען אין דער שפּראַך, און די ליבע־דערצײלונג איז גאָר אַ מאָדערנע פֿאַר דער עפּאָכע, נישט קײן געדראָשענע
May 17, 2021
Read this book for a Jewish Book Club. Translated from the Yiddish, it seemed to retain the author's humor and style of writing. I like the way he breaks out and talks to the "Reader". Very enjoyable read although I was disappointed at the ending.
September 8, 2024
Spacious novel about a small shtetl and two young people who run away from it to pursue their dreams (and escape the restrictions there). Colorful, verbose, interesting, and even witty in parts, but does proceed slowly at times.
November 7, 2020
Я читала эту книгу в русском переводе. Она одна из моих самых любимых.
September 25, 2016
strangely intriguing wandering story.
November 25, 2012
What an amazing novel, and what an incredible story! Wandering Stars, by Sholem Aleichem, and translated from the Yiddish by Aliza Shevirn, is a journey into Yiddish Theater unlike anything you have read on the subject. Jews are known as wanderers, and Aleichem’s novel not only evokes that theme, but also infuses the story with characters-turned actors straight from Holeneshti, a Russian shtetl, who become stars in their own right, shining brightly on stage.
Reisel is the daughter of a cantor, a cantor who is in dire straights, monetarily speaking. Leibel is from a wealthy family. Both Reisel and Leibel are intrigued and taken by the Yiddish Theater company, and its troupe of actors that come to their shtetl at the end of the nineteenth century.
Reisel and Leibel leave their homes, thinking they will eventually meet and run off together. Things don’t quite work out that way. They join the theater, but as it turns out, it is not together, because they become separated by greedy theater managers. They eventually make their own mark in the Yiddish Theater world, after being promoted and exploited by their managers and theater owners. Reisel becomes Rosa Spivak, promoted as a concert talent coming from Bucharest. Leibel becomes Leo Rafalesko, an acting genius. Their audiences adore them, and can’t get enough of them, wanting them to perform more often.
Aleichem was a masterful writer, and Wandering Stars is a masterpiece because of that. Wandering Star is a tribute to Yiddish theater, and to a way of life that once was, and one that no longer exists, both onstage and off stage. It is also a tribute to Sholem Aleichem and his consummate writing skills. I highly recommend Wandering Stars to everyone, not only for the story, but for its historical apsect as well. It belongs in every personal library, and every university, college, high school, and local library. Sholom aleichem to Solomon Rabinowitz, wherever he is.
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November 21, 2013ÇLEAH AND LEIBEL VISIT A YIDDISH THEATER IN A SHETAL AND ATTEND SEVERAL PERFORMANCES. THE ARE VERY YOUNG AND FALL IN LOVE. ALTHOUGH ONLY 13 AND 15 THEY FEEL THE ARE MEANT FOR EACH OTHER. THEY EACH JOIN A SEPARATE THEATRICAL GROUP AND ARE SEPARATED FOR MANY YEARS. EACH HAS SUCCESS AND FAME. THERE ARE SEVERAL INTERTWINING LIVE STORIES AND A HOST OF CHARACTERS BOTH MEN AND WOMEN. A GOOD STORYTELLER.
Merged review:
LEAH AND LEIBEL VISIT A YIDDISH THEATER IN A SHETAL AND ATTEND SEVERAL PERFORMANCES. THE ARE VERY YOUNG AND FALL IN LOVE. ALTHOUGH ONLY 13 AND 15 THEY FEEL THE ARE MEANT FOR EACH OTHER. THEY EACH JOIN A SEPARATE THEATRICAL GROUP AND ARE SEPARATED FOR MANY YEARS. EACH HAS SUCCESS AND FAME. THERE ARE SEVERAL INTERTWINING LIVE STORIES AND A HOST OIF CHARACTERS BOTH MEN AND WOMEN. LEAH AND LEIBEL VISIT A YIDDISH THEATER IN A SHEiTAL AND ATTEND SEVERAL PERFORMANCES. THE ARE VERY YOUNG AND FALL IN LOVE. ALTHUGH ONLY 13 AND 15 THEY FEEL THE ARE MEANT FOR EACH OTHER. THEY EACH JOIN A SEPARATE THEATRICAL GROUP AND ARE SEPARATED FOR MANY YEARS. EACH HAS SUCCESS AND FAME. THEREARE SEVERAL INTERTWAIN LIVE STORIES AND A HOST OIF CHARACTERS BOTH MEN AND WOMEN. ONE LEARNES HE DESCRIBES LIFE IN SMALTOWNS, VILLAGES AND MRTOPOLITAN CITIES. ACTORS. CON, MEN A WOMEN SOME GOOD SOME, GOODP BAD
Merged review:
LEAH AND LEIBEL VISIT A YIDDISH THEATER IN A SHETAL AND ATTEND SEVERAL PERFORMANCES. THE ARE VERY YOUNG AND FALL IN LOVE. ALTHOUGH ONLY 13 AND 15 THEY FEEL THE ARE MEANT FOR EACH OTHER. THEY EACH JOIN A SEPARATE THEATRICAL GROUP AND ARE SEPARATED FOR MANY YEARS. EACH HAS SUCCESS AND FAME. THERE ARE SEVERAL INTERTWINING LIVE STORIES AND A HOST OIF CHARACTERS BOTH MEN AND WOMEN. LEAH AND LEIBEL VISIT A YIDDISH THEATER IN A SHEiTAL AND ATTEND SEVERAL PERFORMANCES. THE ARE VERY YOUNG AND FALL IN LOVE. ALTHUGH ONLY 13 AND 15 THEY FEEL THE ARE MEANT FOR EACH OTHER. THEY EACH JOIN A SEPARATE THEATRICAL GROUP AND ARE SEPARATED FOR MANY YEARS. EACH HAS SUCCESS AND FAME. THEREARE SEVERAL INTERTWAIN LIVE STORIES AND A HOST OIF CHARACTERS BOTH MEN AND WOMEN. ONE LEARNES HE DESCRIBES LIFE IN SMALTOWNS, VILLAGES AND MRTOPOLITAN CITIES. ACTORS. CON, MEN A WOMEN SOME GOOD SOME, GOODP BAD
October 18, 2009
On the 150th anniversary of Sholem Aleichem’s birth, Wandering Stars has been published in English for the very first time. Yiddish is notoriously under-translated and this book, by the grandfather of Yiddish lit, is proof that there are a lot of gems out there yet to be represented. A love story taking place in the theater, Wandering Stars reminds in scope and in amplitude of the classics of Russian fiction written by Aleichem’s contemporaries such as Tolstoy, Dosteovski. If you are familiar with the characters in Aleichem's other works, the compassionate and the gritty schmucks, some of the most authentic people in all of literature, then you will know and love the cast of this book.
December 31, 2014
Oh SA, why you gotta do this to me again?! So sucked into this story only to realize all the waxing poetic and seeming perfect ending was just too good to be true (or rather, it was perfect until you wrecked it in the epilogue!), and that, as you say "apparently there is no happiness here on earth. There is only the striving toward happiness. Happiness itself is no more than a dream, a fantasy…This is the way it has been til now, and this is the way it will always be." This book is a comedy, a tragedy, a delight.
Fine example of Yiddish literature and delighted to have this be part of the reading list for this January's class.
Fine example of Yiddish literature and delighted to have this be part of the reading list for this January's class.
May 7, 2009
A really great book that transports the reader to another world. The author wrote Fiddler on the Roof, and this book is 150 years old, newly translated. Fascinating look at the 19th century, Eastern Europe, the Jewish world, and the acting world. Leibel and Reizel both leave their shetl on the same night with a visiting troupe, only to be split up immediately and yearning for each other for years. The book moves to London and America, with indelible characters, particularly the successive stage managers. Amazing proximations of speech pattersn brings everyone alive.
August 28, 2009
My mother recommended this highly. This is a new edition/translation of the original work, published in honor of what would be Sholom Aleichem's 150th birthday. It has a forward by Tony-award-winning playwright Tony Kushner.
The story has to do with two lovers who become actors in New York's Yiddish theater around the turn of the last century.
The story has to do with two lovers who become actors in New York's Yiddish theater around the turn of the last century.
August 21, 2011
Though it can occasionally seem a bit slow this novel is worth reading. It is something beautiful and heartbreaking. One wishes with every page to see the lovers reunited, knowing that their separate lives are great but together they could be perfect. There is so much sadness and joy as these characters travel from country to country, losing old friends and gaining new and learning to live life.
December 2, 2011
I wanted to like this book about 2 star-crossed Jewish lovers at the end of the 19th century. The book tells of how a Yiddish theatre troupe came to town and how the star-crossed lovers left with the troupe and their eventual show-biz success. It's told in a rambling, narrative style that just doesn't work for me.
July 17, 2012
as a former theatre kid, i can attest to the reality of the inevitability of incestuous romantic entanglements. this captures it perfectly, even made me a little nostalgic. im glad to know theatre people have been crazy for a while now. aleichem is the world's best storyteller, even better than singer. i heart him so much.this is def my fave book of his .
August 18, 2009
A romp of a serialized novel. Two shtetl kids, sweethearts, one the son of a rich man, one the daughter of the poor cantor, run off with a traveling theater. Separated, they become stars of the stage, hoping to reunite once more. "Stars don't fall, they wander."
September 9, 2009
This was a translation, and I think that translations are hard because some essence is lost when you don't read a work in its original language. The story was well-written and very Yiddish. I felt like the book took me through so much and let me down with the ending.
October 22, 2009
There's a reason Sholem Aleichem is known as the greatest Yiddish writer of all time. Once you get into this book, its humor, compassion and warmth will satisfy you like only your Bubby's kugel cooking can.
April 4, 2012
This book moved in far too slow and rambling a manner for me to be captivated by. I had o quit about 3/4 of the way through, which is rare for me. I just didn't particularly care about any of the characters or the resolution of the tale.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 39 reviews