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Son of a Smaller Hero
Young Noah Adler, passionate, ruthlessly idealistic, is the prodigal son of Montreal’s Jewish ghetto. Finding tradition in league with self-delusion, he attempts to shatter the ghetto’s illusory walls by entering the foreign territory of the goyim . But here, freedom and self-determination continue to elude him. Eventually, Noah comes to recognize “justice and safety and a kind of felicity” in a world he cannot – entirely – leave behind. Richler’s superb account of Noah’s struggle to scale the walls of the ghetto overflows with rich comic satire. Son of a Smaller Hero is a compassionate, penetrating account of the nature of belonging, told with the savage realism for which Mordecai Richler’s fiction is celebrated.
208 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1955
12 people are currently reading
249 people want to read
About the author
Mordecai Richler
87 books370 followersWorking-class Jewish background based novels, which include
The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz
(1959) and
Saint Urbain's Horseman
(1971), of Canadian writer Mordecai Richler.
People best know Barney's Version (1997) among works of this author, screenwriter, and essayist; people shortlisted his novel Solomon Gursky Was Here (1989) for the Man Booker Prize in 1990. He was also well known for the Jacob Two-two stories of children.
A scrap yard dealer reared this son on street in the mile end area of Montréal. He learned Yiddish and English and graduated from Baron Byng High School. Richler enrolled in Sir George Williams College (now Concordia University) to study English but dropped before completing his degree.
Years later, Leah Rosenberg, mother of Richler, published an autobiography, The Errand Runner: Memoirs of a Rabbi's Daughter (1981), which discusses birth and upbringing of Mordecai and the sometime difficult relationship.
Richler, intent on following in the footsteps of many of a previous "lost generation" of literary exiles of the 1920s from the United States, moved to Paris at age of 19 years in 1950.
Richler returned to Montréal in 1952, worked briefly at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, and then moved to London in 1954. He, living in London meanwhile, published seven of his ten novels as well as considerable journalism.
Worrying "about being so long away from the roots of my discontent", Richler returned to Montréal in 1972. He wrote repeatedly about the Jewish community of Montréal and especially portraying his former neighborhood in multiple novels.
In England in 1954, Richler married Catherine Boudreau, a French-Canadian divorcée nine years his senior. On the eve of their wedding, he met Florence Wood Mann, a young married woman, who smited him.
Some years later, Richler and Mann divorced and married each other. He adopted Daniel Mann, her son. The couple had five children together: Daniel, Jacob, Noah, Martha and Emma. These events inspired his novel Barney's Version.
Richler died of cancer.
People best know Barney's Version (1997) among works of this author, screenwriter, and essayist; people shortlisted his novel Solomon Gursky Was Here (1989) for the Man Booker Prize in 1990. He was also well known for the Jacob Two-two stories of children.
A scrap yard dealer reared this son on street in the mile end area of Montréal. He learned Yiddish and English and graduated from Baron Byng High School. Richler enrolled in Sir George Williams College (now Concordia University) to study English but dropped before completing his degree.
Years later, Leah Rosenberg, mother of Richler, published an autobiography, The Errand Runner: Memoirs of a Rabbi's Daughter (1981), which discusses birth and upbringing of Mordecai and the sometime difficult relationship.
Richler, intent on following in the footsteps of many of a previous "lost generation" of literary exiles of the 1920s from the United States, moved to Paris at age of 19 years in 1950.
Richler returned to Montréal in 1952, worked briefly at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, and then moved to London in 1954. He, living in London meanwhile, published seven of his ten novels as well as considerable journalism.
Worrying "about being so long away from the roots of my discontent", Richler returned to Montréal in 1972. He wrote repeatedly about the Jewish community of Montréal and especially portraying his former neighborhood in multiple novels.
In England in 1954, Richler married Catherine Boudreau, a French-Canadian divorcée nine years his senior. On the eve of their wedding, he met Florence Wood Mann, a young married woman, who smited him.
Some years later, Richler and Mann divorced and married each other. He adopted Daniel Mann, her son. The couple had five children together: Daniel, Jacob, Noah, Martha and Emma. These events inspired his novel Barney's Version.
Richler died of cancer.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews
October 28, 2013
This was Richler's second novel and one of several pieces of fiction he wrote about the Jewish community around St Urbain Street in Montreal. It is a story of three generations in a Jewish family and the coming of age story of Noah Adler, the idealistic son of Wolf and Leah and grandson of Melech a stern orthodox Jew who controlled his family with an iron fist.
Noah was once the favoured grandson of Melech, but after Noah catches Melech defrauding a peddler and brings it to his attention, a slap in the face followed, and things were never the same afterwards. Noah can no longer blindly follow Melech nor acknowledge him as the family patriarch. He sees hypocrisy all around him and seeks truths he can live by and a way of life he can respect. He finds “the cage of the Adler family” increasingly confining and uncomfortable as he attempts to pull himself from the clutches of his traditional Jewish upbringing and experience life in the world of the Gentile. Inside the ghetto he finds life a stifling prison, but he also learns that outside of it he feels empty, isolated and lonely. And as he takes on this life challenge, he finds that even though he has physically left his boyhood home, he cannot escape his roots.
Noah leaves his family to attend university, supporting himself by driving a taxi cab at night and living in a rooming house. For this he is ostracized and ridiculed by his family. But he persists and soon begins an affair with Miriam, the wife of a literature professor who has befriended him and invited him into his home. And he learns an important lesson as his passion fades quickly when he discovers that the possessive love of and the responsibility for an older woman can become its own kind of ghetto. He soon discovers that his relationship with his lover Miriam has begun to duplicate the one he has with his mother.
He had expected that by moving away from home something would happen that would make him a freer man. But his childhood experiences are a part of him that cannot just be sliced off so that he can ease into a new and different world. Freedom and self determination elude him, but he begins to come to some understanding of himself.
As a youth trying to find the right path, he often swung too far in the opposite direction just to go against the crowd. He knows now that he was mistaken in his efforts to always be “against something”. Defining what he wants must be a positive path, bigger than rebelling and just saying “no” to something. He needs to determine what he will say “yes” to. He also begins to recognize that some of what he does, is only to incur the wrath of others. When he realizes he is drinking too much only because it horrifies his mother, he cuts down.
After the death of his father, he begins conforming so much that he misleads himself before he realizes what he is doing. His sense of honour leads him to ask Miriam to marry him, although he no longer loves her. He is desperately relieved when she refuses. And when his mother Leah tries to pull him back into the “Adler cage” after his father’s death, he becomes determined not to become the man to replace the husband she so mocked. And then finally, he learns to be kind. He is respectful to his father and grandfather when he withholds a truth he discovers because he knows it would be hurtful. His kindness depends on keeping secrets, something he has figured out is the right thing to do. He has finally learned to think for himself.
Although this looks like a simple tale of the experience of growing up, this is a much more complex novel. It is full of things to think about. The dialogue between family members is realistic and places you easily in the ghetto within the complex interactions of large families with their jealousies, favoured positions, childhood histories and continual jockeying to find a secure place in the web of relationships, alliances and conflicts. These scenes in particular are written with humour, insight, kindness and sarcasm and are reminiscent of many reader's own experiences.
Names play an interesting role in this story. It is natural to wonder how many of the characters were were named. Wolfe, Noah’s father has a name that insinuates a tough leader, yet Wolfe is actually a quiet, meek and groveling eldest son who is afraid of his father and has accomplished little in his life. He works in his father’s scrap yard, marries against his will and fathers a child only when Melech commands it. Miriam is the “goy”, the woman outside the Jewish religion with whom Noah has an affair. Again her name is curious. Miriam is a French Canadian yet she has a very traditional Jewish name. And Melech the patriarch and grandfather’s name is also interesting. Melech means “King” in Hebrew, yet this man is no longer a man of exalted respect among his children and grandchildren. And Theo, the literature professor Noah betrays, whose name means “God” in Greek, has not even one God like characteristic.
The story is also full of parallels to Mordecai Richler’s own life. He insists the story is neither autobiographical nor does it represent any real characters. But there are some remarkable similarities that are easy to find despite his protests. Richler like Noah, left home early to escape the strict confines of his religious upbringing. He too, had a falling out with his grandfather, and married outside his religion. When Richler’s father died he kept his prayer shawl in a bottom drawer just as in a similar way, Noah keeps one of Melech’s Torah scrolls after the fire in the warehouse. And although Richler always respected his Jewishness, he never embraced many of its traditions and abandoned many of the traditional practices he had been taught as a child, just as Noah does in this story. So there is lots of food for thought here.
A great read about family, the nature of belonging and the painful struggle to grow up and become your true self. It explores the mythical physical, mental and social walls we must all scale in coming to our own adulthood. Everyone must learn to think for himself and take responsibility for their actions, knowing that in the process you sometimes hurt others.
This book is even more enjoyable for those who lived in Montreal and experienced the places, the language and the culture referred to in the novel. A great read.
On the list of the best books in Canadian Literature.
Noah was once the favoured grandson of Melech, but after Noah catches Melech defrauding a peddler and brings it to his attention, a slap in the face followed, and things were never the same afterwards. Noah can no longer blindly follow Melech nor acknowledge him as the family patriarch. He sees hypocrisy all around him and seeks truths he can live by and a way of life he can respect. He finds “the cage of the Adler family” increasingly confining and uncomfortable as he attempts to pull himself from the clutches of his traditional Jewish upbringing and experience life in the world of the Gentile. Inside the ghetto he finds life a stifling prison, but he also learns that outside of it he feels empty, isolated and lonely. And as he takes on this life challenge, he finds that even though he has physically left his boyhood home, he cannot escape his roots.
Noah leaves his family to attend university, supporting himself by driving a taxi cab at night and living in a rooming house. For this he is ostracized and ridiculed by his family. But he persists and soon begins an affair with Miriam, the wife of a literature professor who has befriended him and invited him into his home. And he learns an important lesson as his passion fades quickly when he discovers that the possessive love of and the responsibility for an older woman can become its own kind of ghetto. He soon discovers that his relationship with his lover Miriam has begun to duplicate the one he has with his mother.
He had expected that by moving away from home something would happen that would make him a freer man. But his childhood experiences are a part of him that cannot just be sliced off so that he can ease into a new and different world. Freedom and self determination elude him, but he begins to come to some understanding of himself.
As a youth trying to find the right path, he often swung too far in the opposite direction just to go against the crowd. He knows now that he was mistaken in his efforts to always be “against something”. Defining what he wants must be a positive path, bigger than rebelling and just saying “no” to something. He needs to determine what he will say “yes” to. He also begins to recognize that some of what he does, is only to incur the wrath of others. When he realizes he is drinking too much only because it horrifies his mother, he cuts down.
After the death of his father, he begins conforming so much that he misleads himself before he realizes what he is doing. His sense of honour leads him to ask Miriam to marry him, although he no longer loves her. He is desperately relieved when she refuses. And when his mother Leah tries to pull him back into the “Adler cage” after his father’s death, he becomes determined not to become the man to replace the husband she so mocked. And then finally, he learns to be kind. He is respectful to his father and grandfather when he withholds a truth he discovers because he knows it would be hurtful. His kindness depends on keeping secrets, something he has figured out is the right thing to do. He has finally learned to think for himself.
Although this looks like a simple tale of the experience of growing up, this is a much more complex novel. It is full of things to think about. The dialogue between family members is realistic and places you easily in the ghetto within the complex interactions of large families with their jealousies, favoured positions, childhood histories and continual jockeying to find a secure place in the web of relationships, alliances and conflicts. These scenes in particular are written with humour, insight, kindness and sarcasm and are reminiscent of many reader's own experiences.
Names play an interesting role in this story. It is natural to wonder how many of the characters were were named. Wolfe, Noah’s father has a name that insinuates a tough leader, yet Wolfe is actually a quiet, meek and groveling eldest son who is afraid of his father and has accomplished little in his life. He works in his father’s scrap yard, marries against his will and fathers a child only when Melech commands it. Miriam is the “goy”, the woman outside the Jewish religion with whom Noah has an affair. Again her name is curious. Miriam is a French Canadian yet she has a very traditional Jewish name. And Melech the patriarch and grandfather’s name is also interesting. Melech means “King” in Hebrew, yet this man is no longer a man of exalted respect among his children and grandchildren. And Theo, the literature professor Noah betrays, whose name means “God” in Greek, has not even one God like characteristic.
The story is also full of parallels to Mordecai Richler’s own life. He insists the story is neither autobiographical nor does it represent any real characters. But there are some remarkable similarities that are easy to find despite his protests. Richler like Noah, left home early to escape the strict confines of his religious upbringing. He too, had a falling out with his grandfather, and married outside his religion. When Richler’s father died he kept his prayer shawl in a bottom drawer just as in a similar way, Noah keeps one of Melech’s Torah scrolls after the fire in the warehouse. And although Richler always respected his Jewishness, he never embraced many of its traditions and abandoned many of the traditional practices he had been taught as a child, just as Noah does in this story. So there is lots of food for thought here.
A great read about family, the nature of belonging and the painful struggle to grow up and become your true self. It explores the mythical physical, mental and social walls we must all scale in coming to our own adulthood. Everyone must learn to think for himself and take responsibility for their actions, knowing that in the process you sometimes hurt others.
This book is even more enjoyable for those who lived in Montreal and experienced the places, the language and the culture referred to in the novel. A great read.
On the list of the best books in Canadian Literature.
January 8, 2025
This was probably more like 3.5 stars for me. Some great writing and memorable scenes. But the plot was all over the place and a lot of storylines were left unresolved, though I suppose that mirrors real life, doesn’t it?
November 1, 2017
It's almost a given Richler will score a five-on-five.
If you are from or living in Montreal, his novels are a must read. Most of his stories take place in and around the city. There might be many reasons to read Richler's works but for me the tone and feel of the narrative and characters is the main draw. Though this, his second novel, is a more sombre and serious read as compared to his later novels, it left me wanting more when I reached that inevitable and final ‘full stop’.
If you are from or living in Montreal, his novels are a must read. Most of his stories take place in and around the city. There might be many reasons to read Richler's works but for me the tone and feel of the narrative and characters is the main draw. Though this, his second novel, is a more sombre and serious read as compared to his later novels, it left me wanting more when I reached that inevitable and final ‘full stop’.
March 4, 2022
I really liked the way that this book embeds a typical coming-of-age story in a larger discussion of the way that Noah Adler's Jewish background trapped him, alongside the way that his grandfather's oppressive grasp of his family trapped the whole family. From that point of view, this book is thematically very compelling. I especially appreciate the way that Noah's struggles: with his family, with his identity, and the complicated and adulterous relationship that he has with Miriam. Unfortunately, I didn't really find that anything else was sufficiently developed or fleshed-out. Many of the motivations of the other characters felt mysterious to me, and it didn't help that the author seemed deliberately reticent on that subject. I don't mind an author's decision to leave much at the level of subtext, but many of the characters seemed to have such unclear motivations that things they did seemed (and might well have, in fact, been) random, and I wasn't even really clear on who did what.
This book is a step above *St Urbain's Horseman*, which was dreadful, but nowhere near the highs of Richler's careers, such as *Barney's Version*.
This book is a step above *St Urbain's Horseman*, which was dreadful, but nowhere near the highs of Richler's careers, such as *Barney's Version*.
November 22, 2025
Guy who's only read the book Catcher in the Rye: "getting a lot of Catcher in the Rye vibes from this".
November 6, 2024
Richler's style of writing is one I have yet to encounter. His characters like Leah and Melech speak in tongues that I can hear coming from my distant grandparents.
His capture and account of the jewish ghetto without distinct borders was a treasure to hear uniquely described, for I've always wished I could transport myself back to my Zaidy's life in 50s Montreal.
Richler jumped between timelines and narrative accounts within sentences, which was an engaging way to read through a sometimes slow plot.
The all-too-familiar way female tropes in this book became tiresome but I ultimately loved Richlers style of writing and this coming of age story within a religious container.
His capture and account of the jewish ghetto without distinct borders was a treasure to hear uniquely described, for I've always wished I could transport myself back to my Zaidy's life in 50s Montreal.
Richler jumped between timelines and narrative accounts within sentences, which was an engaging way to read through a sometimes slow plot.
The all-too-familiar way female tropes in this book became tiresome but I ultimately loved Richlers style of writing and this coming of age story within a religious container.
May 7, 2011
Never mind books like "Barney's Version"...THIS is pure, unadulterated, perfectly distilled Mordecai Richler. One of the most tragic, blunt, and SEARING novels I've read in some time -- there are few books that can match this one in its exploration of ghettoization. Physical, mental, and social. It forces its characters to face hard realities...and most of them don't come away from the experience unscathed. The prose ramming these ideas home is some of the most beautiful I have ever read in a Canadian novel
Something put on the "must read" list...immediately.
Something put on the "must read" list...immediately.
August 24, 2022
« Les Adler vivaient dans une cage, et cette cage, malgré ses défauts, leur procurait justice, sécurité et une sorte de félicité. » Cette phrase à elle seule résume le roman. Comment peut-on se libérer d’une telle cage au début des années 50 quand on est né juif dans le ghetto à Montréal? Noah Adler, le mouton noir de la famille, essayera pourtant de toutes ses forces. Regard lucide sur l’époque et la différence, le besoin d’appartenance et d’indépendance. Une saga familiale qui ne laisse pas indifférent.
March 4, 2015
More cohesive than The Acrobats, but the characters are somewhat vague and insubstantial. I'd say particularly the women, but really, I think the men are pretty fragmentary too. They all seem more like pawns the author is moving around than real people to me. None of them were very likeable (except Panofsky and maybe Theo). I did like the descriptions of Montreal and the seasons.
September 18, 2019
Richlers second novel, in effect a second first novel. It is loosely biographical unlike his first novel, which was about a young artist in Spain. Son of a Smaller Hero is based on Richler's home neighborhood in Montreal, and on his family and others who lived there. It varies between lightly fictionalized and heavily fictionalized. Most of the major plot and characters are taken from Richler's life. With only slightly less fiction this novel would qualify as a non-fiction memoir.
The writing is a step up in craft from Acrobats, the first novel, and better than three of the next four novels which follow. Richler's knowledge of this place and time, and of these people, gives him a confidence and sureness of manner which reflects in the writing. There are sections which dazzle, indicating the heights of which Richler was capable. Other sections are bland and lifeless, signs that he had not yet completely focused his abilities.
The romance between Noah and Miriam, for example, is clunky. But many of the scenes between Noah and his parents, and Noah and his grandfather, are powerful and real.
The writing is a step up in craft from Acrobats, the first novel, and better than three of the next four novels which follow. Richler's knowledge of this place and time, and of these people, gives him a confidence and sureness of manner which reflects in the writing. There are sections which dazzle, indicating the heights of which Richler was capable. Other sections are bland and lifeless, signs that he had not yet completely focused his abilities.
The romance between Noah and Miriam, for example, is clunky. But many of the scenes between Noah and his parents, and Noah and his grandfather, are powerful and real.
June 27, 2024
Not as humorous as some of Richler's later novels, but a gritty coming-of-age story about a favored son who disappoints his successful but deeply flawed Jewish grandfather. There are some great scenes, such as Noah's experience with a "no Jews allowed" beach in the Laurentians, and the search for his father's corpse in the ashes of his workplace. Noah's motives are not always clear, which may have been intentional to reflect his conflicted inner life, but that sometimes made the book slower going than it might otherwise have been, as did some ambiguity about what exactly was in the box that Wolf died trying to retrieve. Fans of Richler should not miss this novel, but those new to his work might do better with a different selection.
October 17, 2017
It's worth a read just for the evocative descriptions of the Jewish Ghetto of Montreal in the 1950s, but even more laudable is the struggle of Noah Adler, the main character, with himself, his family, and society at the time, which is as relevant to readers today as it would have been when the novel was first published in 1955. This was my first Richler novel (other than Jacob Two-Two of course!) and it has inspired me to seek out others of Richler's works - hopefully they are just as readable, comic, and illustrative as this one.
August 2, 2018
As funny and tragic and real as extended families can be. Makes me wonder how much was well-observed rather than fabricated.
A rabbi "believed in God as an insurance man believes in Prudential ". Classic Richler
A rabbi "believed in God as an insurance man believes in Prudential ". Classic Richler
April 25, 2018
This was a pretty good book! I enjoyed it.
June 29, 2019
The novel is very much of its time and place, but the emotional dislocation of the young man is the same over time. And I just love Richler's writing.
September 22, 2021
loved, loved this book... just found it so profound... and love the way he writes
March 30, 2023
I hate reading books for school they’re always bad
November 28, 2023
Classic Mordecai Richler, but without the humour
July 2, 2024
lovely, easy reading. the jewish angst is always perfect with richler.
March 15, 2025
I love Mordecai Richler, but this was a bit of a slog. Characters and plot lines just didn't feel as well developed or interesting as his other novels.
April 29, 2025
Loved it mostly because it was set in my neighbourhood😍😍
But seriously, such a well-crafted story. Tragic in some ways, but ultimately a powerful exploration of culture, religion, and selfhood. Noah’s realization that his identity was rooted in being “against something” really stuck with me. Beautiful Canadian coming of age literature — could not recommend more!
But seriously, such a well-crafted story. Tragic in some ways, but ultimately a powerful exploration of culture, religion, and selfhood. Noah’s realization that his identity was rooted in being “against something” really stuck with me. Beautiful Canadian coming of age literature — could not recommend more!
October 7, 2020
A thorough portrait of a large family. In the book all members of the family must cope with loss and changing times; as a result their orthodoxy is challenged constantly. as a reader, seeing how varied the characters responses were made the family feel relatable - even for someone like myself who grew up with an entirely different cultural background. I thought the book had substance, charm, grace, wit, and humour. I can’t wait to get into some more Richler.
August 29, 2017
The tale of a young Jewish man, black sheep of his family, trying to break away from that family.
Mordecai Richler is one of my favorite authors, and in this early work of his you can see the "Montreal Curmudgeon" protagonist in it's earliest stage. From here you can meet a young Barney, an alternative Duddy Kravitz, a grandson to Solomon Gursky.
Breaking away from an insular culture, especially one seen as a religion and ethnicity rolled into one, can be heartbreaking and takes a lot of character. A lot of personal strength. This short novel centers around the protagonist finding a way to dig deep and turn his back on the smallness of the Ghetto, let go of his culture and give up all the good to spare himself the baggage of the bad.
It was a bit all over the place plot-wise, but the central premise was really strong. I can see how his ideas would refine and grow with the author into some of the greatest Canadian stories.
Mordecai Richler is one of my favorite authors, and in this early work of his you can see the "Montreal Curmudgeon" protagonist in it's earliest stage. From here you can meet a young Barney, an alternative Duddy Kravitz, a grandson to Solomon Gursky.
Breaking away from an insular culture, especially one seen as a religion and ethnicity rolled into one, can be heartbreaking and takes a lot of character. A lot of personal strength. This short novel centers around the protagonist finding a way to dig deep and turn his back on the smallness of the Ghetto, let go of his culture and give up all the good to spare himself the baggage of the bad.
It was a bit all over the place plot-wise, but the central premise was really strong. I can see how his ideas would refine and grow with the author into some of the greatest Canadian stories.
December 17, 2013
It's very good, in fact, but it reminded quite a bit of The Sacrifice by Adele Wiseman – there is one particular plot element the books share, beyond basic contexts. Richler is in great form and the story comes together masterfully, the resonance is there... quite beautiful, quite unsettling, quite real. Definitely worth a look if you've ever enjoyed Richler's other work.
January 2, 2012
This novel marks the point at which Richler found his "voice" and the subject matter and settings that would lead to his later classic novels. Essential to a full understanding and appreciation of Richler's work.
December 17, 2010
A sad story about a young man and the family he is trying to escape from.
January 4, 2011
Read for Montreal bookclub, January 2011. A quick read; it was interesting to read one of Richler's early novels. Also fun to read another book that takes place in Montreal, my new home.
February 7, 2011
Endearing, believable characters. Writing with humour, insight, sarcasm, and kindness.
August 6, 2012
Enjoyed this one.
It is tight and he captures the mood of the place, time and community so well.
This young man.
This young woman.
both trapped is such different ways.
It is tight and he captures the mood of the place, time and community so well.
This young man.
This young woman.
both trapped is such different ways.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews