This novel was a joy to read. Perhaps it says something about my personality when I say that I loved this tale of Jewish senior citizens putting on Hamlet and squabbling amongst themselves. On the surface, the story flits playfully through the New York City retirement community where it is set, introducing us to dirty old men, crazy old ladies, and the very likable narrator Otto Korner. Just as in a high school, the retirement home is divided into little cliques, popularity contests arise, and crushes are diverted into heartbreak. While telling us the story of the play, Korner also treats us to flashback episodes from his earlier life, from a love story with a mysterious young Dada artist in Europe to his marriages to two very different wives to his former career as a promising young poet in the German language. The novel flows seamlessly between comic and tender scenes, the past and the present. It was something different from the kinds of stories that I usually read, and made for an enjoyable departure.
Do You like book The Prince Of West End Avenue (1996)?
