≫ Read Snow in August Pete Hamill 9780446675253 Books

Snow in August Pete Hamill 9780446675253 Books

Download As PDF : Snow in August Pete Hamill 9780446675253 Books

Snow in August Pete Hamill 9780446675253 Books

I did not like this book. I was bored immediately when the young boy Michael was reliving the life of comic book heroes. I did not like the flow of the book and I even found Hamill's writing lacking. Michael was witness to a crime and he befriended a Jewish rabbi. These are the two problems with which he wrestles.
He fears the gang's revenge if he admits what he knows and his friendship with the rabbi is a problem because the gang members are Jew haters. Michael often escapes into the world of fantasy. Our author solved all of Michaels problems with a few strokes of the pen. He took the easy way out and ended his story


Tags : Snow in August [Pete Hamill] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Set in a working-class Brooklyn neighborhood in 1947, this poignant tale revolves around two of the most endearing characters in recent fiction: an 11-year-old Irish Catholic boy named Michael Devlin and Rabbi Judah Hirsch,Pete Hamill,Snow in August,Grand Central Publishing,0446675253,FICTION Literary,Fiction,Fiction - General,Friendship; Judaism; Anti-Semitism; Gang violence; Supernatural beings,GENERAL,General & Literary Fiction,General Adult,Literary,Modern fiction

Snow in August Pete Hamill 9780446675253 Books Reviews

I so enjoyed this book..I loved the two main characters and the bond they formed against all odds..it opens ones mind to possibilities and more important learning that we are more similar as human beings than different..
In this novel even though age language religion and upbringing worked against the young man and the older man they were able to forge a relationship with each other because they gave each other a chance....in the course of the book .they both felt needed and loved learning from each other...
I would recommend this book to people of different ages religions ethnicities...it just might make people see things differently and in a positive way...it is a shame that we are products of the people who came before us and stereotypes are the hardest thing to erase once they are firmly implanted in a young persons mind..
This is an outstanding book, and a terrible book - so I gave it a "three".

Others have summarized the plot, so I won't.

I am Irish/Catholic and grew-up (in the early 50s) in a very Irish/Catholic section of Boston, and served as an altar boy. We had a baseball team in Boston (actually, we had two back then) and our lives revolved around it (but it was long before Pumpsie Green). I experienced many of the things that Michael Devlin experienced, and feel that I can relate to him - and especially to his mother (I, quite literally, cried when she proudly plugged-in her new Philco radio!).

All I can say is that, like Kate Devlin, we were poor - but we certainly didn't live in "poverty". Money was scarce but structure, family, love, and Holy Mother Church (for better or worse) were there for us. I can also relate to people of the Jewish faith and their tragic history (note my moniker); and have no time for anti-Semitism.

Having said all that, I want to repeat that (like several other reviewers) I am of two minds regarding this book. Hamill's treatment of the Devlins was spot-on; as was his treatments of Sacred Heart, serving Mass, McCarthy's gang, and the movie theater and pool room. And Ebbets Field/Fenway Pahk. I also believe (without knowing) that his treatment of Rabbi Hirsch and Shabbos goyim was spot-on. The characters are very well depicted (albeit a bit one-dimensional) and evocative. I very much enjoyed them and their journey. I was genuinely moved by these men and women, but like so many others here, I was muchly put-off by the ending. In my view, a novel can be either fanciful (like "Lord of the Rings") or factual (like "Exodus") but should not be both - especially when the conflict is factual ... but the resolution of that conflict is fanciful.

My own conclusion is that when Michael wanted to "vanish into a dreamless sleep" (on page 331)... he did exactly that. And when he woke up, his family's wounds were un-avenged, and he and Kate moved to Bay Ridge and lived happily ever after.

If only, instead, while collecting dirt in Prospect Park, he'd met six young twenty-something fellows who were holocaust survivors, and refugees from the DP camps, and were on their way to Palestine to fight the good fight ... but first decided to have a wee chat with Frankie McCarthy and his teenage boyos.

Sláinte, Frankie ...
Excellent novel set in Brooklyn in the aftermath of World War II. Prejudice and bullying is examined in different contexts--Jackie Robinson's breaking the color barrier in major league baseball, anti-Semitism, bullying by teen-aged gangs, etc. The central story revolves around an unexpected friendship between a young Catholic altar boy and a rabbi from Czechoslovakia who has settled in Brooklyn after the war. Mystical themes from Jewish legend and the Kabbalah also play a central role and add a supernatural element to the otherwise straightforward narrative. The rich moral themes of the novel led me to choose this book for a book discussion at my Episopal church and we also viewed the CD of the television play based on the book. The participants in the book discussion found the book as captivating as I did.
This was one of the books on my grandson's summer reading list. I read it first so we could discuss it. It has a very interesting moral situation that the primary character has to deal with - one that lends itself to very interesting discussions with a young person. The story takes place in post WWII '40s - a time very, very different from today. It will be difficult for a child of today's world to relate to that very different time period. The language is often a bit rough but rough language is part of being a teen. The story moves rather slowly and it takes a bit to plow through the beginning but becomes more interesting as it continues. Although I don't think it is the most riveting book it is worth young people reading and discussing it.
I did not like this book. I was bored immediately when the young boy Michael was reliving the life of comic book heroes. I did not like the flow of the book and I even found Hamill's writing lacking. Michael was witness to a crime and he befriended a Jewish rabbi. These are the two problems with which he wrestles.
He fears the gang's revenge if he admits what he knows and his friendship with the rabbi is a problem because the gang members are Jew haters. Michael often escapes into the world of fantasy. Our author solved all of Michaels problems with a few strokes of the pen. He took the easy way out and ended his story