Middlepost

This is a book I casually picked up in the bargain bin of the local bookstore. As others have stated, it is funny yet sad. I would characterize it as kind of a prequel to Seinfeld. In short, if you enjoy the character George Costanza, I'm sure you will enjoy Smouse the Smouse. What is funny is: the sometimes bizarre decisions made by Smouse, and what is sad is the misinformation upon which these decisions are based. What is also sad--and funny--is that I could identify with these errors, having made sadly similar mistakes in my own past.

This is a strange book, both enthralling and repellent, by the wonderful, multi-talented actor Anthony Sher. Having read his memoir, Beside Myself, with pleasure and admiration, and seen him on the stage, ditto, and being a reader of Jewish literature very much interested in colonialism and race as well, I took this up eagerly. It is not an easy book, though the ride is often rollicking; I recommend it for anyone interested in how a contemporary writer deals with the legacy of great writing from the late C19 and early C20--how does one portray the long-lost shtetl, the fears of Jews in anti-semitic Eastern Europe, or the first encounter of Jews with the Boers, Englishmen and natives of South Africa? It's a challenge, and Sher rises to it with great verve and conscience. If his picture is more incoherent than not, this presumably reflects his own difficulty finding a place to stand as a writer on such elusive and huge subjects. The book is a tapestry, in the end, of Boschian wildness, violence and confusion, and leaves one feeling both sympathetic to the victimized shlemiel at its center and hopeless about the human capacity to follow the voice of conscience. Nearly every time Smous's conscience raises its head, he chooses passivity; finally, he is a Jonah spat out by a whale onto a desert he has no power to navigate. Many of us might relate to him.

I can only reiterate what the two previous reviewers said. This is a fantastic novel, by turns wryly funny, shockingly sad and beautifully written. As good an allegory about South Africa as even Koetzee has ever written. I have never understood why it wasnt a massive success, it's a better read than 'Disgrace', and that won the Booker Prize. If Sher writes another novel, I would buy it in a heartbeat on the basis of this book.

Anthony Sher is to my mind a genius in every sense, as an actor, as an author and now as an artist.Please read this book. We need more from this author.

The tale of a Russian Jew, Smous, who speaks only Yiddish and goes ahead of his family to South Africa to prepare for thier emigration. Throughout the story, the dim-witted Smous manages to make friends, learn lessons, and teach a few, even though he never learns the languages spoken in his new country. A sad and wonderful tale that should have been a classic, but no one read it.