Idiots First

by Bernard Malamud

Book Overview

A book of twelve stories. Of them four are set in Italy, four have a Jewish background, and two are told first-person. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0374174202
• ISBN13: 9780374174200
• Release Date: December 1963
• Publisher: Farrar Straus Giroux
• Length: 212 Pages
• Weight: 0.80 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Like a trip to the fun house

I picked this up when I was out on my bike and stopped at a sidewalk bookseller. A warped gem caught my eye among the assorted unrelated new age fare. Planned to take it all the way home to read, but ended up in the sun, bike aside on the grass in a park, riveted. Idiots First is shiksas, sex, lies, crime, sadness, poverty, pride -- life twisted and yet too real. Italians, Jews -- one is even a bird. Think Edgar Allan Poe mixed with I.B. Singer. Step right up, idiots first!

Deep, complex, and beautiful

I happened to be assigned this book for a college lit class, and knew nothing of Malamud at the time. After reading the story for which the book is named, Idiots First, I could not stop reading. His stories are so deeply insightful into the complexities of the human soul, and the painful and paradoxical nature of everyday life. Aside from the philosophical aspects, he writes with the voice of a true New Yorker, and reflects the universal experience of growing up as an immigrant in a big city. Read it! You'll love it!