My Own Ground

by Hugh Nissenson and Ana Huang

Book Overview

Through airtight prose which allows no overtones of pity, Nissenson has written a relentless assessment of the martyr's way in religion's less-than-grand designs. -- Kirkus ReviewsSet in the year... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0060970758
• ISBN13: 9780060970758
• Release Date: January 1987
• Publisher: Harper Perennial
• Length: 180 Pages
• Weight: 0.45 lbs.

Customer Reviews

The Harsh Exoticness of MY OWN GROUND

I've been carrying the banner of Hugh Nissenson for some years now, especially with MY OWN GROUND. Henry Roth's CALL IT SLEEP has for years been the considered the sine qua non in the canon of Lower East Side fiction, but MY OWN GROUND is a real stunner. The story of a teenage orphan in the Lower East Side in 1912, the novel quite skillfully avoids the cliche-ridden traps of the usual "folkloric" opus, instead bringing us a teeming, swirling--and very dangerous--world in which Jake (an orphan without the usual dose of "pluck") must navigate. MY OWN GROUND is also a welcome relief from the usual dose of schmaltz (i.e., Leo Rosten)that is usually served up-- here the Lower East Side is a grimy and poor place, and Jake falls in with the eerie and malevolent pimp Shlifka.I can't say enough about this novel. It deserves to be front and center in any survey of Jewish fiction.