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Ravage & Son

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( 66 ratings, 19 reviews)
Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
Ravage & Son, by Jerome Charyn, delves into the complexities of family, identity, and assimilation in a vivid portrayal of early 20th-century New York. The narrative follows the son of a Jewish pawnbroker as he grapples with his heritage and the influence of his father's ambitions. The story explores themes of loyalty and cultural estrangement against a backdrop of vibrant urban life.
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Format: Paperback / softback
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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

You might enjoy this book if you're intrigued by evocative storytelling that paints vivid portraits of New York's Lower East Side during the early 1900s. With its mix of family drama, history, and enigmatic characters, it appeals to those fascinated by rich historical narratives and complex character studies.

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Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

A master storyteller's novel of crime, corruption, and antisemitism in early 20th-century Manhattan

Ravage & Son reflects the lost world of Manhattan's Lower East Side—the cradle of Jewish immigration during the first years of the twentieth century—in a dark mirror.

Abraham Cahan, editor of the Jewish Daily Forward, serves as the conscience of the Jewish ghetto teeming with rogue cops and swindlers. He rescues Ben Ravage, an orphan, from a trade school and sends him off to Harvard to earn a law degree. But upon his return, Ben rejects the chance to escape his gritty origins and instead becomes a detective for the Kehilla, a quixotic gang backed by wealthy uptown patrons to help the police rid the Lower East Side of criminals. Charged with rooting out the Jewish "Mr. Hyde," a half-mad villain who attacks the prostitutes of Allen Street, Ben discovers that his fate is irrevocably tied to that of this violent, sinister man.

A lurid tale of revenge, this wildly evocative, suspenseful noir is vintage Jerome Charyn.

Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?

Jerome Charyn's Ravage & Son is lauded for its exceptional storytelling, evoking the vivid atmosphere of Manhattan's Lower East Side with elements of crime and passion. The novel is praised as a gritty historical crime tale with a Shakespearean essence and a relentless prose style. It blends historical fiction with social commentary, touching on issues like class struggle and immigration. Charyn's ability to intertwine real-world and fictional elements is highlighted, providing a vibrant and dynamic portrayal of a bygone New York City.

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Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781954276192

Publisher: Bellevue Literary Press

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 05 October 2023

Country: United States

Imprint: Bellevue Literary Press

Illustration: Illustrations

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Width: 139.0mm

Height: 209.0mm

Weight: 250g

Pages: 288

About the Author

Jerome Charyn is the author of more than fifty works of fiction and nonfiction, including Maria La Divina; Ravage & Son; Sergeant Salinger; Cesare: A Novel of War-Torn Berlin; In the Shadow of King Saul: Essays on Silence and Song; Jerzy: A Novel; and A Loaded Gun: Emily Dickinson for the 21st Century. Among other honors, his work has been longlisted for the Mark Twain American Voice in Literature Award and PEN Award for Biography, shortlisted for the Phi Beta Kappa Christian Gauss Award, and selected as a finalist for the Firecracker Award and PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction. Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Film Culture at the American University of Paris, Charyn has also been named a Commander of Arts and Letters by the French Minister of Culture and received a Guggenheim Fellowship and the Rosenthal Family Foundation Award for Fiction from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He lives in Manhattan.

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