A Double Thread
Growing Up English and Jewish in London
Published on 6. May 2002
Book
Hardback
208 pages
978-1-56663-424-3 (ISBN)
Description
This evocative picture of a lost London and a vanished culture is also the story of a bookish boy discovering his own path. John Gross is the son of a Jewish doctor who practiced in the East End of London from the 1920s to World War II and beyond. His parents were the children of immigrants, steeped in Eastern European customs, yet outside the home he grew up in a very English world of comics and corner shops, sandbags and bomb sites, battered school desks and addictive, dusty cinemas. Mr. Gross looks back on his childhood with humor and insight, tracing this double inheritance. Religion underpins family life: the richness of the Yiddish language, stories, jokes and music-hall humor, the rituals and mysteries of the synagogue, are set against the life of the streets, where boxers and gangsters are heroes and patients turn up on the doorstep at all hours. And in the background, behind the wit and the color, lie the shadows of anti-Semitism and the Holocaust.
Reviews / Votes
Wise, witty, and good-tempered. -- E. S. Turner * Times Literary Supplement * Beautifully written and deeply moving. -- Hilton Kramer Intelligent, humane, highly civilized...the voice we hear not only holds our attention but also wins our affection and respect. * Los Angeles Times * A very beautiful and valuable book. -- Oliver Sacks Incisive.... Mr. Gross's voice-demure, measured, if at times overly cautious-is strikingly unique and unusually trustworthy. * The Wall Street Journal * Remarkably readable and entertaining. -- Antonia Fraser Extraordinary riches are crammed into this short book. -- Susan Hill Captivating and finely instructive. Written with grace and lucidity. -- Robert Alter Subtle and deeply satisfying to read. -- Michael Holroyd A wonderfully evocative account of growing up in London's Jewish East End. -- Daniel Bell A delightful memoir of life to the age of 18 in London before, during, and after World War II. * The New York Times *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Chicago
United States
Dimensions
Height: 220 mm
Width: 155 mm
Thickness: 21 mm
Weight
417 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-56663-424-3 (9781566634243)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
John Gross is theatre critic of the Sunday Telegraph and former editor of the Times Literary Supplement. For a number of years he was also a staff writer for the New York Times in New York. His other books include the classic study The Rise and Fall of the Man of Letters, and the widely acclaimed Shylock: Four Hundred Years in the Life of a Legend. He lives in London.