About this title: Tells the story of the prosperous Moskat family, Polish Jews living in Warsaw between the dawn of the 20th century and the gloom of 1939. Characters in this novel include saints and swindlers, tough Zionists and mystic philosophers, and medieval Rabbis and ultra-modern painters.
Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Farrar Straus Giroux, New York
Date Published: 1950
Description: Good. No dust jacket as issued. Binding flexible some, covers a little more flexible, clean pages, a little edge/corner wear, page edge mostly fairly crisp. Text in English, Yiddish. 611 p. 22 cm. 1978 Seventh Printing read more
Description: Fawcett 1978. Winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature. Worn Along Spine and Edges. Cover Creased. Weak front hinge. All books in VG or better condition. read more
Binding: Softcover
Publisher: Bantam, N. Y.
Date Published: 1967
Description: Cover Art. Reading Copy. No Jacket. Paperback. 12mo-over 6¾"-7¾" tall. Store stamp-------------Reading copy is rated from good to very fine.....The book may have minor flaws that may have gone unnoticed. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Farrar, Straus, & Giroux, New York
Date Published: 1950
Description: Good in good dust jacket. Text in English, 611 p. 22 cm. Edges pages and inside boards have some discoloration. Dust jacket has some shelf wear. read more
"By any standard, the word sweeping well suits Singer's novel "The Family Moskat." The novel spreads over almost a century of transformative history, ending at the outbreak of World War II, which will see before its end the entire civilization represented transformed into nothing but ash. Yet in the fashion of Tolstoy, Singer does not allow the great events he illustrates - WWI, the birth of modern Poland, the destruction of the Austria-Hungarian Empire, the 1917 Revolution, the rise of Zionism - to consume the story he tells, instead using it as a canvas on which he brings his characters to life.
His diverse cast is also linked through their ties of either blood or marriage to Mashulam Moskat, the patriarch of the family of the novel's title. A wealthy Jew with many children, Singer uses his children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren to move over every crevice of Jewish life in Poland, from those who emigrated to America or Palestine, to the Hasidim of the small towns, to the urban intellectuals and merchants. In every case he paints a portrait at once sensitive yet real. Indeed, much of the criticism of this work has come from those who found Singer's portrayal, with its often flawed characters, as "too real." Yet Singer was a man seeking to offer later generations a window into a world that vanished in his lifetime in a flash of gas and violence; who can blame him for wishing to make it as true to life as he was able?
I must also mention that this FSG edition is truly beautiful, complete with a useful family tree that can help the reader navigate the maze of relationships in the Byzantine Moskat clan."
"This is the first novel of Singer that I have ever read. My mom (like for many others) handed it to me and I skeptically started reading it thinking that it was the usual boring massive book that you abandon in a few days. I couldn't be more wrong. The book captured me. The ending of a book is probably the most delicate and difficult part to write but The Family Moskat has a killer ending, tha last paragraph itself is a masterpiece. Lastly I think it's important to highlight that this novel and Isaac Singer in person especially own very very much to Israel Singer and his The Brothers Ashkenazi."
"I think this was the first book that I read by I.B. Singer and what a book. A sprawling multi-generational cast of characters in pre-Holocaust Warsaw, Poland live out their lives. And the bleak ending reminds us that all of that is about to be lost."
We guarantee every item's condition, as described on Alibris. If you are not satisfied that an item is as described, return your purchase for a refund.
rating
