Bread Givers: A Novel
by Anzia Yezierska
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Book Summary Information
Author: Anzia YezierskaForeword: Alice Kessler-Harris
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2003-08-01
ISBN: 0892552905
Number of pages: 336
Publisher: Persea
Book Reviews of Bread Givers: A Novel
Book Review: An Extremely Brilliant Novel!
Summary: 5 Stars
Anzia Yezierska's novel, "Bread Givers," is perhaps her best known work that has surpassed the century. In this very detailed novel, her narrator is Sara Smolinsky, the daughter of a Rabbi and his wife, and sister to Mashah, Fania, and Bessie. They live in a tenement on the Lower East Side of Manhattan in a largely Orthodox Jewish population. The Smolinsky family immigrated from Poland to the New World but still live in poverty.
Rebbe Smolinsky is a devout talmudic Jew who studies the Torah for a living where he earns no money. He depends on his wife and four daughters to earn the income for the family's living expenses. Rebbe Smolinsky is totally encompassed in his religious studies that he doesn't provide any income for family.
When his daughters, Bessie, Fania, and Mashah all find possible suitors for husbands. They don't meet their father's strict standards. Despite the girls' love and happiness, the father has driven all three of them off and marries them off to his own interests and causes irepparable harm. It is Sara who remains indignant about being the next daughter married off like a piece of property.
Sara runs away and into a new life. Her sisters have all been married off but they're all unhappy, impoverished, and miserable in their marriages. Sara refuses to succumb to her sister's fate. She would rather die than be further imprisoned by her father's maniacal preachings and philosophy and sexism. Reb. Smolinsky believes women need men in order to get into heaven.
In this novel and time in history, women are still inferior and second class citizens. Until 1920, women didn't have the right to vote. Anyway, the story of one Jewish daughter, Sara, who rebels against her father's wishes is the crust of the main story. Apart from Sara's life, the information and detail transcends to this day about arranged marriages and personal freedom even at the cost of losing family. Sara's estrangement from her family is necessary for her well-being and independence.
Sara's journey is one for those who rebel against cultural and social norms. In the end, we feel like a member of the family and mourn their losses in the end. By the end of the novel, the story stays with you for a long time.
Summary of Bread Givers: A Novel
The classic novel of Jewish immigrants, with period photographs.
This masterwork of American immigrant literature is set in the 1920s on the Lower East Side of Manhattan and tells the story of Sara Smolinsky, the youngest daughter of an Orthodox rabbi, who rebels against her father's rigid conception of Jewish womanhood. Sarah's struggle towards independence and self-fulfillment resonates with a passion all can share. Beautifully redesigned page for page with the previous editions, Bread Givers is an essential historical work with enduring relevance. 16 black-and-white photographsLiterary Books
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