Roommates: My Grandfather's Story - Hardcover

Apple, Max

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0446518263 ISBN 13: 9780446518260

Publisher: Grand Central Pub, 1994

Synopsis

From Max Apple, the witty and acclaimed writer of The Oranging of America and Free Agents, comes a true story unlike any you've ever read before. At its center is a young boy who grows into a man and his grandfather - irascible, scrappy Herman "Rocky" Goodstein - who takes over a troubled family at the age of 103 and shows them all how to survive, how to heal, and how to love.
Rocky seems to have been looking out for his grandson Max all his life. A Jewish immigrant from Lithuania, the five-feet-tall, 110 pound Rocky ends up as a baker in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and has already been forced into semiretirement by the time Max is born. He is, however, no gentle old man. He argues with the men in the synagogue, screams daily at his fellow workers in the bakery, and explodes in anger in his sleep, calling down curses in Yiddish on his enemies - everyone from the Bolsheviks to Richard Nixon.
Grandpa Rocky and Max share a house, a heritage, an extended family and eventually a special bond as the fiery old man shapes and guides a little boy's growth into manhood. But neither quite expects to end up together as roommates during the turbulent 1960s when Max goes to the University of Michigan and Rocky is a hale and hearty 93. And neither could foresee how their lives would continue to be intertwined in years to come.
In these times of radical change, it is old-fashioned love that causes the most trouble. Debby, a feisty and bright young woman, immediately steals Max's heart and arouses Rocky's instant dislike, winning him over only after becoming Max's wife and the mother of his two children.
Then tragedy strikes; Max helplessly watches his world fall apart; and a very old man whose own thoughts are finally turning toward death discovers he has a new job. Grandpa Rocky, 103, takes over running a family with all the strength of character and wisdom about the sorrows and joys of living that more than a century has taught him. And in doing so, he touches and inspires us all, no matter what our age, in this tough-and-tender true story of an American family.

About this title

About the Author

Max Apple is a Professor of English at Rice University.

From Kirkus Reviews

One grumpy old man and his grandson--rated N for nostalgic and, finally, T for tragic. To readers who don't share Apple's (The Propheteers, 1987) affection, his grandfather Rocky (n‚ Yerachmiel) might best be described by his own favorite epithet: ``son of a beetch.'' From his childhood in Grand Rapids, Mich., through his graduate school days in Ann Arbor, to his years as a husband, father, and college professor in Houston, Apple's beloved ``roommate'' was his ornery grandfather. Rocky has his touching, and humorous, points: The lifelong baker continues his art even after passing 100 years of age; an Orthodox Jew, he caringly ushers a young seeker into Judaism; he accompanies Max and his girlfriend, Debby, on a comical mission to recover Debby's shanghaied dog. But Rocky is also a master of emotional blackmail; confronted with Debby's moving into the Ann Arbor apartment, he says, ``If I wanted to live in a whorehouse, I could have stayed in Grand Rapids.'' Much of Apple's narrative is an ongoing cycle of battles and reconciliation, with Rocky locking himself in his bedroom or the basement (for instance, refusing to attend Max and Debby's wedding) and eventually relenting. His wedding cake comes ten years after the fact--too late not only for the event, but too late for Debby to enjoy at all, for by then her mind, and body, have been touched by multiple sclerosis. The final third of Apple's account relates the devastating effects of her illness on daughter Jessica and son Sam. Jessica buries herself in baseball statistics, and both shun their friends. (``I hate it when people ask me about Mom,'' Jessica says. ``I just tell them she fell off the Empire State Building.'') Apple himself tries to juggle devotion to his hospitalized wife with the complex needs of the children. In the end, it is Apple's affecting writing about his deepest loss that carries this book. Disney will be releasing it as a movie (starring Peter Falk as Rocky). -- Copyright ©1994, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

About this edition

• Publisher: Grand Central Pub
• Publication date: 1994
• ISBN 10: 0446518263
• ISBN 13: 9780446518260
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 211