King of the Jews - Softcover

Epstein, Leslie

3.69

119 ratings by Goodreads

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0452258235 ISBN 13: 9780452258235

Publisher: Plume, 1986

View all copies of this ISBN edition:

This masterpiece of black humor has taken its place among the great classics of Holocaust literature. Set in Poland, it is the story of I.C. Trumpleman, the indiscreet director of an orphanage. When the Germans invade and the Jewish community is forced into a ghetto, Trumpleman is chosen as the head of a Judenrat, granted the power to decide who will live and who will starve. By turns a con man, charismatic leader, and merciless dictator, Trumpelman reveals himself as an extraordinarily complex protagonist. King of the Jews continues to be an extraordinary vision of occupied Poland, and offers stunning insight through the trappings of history to questions of equal moral complexity today.

"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.

About the Author:

Leslie Epstein, whose father and uncle, Philip G. and Julius J. Epstein, wrote Arsenic and Old Lace, Casablanca, and many other classics of the golden era of films, is the author of eight works of fiction, including Pandaemonium and Pinto and Sons. He lives in Brookline, Massachusetts, and has for many years directed the Creative Writing Program at Boston University.

Review:

"Mature, brilliantly sustained, thoroughly engrossing." -- Newsweek

"Profoundly daring... Epstein can summon up life from the bottom of despair." -- The Boston Globe

"Remarkable. A lesson in what artistic restraint can do to help us imagine the dark places in our history." -- The New York Times Book Review

"The best book yet to be written on the Holocaust. A superb novel." -- San Francisco Chronicle

"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.