by Marvin Korman

 

This tale of Bronx life in the 1930s and ’40s teems with wonderful characters striving to bring order and meaning into their often chaotic lives. The author came of age in an extended secular Jewish family dependent on his father's bakery. His father's struggles to make the bakery a success resulted in sometimes dramatic encounters, such as the one with a Communist labor boss who threatened to ruin the bakery if the father failed to reduce bread prices. Korman limns affectionate portraits of family members, especially his mentally challenged Uncle Maxie, who could sell only one product in the bakery, but who found the courage to stand up to a bully. Other indelible personalities include the Presbyterian minister Leslie Turner, who played a vital role in spiriting a Korman family relative out of Nazi Germany. A well-told piece of American ethnic history.