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David Herman

David Herman is the JC’s chief fiction reviewer

Latest from David Herman

Books

Arabesques Book review: Twisting time and place and politics

Anton Shammas' breakthrough novel cleverly interweaves the imagined and the remembered

By David Herman

2 min read

Arabesques Book review: Twisting time and place and politics

Obituary: Edith Pearlman

4 min read

Who Is Mr. Poliakoff? Book review: A Jewish answer to a Le Carré thriller

1 min read

‘Deep feelings and a wild imagination’ - a tribute to the short-story queen Grace Paley

5 min read

More from David Herman

Ignore the naysayers, we’re living in a golden age of Jewish writing

Modern diaspora fiction is going through a period of growth and Israeli fiction is booming

3 min read

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October 20, 2022 13:29

Ignore the naysayers, we’re living in a golden age of Jewish writing

Book review - Chapters of Accidents: A Writer’s Memoir - Evocative portrait of a long-gone era

Literary memoir by one of the great Anglo-Jewish writers, whose best work focused on working-class life in London

1 min read

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October 20, 2022 12:13

Book review - Chapters of Accidents: A Writer’s Memoir - Evocative portrait of a long-gone era

Book review: Endless Flight: The Life of Joseph Roth - A doomed, drunk wandering genius

Keiron Pim's biography of one of the greatest writers of the 20th century is a dark story, movingly told

2 min read

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October 14, 2022 14:11

Book review: Endless Flight: The Life of Joseph Roth - A doomed, drunk wandering genius

Book review: The English GI - A soldier’s graphic story

Moving story told in pictures mixing maps, drawings and moving family photographs

1 min read

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September 29, 2022 14:28

Book review: The English GI - A soldier’s graphic story

Book review: Clouds over Paris - the banal life of an occupier

Fascinating chronicle of the Nazi-occupied French capital shows how the most everyday issues seem more important than the biggest historical issues of the day

1 min read

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September 22, 2022 13:07

Book review: Clouds over Paris - the banal life of an occupier

Did The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas need a sequel?

Critics attacked John Boyne's 2006 novel for obscuring the historical reality of the Holocaust. Now he's back with a follow-up

2 min read

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September 15, 2022 13:59

Did The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas need a sequel?

Book review: The People Immortal - A final war novel from a Russian master

A gripping chronicle of Soviet life in wartime and an indispensable companion piece to the author's other works

2 min read

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September 13, 2022 09:40

Book review: The People Immortal - A final war novel from a Russian master

Book review: The Disappearance of Josef Mengele - The monster who hid from justice

A dark and disgusting story of how Germans, Catholics and Americans helped countless Nazis find refuge during the Cold War, including some of the most infamous figures from the Holocaust

1 min read

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September 1, 2022 09:31

Book review: The Disappearance of Josef Mengele - The monster who hid from justice

Book review: The Incandescent Threads - Mystic hokum or a popular classic?

The latest in author's Sephardic Cycle begins begins by portraying the relationship between a Jewish-American artist and his father, a Holocaust survivor from Warsaw

1 min read

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August 5, 2022 14:48

Book review: The Incandescent Threads - Mystic hokum or a popular classic?

Book review: The Only Daughter by A.B. Yehoshua - Italian swansong of an Israeli Master

The final book by one of the last of that great generation of Israeli writers born in the 1930s is a wonderful farewell from a great literary master

2 min read

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July 8, 2022 09:23

Grand canal on sunny day in Venice, Italy

The Sidekick book review: Winners and losers in sport and life

The Sidekick has the melancholic and sour feel of Biden’s America and proves why Benjamin Markovits is one of the best American writers of his generation

2 min read

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June 30, 2022 12:51

WASHINGTON, DC - MARCH 19: LeBron James #6 of the Los Angeles Lakers shoots the ball against the Washington Wizards at Capital One Arena on March 19, 2022 in Washington, DC. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images)

Last of his generation: a tribute to A B Yehoshua

David Herman pays tribute to the acclaimed author's beautifully observed tales of Israel and Israelis

4 min read

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June 16, 2022 06:00

Israeli writer, A.B Yehoshua, is giving an interview at his home in Jerusalem. On May 5, 2007. Photo by Chen Leopold/Flash 90 *** Local Caption *** à.á éäåùåò ñåôø ôåøèøè ãéå÷ï