The Secret Mitzvah of Lucio Burke
This well-constructed, lively first novel is a spirited triple play about love, friendship, and baseball. Set in Toronto in 1933, the story is told using an imaginative mix of fact and fiction to relate a humorous, magical story of Italian and Jewish immigrants trying to make their way in their new city. Lucio, age 17, falls in love with a gorgeous Jewish radical, Ruthie the red-headed Red, several years his senior. Also included in a huge cast of characters are Dubie, Lucio's best friend, who is also in love with Ruthie and who accidentally cuts off his finger at the moment he realizes it; a veranda-full of their fast-talking immigrant parents; five unmarried Italian brothers; swastika-waving anti-Semites; an entire baseball team; an Irish priest; and a plaster saint, as well as the second-best ballplayer Toronto would ever see. Hayward has captured the immigrant lingo with uncanny accuracy and employs a great deal of dialogue, making this a highly readable book. He is particularly skilled at depicting the great crowd scenes of immigrant life (and the frustrations they cause young lovers looking for solitude). Ruthie, who is organizing a citywide sweatshop walkout, is a marvelous, fully fleshed character and an unexpected heroine. "Soon, " she says to Lucio in reference to their unconsummated love relationship, and it seems to him "as if she is talking about the Revolution itself. " The conclusion, set during the real Christie Pits riot and a baseball game preceding it, is a tour de force. While the reader does not have to be a baseball fan to enjoy this book, it certainly adds to the pleasure. An excellent, entertaining read. --Mark Frutkin Author(s): Steven Hayward. Binding Paperback. Publisher(s): Vintage Canada. Label: Vintage Canada.
| Fabricant: | Vintage Canada |
| Numéro de la pièce: | |
| Prix le plus bas (CAD): | 15,16 $ |
Caractéristiques du produit |
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| Auteur : | Steven Hayward |
| Format : | Paperback |
| Marque : | Vintage Canada |
