Generally books are used as an opportunity for escapism, to spend a few hours away from reality. The Fixer by Bernard Malamud is the opposite of this, taking the reader on a journey to Old Russia of 100 years ago, with its intolerance, cruelty, and corruption. This Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, one of the most powerful of the 20th century, is no easy ride!
The Fixer retells a Jewish man’s story in Russia during a peak of anti-Semitism in the early 1900s. Yakov Bok’s wife has left him after four years and he is struggling to live working as a fixer. He decides to move from his small town to Kiev, a city supposedly replete with jobs. Yakov struggles living in his small apartment in the Jewish Quarters and becom
The Fixer is based on a true story. It depicts Yakov’s struggle in prison, yet also how he continuously fought and how, despite numerous betrayals, illnesses and extra punishments due to his religion, Yakov was barely ever uncertain about staying alive and sticking to the truth, his innocence.
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