Review by EDowney107 -- A Cobbler's Tale

[EDowney107]

[Following is a volunteer review of "A Cobbler's Tale" by Neil Perry Gordon.]

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2 out of 4 stars

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A Cobbler’s Tale: Jewish Immigrants Story of Survival, from Eastern Europe to New York’s Lower East Side by Neil Perry Gordon takes place in the era of World War I. It tells the stories of Pincus Potasznik and Jakob Adler. The book follows these unlikely friends, beginning with their first meeting as steerage passengers on a ship bound for America. They arrive in New York City’s Lower East Side and attempt to build new lives, like so many immigrants who came before and after them.

Pincus is the cobbler referenced in the title. Jakob is ostensibly working for Pincus in his newly established cobbler shop. However, he continues to moonlight in his former life on the wrong side of the law. Other characters populate the pages, including Pincus’s wife and children, Jakob’s lover, and several members of the village Pincus left behind in Poland.

The story jumps between the old and new worlds, following the adventures of Pincus and Jakob in New York, as well as describing the experiences of the family and village where Pincus came from. The pacing is generally well done, with the transitions between characters and settings occurring naturally.

The book is at its best when setting the scene – from the villages of Eastern Europe to Delancey Street in the Lower East Side of New York City, the reader can easily picture the world inhabited by these characters. However, the dialogue often comes across as strained. The plot meanders, but not in a way that feels intentional. Rather, one finishes the book with a sense that it was overly ambitious and tried to do too much within the confines of the story.

Despite the hardships they face, none of the characters are easy for the reader to like. Clara, Pincus’s wife, is the most fully developed character. She adeptly rises to the challenges imposed on her by her husband’s absence and the onset of World War I. In contrast, her husband never seems to mature beyond being a self-centered man with an inferiority complex.

I have given this story two stars out of four. It was difficult to find a character to root for. Despite the cataclysmic events going on in the world at the time, these characters often caused their own problems. The unwieldy dialogue combined with an abundance of side characters and minor plot points resulted in an overall sense of confusion at the end of the book.

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A Cobbler's Tale
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