JEWISH LIFE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 170, 20 July 1935, Page 2 (Supplement)

JEWISH LIFE.

A NOTABLE NOVEL.

It is not often that we come upon a novel dealing almost exclusively with Jewish peoplj. If only for that reason "Solomon Levi," by Claudius Gregory (Duckworth) is all the more welcome. "Solomon Levi" is the nickname by which Solomon Roeenbaum, the chief character, is known at school, and it is at this stage that he is introduced to us. His father is the proprietor of a■ drapery store in New York, tfhicli reminds us that.fully a ninth of the Jewish people have their home there. The Rosenbaum family comprise the father aiul mother, the two grandfathers. and three boys and two girls. Sollv, as he is known to his triends, lH>in'"- the youngest; and Mr. Gregory makes real" to us the pious and allectionatc atmosphere of the home. Nearly all the other characters are members ot the Jewish race, and all arc well drawn. Sollv is dreamy and sensitive, and exceptionally intelligent. Mr. Gregoiy sketches his' career for us from boyhood to manhood, and shows how he was influenced in the main by his maternal grandfather and Jessica Samuels, the »irl lie marries. Grandfather Lcvinsky fs one of the finest characters in the book. He is proud of his people, and is convinced that a great future lies before tlieni, and something of the same pride and belief he gradually inspire* in liis favourite grandson. Jessica is a wonderful girl, and it is she who helps Solly to see things with her clever eyes. After their marriage they take a trip to Europe, and, among the cities they visit, is Berlin. Here, in a meeting with a Jewish friend in a cafe, Solly is struck down with a truncheon, in an affray between stonn troopers and the Jews* present, and rendered unconscious. He is dragged puny and cared for by kindly people, and, on regaining consciousness, has lost all memory of who or what he is. He is arrested by troopers and confined to a concentration camp. After some months he is liberated, and. having recovered his memory, he makes his way to London where lie engages in business with a fellow Jew. Having a great longing for his native land, ha by and by crosses over to New York. There lie meets a Jewish boy who turns out to be his own son, and gets furtive glimpses of his wife and the others, till Jessica discovers him, and they are happily reunited. Though the latter part of the book is a bit unreal, and his condition strikes one as unnatural, this is all through a fine story, so skilfully told, and with such understanding and sympathy, that it holds the attention from beginning to end.