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      The Assistant

      by Bernard Malamud
      Published
      Dec 1967
      Main Genre
      General Fiction General Fiction
      Rating
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      About This Book

      A Brooklyn grocer's life is turned upside down by an enigmatic assistant in this celebrated novel by the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Fixer.
      The Assistant, Bernard Malamud's second novel, originally published in 1957, is the story of Morris Bober, a grocer in postwar Brooklyn, who "wants better" for himself and his family. First two robbers appear and hold him up; then things take a turn for the better when broken-nosed Frank Alpine becomes his assistant. But there are complications: Frank, whose reaction to Jews is ambivalent, falls in love with Helen Bober; at the same time he begins to steal from the store.


      Like Malamud's best stories, this novel unerringly evokes an immigrant world of cramped circumstances and great expectations. Malamud defined the immigrant experience in a way that has proven to be timelessly vital.

      A National Book Award Finalist

      Genres & Themes

      Genres

      General Fiction

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      Formats & Editions

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      Paperback

      Paperback edition cover
      Mass Market Paperback
      Dec 1967 Signet ISBN13 9780451033987 ISBN10 0451033981
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      Paperback edition cover
      Mass Market Paperback
      Dec 1967 Signet ISBN13 9780451015143 ISBN10 0451015142
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      Paperback edition cover
      Mass Market Paperback
      Dec 1967 Signet ISBN13 9780451022158 ISBN10 0451022157
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      Paperback edition cover
      Paperback
      Jun 1971 Dell ISBN13 9780440103868 ISBN10 044010386X
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      Paperback edition cover
      Mass Market Paperback
      Feb 1991 Avon ISBN13 9780380514748 ISBN10 0380514745
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      Paperback
      Dec 1993 Avon ISBN13 9780380720859 ISBN10 038072085X
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      Trade Paperback
      Jan 2000 HarperPerennial ISBN13 9780060958305 ISBN10 0060958308
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      Trade Paperback
      Jul 2003 Farrar, Straus and Giroux ISBN13 9780374504847 ISBN10 0374504849
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      Hardcover

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      Hardcover
      Jan 1957 Turtleback Books ISBN13 9780606037181 ISBN10 0606037187
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      Hardcover
      Dec 1957 Farrar, Straus and Giroux ISBN13 9780374106447 ISBN10 0374106444
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      Hardcover edition cover
      Hardcover
      Jan 1981 Oxford University Press (UK) ISBN13 9780195614060 ISBN10 0195614062
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      Hardcover edition cover
      Board Book
      Sep 2002 Jewish Contemporary Classics ISBN13 9781893079212 ISBN10 189307921X
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      Hardcover edition cover
      Hardcover
      Jul 2003 Turtleback Books ISBN13 9781417636198 ISBN10 141763619X
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      Hardcover edition cover
      Hardcover
      Feb 2004 Turtleback Books ISBN13 9780606299909 ISBN10 0606299904
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      eBook

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      eBook
      Jul 2003 Farrar, Straus and Giroux ISBN13 9781466805002 ISBN10 1466805005
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      eBook
      Jul 2003 Farrar, Straus and Giroux ISBN10 B006CQ99I0
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      eBook
      Apr 2014 Grove Press ISBN13 9781782393542 ISBN10 1782393544
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      Audio

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      Audible
      ISBN10 B01CQ5PESY
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      Audio Cassette
      Sep 1999 Jewish Contemporary Classics ISBN13 9781893079014 ISBN10 1893079015
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      Audible
      Jul 2014 Audible Studios ISBN10 B00M8E6EZQ
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      MP3 CD
      Jan 2015 Brilliance Audio ISBN13 9781501215209 ISBN10 1501215205
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      Large Print

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      Hardcover
      Dec 1998 G.K. Hall & Company ISBN13 9780783803647 ISBN10 0783803648
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