The Prince of West End Avenue

Hamlet as metaphor for the self-denial practiced by German Jewry as the earth was set on fire around them - brilliant theory and nicely carried through in this novel by Isler. The reader becomes engrossed in the story told piecemeal by Korner, the "Prince" of a German-Jewish family and later a holocaust survivor haunted by the voices of ghosts he is desperate to ignore. Like Hamlet, the soul tortured by the voice of his father's ghost, Korner is tortured by his past actions (or rather inactions) during the Shoah. Though not a loveable or perhaps even likeable character, the reader comes to empathetize with him so much so that his catharsis is so palpable that we yearn for it and feel its release with him. Perhaps a little slow for some readers in the beginning; I say stick with it and you will feel rewarded when you finish. Marvelous for book club discussion groups.

In this novel, the winner of the National Jewish Book Award, author Alan Isler creates a world populated by libidinous senior citizens; however, although humorous, there are moments of profound realization as well. The main character is Otto Korner, a survivor of the Holocaust, who now resides in the Emma Lazarus retirement home in the West End, Manhattan. He is involved in a production of `Hamlet', put on by the home's residents. Part of the plot revolves around the attempt to put on a play where the actors keep dying, end up in hospital, or simply walk away in a huff. At the same time, Korner encounters a new young physical therapist who reminds him of a woman whom he knew in the inter-war years and who most likely died in WWII, and whose death he may have been responsible for. The past and present merge as Otto takes over directing `Hamlet'; the philosophical musings on death and life mirror Otto's reminiscences. We find he attempted to be a part of the avant-garde movement in Europe after WWI, where he encountered Magda Damrosch, a beautiful woman who toyed with Otto's heart. This is one of those novels where not much happens, yet everything happens, and to say more would spoil it. Suffice to say, Isler's characters are brilliant, and the weaving of `Hamlet' with the Holocaust is mesmerizing. There's enough humor to break the sometimes bleak outlook of some of the characters, and the scenes where the play is being rehearsed are priceless.

Otto Korner is a Holocaust survivor and now lives in the Emma Lazarus house for the elderly in New York. The reader gets acquainted with his fellow residents, a humorous gang of Jewish senior citizens. They are rehearsing for a production of "Hamlet" and Otto finds himself in the role of the Prince. As the staging of the play progresses, Otto's thoughts often drift in the past and he recalls his times as a promising young poet in Berlin, his studies in Zurich and his frequent meetings with a group of Dadaist artists. He also remembers the early atrocities of the Nazi regime when, so he believes, he betrayed his family and his people. A beautiful first novel in the same vein as Isaac Singer, Saul Bellow or W.G. Sebald.

An amazing journey through the life of a one-time Jewish refugee who has found his way to a retirement home on West End Avenue. Here, he eventually directs a production of Hamlet put on by the residents and comes to understand himself better in the process. Loaded with humor and peopled with characters you don't want to miss, this book digs much deeper than is belied by its light-hearted approach