The Tenants by Bernard Malamud
Sometimes I like to hit up used bookstores. You never know what you’ll find. Amazon is like the Marianna Trench of literature at this point. You’ll find everything, but you never find old stuff like this unless it’s in your face. I found “The Tenants” by Bernard Malamud in a bookstore in Moab, UT (I was looking for something by Matt Ruff in the “New Bookstore” but the clerk told me “Oh, we don’t sell that that kind of thing.” She said it in a whisper). At any rate, I digress. Written in 1971, this is a fascinating view into the 70s. It’s really intended as a commentary on the relationship between African Americans and Jews, and not so much about the 70s, but its crazy to read what is perhaps the unintended commentary on Feminism. I wonder what Malamud thinks of it now – I’m curious. Sometimes I’ll go back and read my own stuff, and be horrified at what was vomited out my own brain. We’re children of our times, whether we like it or not. The lead female character in “The Tenants” is really an abused kind of steering pin, keeping the whole book directed on this path of – I don’t know – “race” relations. What happens to her is perhaps the saddest part of the whole book…
If you’re interested, you can find it, where else, on Amazon.
