Responsible Men: A Novel

by Edward Schwarzschild

Overview

Max Wolinsky comes from a family of mostly upstanding salesmen. On the eve of his son's bar mitzvah he returns home to Philadelphia where he plans to put the finishing touches on a not-so-honorable business transaction and then disappear quietly back to Florida. Nothing, however, goes as planned for this con man with a conscience.

Honest, funny, and moving, Responsible Men is a portrait of three generations of men struggling to be good sons and good fathers in a world of big dreams and bigger temptations.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781565125438
Publisher:	Little, Brown and Company
Publication date:	09/15/2006
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	352
Product dimensions:	5.10(w) x 7.90(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Edward Schwarzschild is the author of Responsible Men, a San Francisco Chronicle Best Book of the Year, a Book Sense Notable Pick, and finalist for both the Rome Prize from the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the Samuel Goldberg and Sons Foundation Prize for Jewish Fiction. He is an associate professor at the University at Albany, SUNY, and a fellow at the New York State Writers Institute.

Editorial Reviews

Schwarzschild writes . . . with compelling insight and emotional power. It is a rare authorial gift.”—Chicago Tribune

From the Publisher

Life gets complicated for a con man with a conscience in a thrilling first novel that's family drama with a strong suspense element. Max Wolinsky is back in Philadelphia for his son Nathan's bar mitzvah. It's been a year since Max took off for Florida, after wife Sandy left him for the gardener. Max is staying with his father, Caleb, and his uncle Abe, a stroke victim. Both brothers used to be textiles salesmen, and Max, a college dropout, had joined them for a while before crossing the line into small scams; right now, he's about to sell some nonexistent real estate to a prosperous Philly couple, the Goulds. Max has his rules: Don't hurt anybody physically; don't leave anyone destitute. Unfortunately, he knows people who are less scrupulous. Johnny Sklarman, a messed-up former college buddy, and his thuggish associate Dexter want a piece of the action. Then there's Spiller, a businessman who's also the scoutmaster at Nathan's temple. Spiller has a big project cooking, evidently legit, and Johnny and Dexter are sniffing around that, too. Meanwhile, Max, a fast worker, has started dating an attractive local woman, Estelle. Schwarzschild keeps the story moving while deepening his family portrait. Family members protect each other with kindnesses large and small, forming a lifeline to the next generation. There's the original Wolinsky, from Odessa, who battled thugs himself; there's the brace of salesmen, Abe dreaming big, Caleb more "old school," going by the book. Now Nathan, after his bar mitzvah, is a "responsible man" too, grilling his father in a scene so raw it hurts. For Max is at the center, tempted by easy money but willing to start over. His soul hangs in the balance through turnsof plot and bare-knuckled violence, internal and external dramas both packing a wallop. From a complicated business deal to a teenager's first kiss, Schwarzschild works with the quiet authority of a master. This is one terrific debut.

Kirkus Reviews

[Responsible Men] combines suspense, drama and comedy to show the foibles and trespassings of a man struggling with all the usual ethical questions, and then some.” — San Francisco Chronicle

The San Francisco Chronicle

Think Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman or David Mamet’s Glengarry Glen Ross. Now add to that brief list Responsible Men. . . . Eminently readable, frequently hilarious, and always deeply moving.”—Pages magazine

Pages Magazine

Schwarzschild writes . . . with compelling insight and emotional power. It is a rare authorial gift.”—Chicago Tribune

Chicago Tribune

"Early in Schwarzschild's marvelous debut novel, Max Wolinsky issues a warning: 'Let the buyer beware.' But it's impossible to avoid falling for Max, even if he is a small-time con....That's how appealingly the author has designed our hero, not to mention his cohorts."
—Entertainment Weekly

Entertainment Weekly