First published 2008
Max Glickman creates comic histories, including his major work Five Thousand Years of Bitterness. He looks back on his youth in a British suburb during the 1950s, where Jewish families filled his neighborhood. His mother plays endless games of Kalooki, pausing only for religious holidays. His father, a former boxer who suffers random nosebleeds, rejects both God and faith after recent betrayals. Max's friend Manny Washinsky lives next door, consumed by Holocaust obsessions and drawn to its dark legacy. Manny eventually commits a terrible act against his own family and faith, landing him in prison. Decades later, when Manny returns, Max cannot resist investigating what drove his childhood friend to such destruction. His search for answers uncovers shocking truths about faith, identity, and the weight of Jewish memory after World War II.
Genres: literary-fiction, 20th-century, adult-fiction, 21st-century, jewish
Vibes: dark, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Britain, United Kingdom
Period: 1950s
464 pages · Paperback · Simon & Schuster
Content warnings: mental-illness