By
– April 26, 2012
My Father Is a Book: A Memoir of Bernard Malamud could more accurately be subtitled “A Memoir of My Father and Me.” This memoir reveals more about Janna Malamud Smith and her relationship with her father than it does about Bernard Malamud, either as a father or as the noted Jewish- American author of short fiction and novels.
Early on, Smith writes “my father and I were intensely attached,” and her book tracks that attachment through childhood, adolescence, and young adulthood. Although she recounts her father’s early years — he was 38 when she was born — she tells very little about her family’s life. Her older brother is barely mentioned; in passing we realize that her mother was an accomplished parent, wife, and hostess, but Smith has little to say about her as a person and a mother.
Smith portrays Malamud as a private person, a dedicated writer who needed discipline and order, but who also enjoyed the recognition, friendships, and comfortable prosperity his writing brought him. He maintained long-term correspondences with old friends, with his young Bennington lover, and with Smith herself. Given his unhappy and, in his eyes, inadequate childhood, Malamud achieved considerable success personally and professionally.
Under the scrutiny of his daughter, a practicing psychotherapist, personal and familial tensions are revealed, along with many incidents and anecdotes, but they do not deepen our understanding of Bernard Malamud and the art to which he devoted his life.
Early on, Smith writes “my father and I were intensely attached,” and her book tracks that attachment through childhood, adolescence, and young adulthood. Although she recounts her father’s early years — he was 38 when she was born — she tells very little about her family’s life. Her older brother is barely mentioned; in passing we realize that her mother was an accomplished parent, wife, and hostess, but Smith has little to say about her as a person and a mother.
Smith portrays Malamud as a private person, a dedicated writer who needed discipline and order, but who also enjoyed the recognition, friendships, and comfortable prosperity his writing brought him. He maintained long-term correspondences with old friends, with his young Bennington lover, and with Smith herself. Given his unhappy and, in his eyes, inadequate childhood, Malamud achieved considerable success personally and professionally.
Under the scrutiny of his daughter, a practicing psychotherapist, personal and familial tensions are revealed, along with many incidents and anecdotes, but they do not deepen our understanding of Bernard Malamud and the art to which he devoted his life.
Maron L. Waxman, retired editorial director, special projects, at the American Museum of Natural History, was also an editorial director at HarperCollins and Book-of-the-Month Club.
