Songs for the Butcher's Daughter: A Novel Paperback – June 9, 2009

Its 370 pages long but I read it in one day just because I was so caught up in this rather outrageous and comic novel which is basically a tribute to the Yiddish language. There are two main characters here. One is the voice of "the translator", who, like the actual author of this book, is a Catholic who is intrigued by the Yiddish language. The other is the voice of Itsik Malpesh, born during a pogrom in Russia at the beginning of the 20th century.Through these two voices the story emerges, one of the experience of being a Jew in an anti-Semitic world, where young boys are kidnapped for the Tzar's army, where people labor at menial and backbreaking jobs for a pittance and where there is never a feeling of safety. The other voice is that of a modern young man working in an agency that restores books printed in Yiddish. He has learned Yiddish even though he is not Jewish and is romantically involved with a young Jewish woman who doesn't know his true background.From these two voices, Itsik's story is told, how he searches for the butcher's daughter, Sasha, who, at age four was present at his birth. She is his obsession but when they finally meet up he discovers that her story is different from his. No matter though, he loves her. But by then they are both immigrants in New York, experiencing a world that has its own kind of harshness. The book spans a century and it all turns out well, but not without the characters experiencing some rather horrible events that were described so outrageously that I had to laugh out loud.This is a fun book to read, but it is also a learning experience about the Yiddish language and a culture that has come and gone.

Thank you to the supplier of the 6 books of Songs for the Butcher's Daughter....though it took a little longer than I had anticipated for the Book Club I am in, the condition of the books was amazing....the price was unbeatable....and the postage was fair...I would recommend this book supplier to ALL Book Clubs...just be sure to allow for mail delivery times....The book was well written, rather hard to read this very poignant biographical interpretation of the hardships endured...but well worth it if you have an interest in this topic of a "Jewish Family Story".

This easy to read page turner was penned by the son of a priest and a nun. As a student,he fell in love with Jewish fiction. Before beginning the novel read the interview with the author in the back of the book. The story of the author itself is fascinating.The book's protagonist, Itsak, is born in a small Ukranian city during a pogrom. He flees to Odessa because of both persecution and the draft. From Odessa he emigrates to the lower east side of New York. At last he finds a home in Baltimore where he meets a Christian translater of Yiddish. This book contains everything neccessary to make a fine novel. The story is compelling. The language is fluid, rich and unpretentious. The tale is about one of my favorite subjects, the persecution of Jews and their subsequent migration to the U.S.This non-Jewish author has captured the Yiddish cadences which flavor a successful work of Jewish fiction. He has obviously researched his subject and his subject's native language well. He is coming to address a group of readers in my city, and I expect to be in the audience. For a first effort this novel is truly amazing. I look forward to more from this talented writer. This book is a quick read and a page turner.

I found the intertwined stories of the translator & the poet engaging though found the translator's notes a bit tedious at times. Still it was educational & good story-telling. Worth buying.

But worth it in the end. I'm glad I finished it. I would only recommend it to Serious Jewish readers.

Songs for the Butcher's Daughter is a very approachable novel rich in characterization and many will read it and find it pleasant. It is, however, much more. The book deals with significant cultural shifts unique to the American immigrant experience, the influx of eastern European Jewry with it's traditions and language, assimilation and subsequent loss of access to that very culture. Additionally, it explores the inevitable loss as a result of translation of important works of both fiction and non fiction from original language to today's English and the collaboration necessary between translator and author (assuming the author is extant) that produces something the same, yet different from the original in the process. The novel is actually two running narratives - the translated Yiddish journals of the author and the back story of the translator. I've read it twice and will read it again.

THis book is a new twist on WWII Jewish dilema. It's a wonderful love story set during the industrial revolution. The high quality writing is delightful to read.

This book is a dialogue between a non-Jewish translator, who is learning Yiddish and a Yiddish poet, whose life spans the century. The tale is a marvelous story of a poet and his muse, from the beginnings in a Russian Ghetto to an ending in contemporary Baltimore, that could easily could have come from Issac Bashevis Singer or a Jewish Dickens. In simplest terms, it is a love story. But most deeply it is a meditation on language, written and spoken, and on how we fashion our lives with words, sometimes concrete, but often elusive. It is one of the best books I have read in the past year, and will haunt me, with 'memory' and moral and intellectual quandries for some time.

Great book, powerful story.

Die Hauptgeschichte des Buchs erzählt das recht interessante Leben von Itsik Malpesh, der in einer Progromnacht in Kishinev geboren wird und im späteren Verlauf mehr oder weniger abenteurlich über Odessa (mehrere Jahre) nach New York gelangt.Dort begegnen ihm nicht nur Bekannte aus Kishinev oder anderen "russischen" Episoden, sondern auch Sasha Bimko, die Tochter des Metzgers, die er seit klein auf als seine "Bestimmung" angesehen hat.Dies allein aufgrund von Erzählungen bzw. Berichten, dass sie bei seiner Geburt anwesend war. Da ihr Vater in besagter Progromnacht umgebracht wurde, sie daraufhin mit ihrer Mutter Kishinev verließ und über Odessa nach Palästina übergesiedelt ist, basiert die Bewunderung allein aufgrund der Phantasie von Itsik.Erst nach dem Tod von Sashas Mann (in Palästina) siedelt Sasha nach New York über.Diese Geschichten sind eingebettet in Berichte eines "Übersetzers" der Itsik Malpesh im Rahmen eines Aushilfsjob bei einer jüdischen Organisation kennenlernt, die sich unter anderem zur Aufgabe gemacht hat, yiddische und hebräische Literatur zu retten. Und da Itsik über eine große Bibliothek verfügt, macht sich der Übersetzer auf den Weg diese Bücher einzusammeln.Also tonnenweise Material für ein gewaltiges Buch.Leider erschöpft sich das Buch weitestgehend darin, in allen Bereichen yiddish als zentralen Punkt zu beschreiben.Der Übersetzer (römisch-katholischen Ursprungs) begeistert sich aus nicht wirklich nachvollziehbaren Gründen für diese Sprache (gesprochen und geschrieben), seine "Mitarbeiterin" (jüdischen Ursprungs) besinnt sich auf ihre religiösen Wurzeln und landet schließlich mit dem Übersetzer im Bett, da sie ihn für ebenfalls jüdisch und besonders religiös hält (immerhin kann er im Gegensatz zu ihr yiddish lesen); nachdem sie feststellt, dass sie hier einem Irrtum (der vom Übersetzer aus sehr egoistischen Gründen bestärkt wurde) erlegen ist, kann sie natürlich nicht anders als sofort zu verschwinden. Um dann ganz am Ende des Buches als Enkelin der Hauptfigur wieder auf der Bildfläche zu erscheinen.Auch in der Lebensgeschichte von Itsik ist es immer wieder von herausragender Bedeutung, wer wie warum yiddish ist. Selbst als Itsik als Kind von Häschern entführt wird, um an die russische Armee als Kanonenfutter verkauft zu werden, wird dem religiösen Hintergrund der Entführer fast mehr Aufmerksam gewidmet als den entführten und gefangenen Kindern.In Odessa scheint es Hauptbeschäftigung der dort lebenden jüdischen Gemeinde gewesen zu sein, darüber zu diskutieren, ob yiddish oder hebräische die "bessere" Sprache wäre, yiddische Zeitungen zu drucken usw..New York ist da nicht viel besser.Sicherlich mag eine Ghettoisierung die Besinnung auf die eigene Kultur beeinflussen aber diese zum isolierten Selbstzweck und "noch schlimmer" zum Hauptthema des Buches zu machen, mag sich mir nicht erschließen.Es werden gute Geschichten schlicht und ergreifend ungenutzt gelassen.

This is a good read, well written in an interesting format, and so written that one is not sure initially if it is a true story or fiction. The story is gripping and is of particular interest to those who mourn the gradual demise with lack of use of colourful, expressive and traditional languages generally, and particularly the language Yiddish.

Despite the unpromising title, this is wonderful. Here's evidence of what happens when religion and romance each pull the wool over the other's eyes. A hoot!

Fascinating story that grips you ,taking you on a long journey through the old man's life.It has ups and downs with a lot of emotion in it I really enjoyed it and would heartily recommend it.