The Assistant

Originally published in 1957, Bernard Malamud's second novel is the story of Morris Bober, a grocer in post-WWII Brooklyn, who "wants better" for himself and his family. First two robbers appear and hold him up, then things improve when broken-nosed Frank Alpine becomes his assistant. But there is a complication: Frank, whose reaction to Jews is ambivalent, falls in love with Helen Bober; at the same time, he begins to steal from the store. 246p.