Barney Ross: The Life of a Jewish Fighter

Barney Ross: The Life of a Jewish Fighter
by Douglas Century


Robert's review
Oct 31, 10


status: Read from October 27 to 29, 2010


Every people have a culture--every nation, a story. Even our indigenous population grapple with the past to move forward. In writing about Barney Ross and the tough Jews of the thirties, it is sad to mention that those athletic pursuits that helped define a race are no longer considered as representative of the people. Somewhere between the netherworld of biography and myth, Century's novel leaves one crying for more. More flesh must surround one of the greatest of Jewish-Americans who walked our shores. His is a name lost to a lost culture of a seminal time in this nation. To see a photograph of Barney on Guadalcanal with jungle parrots on his shoulders or with three babes by his side while his face has been splattered with his blood is to see the soul of but another forgotten man. But what a man and what a job. For sheer research, Century deserves this five star rating. But he holds back in the telling. Maybe that's good. Maybe there must be subtlety to imagine the horror of seeing o ...more Every people have a culture--every nation, a story. Even our indigenous population grapple with the past to move forward. In writing about Barney Ross and the tough Jews of the thirties, it is sad to mention that those athletic pursuits that helped define a race are no longer considered as representative of the people. Somewhere between the netherworld of biography and myth, Century's novel leaves one crying for more. More flesh must surround one of the greatest of Jewish-Americans who walked our shores. His is a name lost to a lost culture of a seminal time in this nation. To see a photograph of Barney on Guadalcanal with jungle parrots on his shoulders or with three babes by his side while his face has been splattered with his blood is to see the soul of but another forgotten man. But what a man and what a job. For sheer research, Century deserves this five star rating. But he holds back in the telling. Maybe that's good. Maybe there must be subtlety to imagine the horror of seeing one's father gunned down on a Chicago street corner. Maybe in not giving flesh to some of the more poignant parts of the tale allows us to imagine the rest. Maybe I will take what openings Century has left and will fill in the rest. Regardless of intentions, in actualization, this novel is often brilliant and always unforgettable. (less)
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