My rating:
add to my books
Loading...
Hungry Hearts
In stories that draw heavily on her own life, Anzia Yezierska (1880-1970) portrays the immigrant's struggle to become a "real" American. Set mostly on New York's Lower East Side, the stories brilliantly evoke crowded streets, shabby tenements, poverty, and ethnic prejudice. These stories are still relevant today, except the ethnic backgrounds are Latino and Asian...more
Paperback, Penguin Twentieth Century Classics, 180 pages
Published
July 1st 1997
by Penguin Group
(first published 1920)
There is a good chance some of your friends read this book. Sign in to see!
sign in »
Friend Reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book,
please sign up.
This book is currently not featured on any Listopia lists.
Add this book to your favorite list »
Community Reviews
(showing
1-30
of
117)
This is a collection of short stories by Anzia Yezierska, of whom I was a die-hard fan in my early 20's. I liked her novels better, but all her writing is the same: set amongst Jews of the Lower East Side and featuring a female protagonist desperate to get out. The best and longest story in this collection is "The Fat of the Land," and it won "Best Short Story of 1920" and was made into a film. But the quote I remember best was from another of her stories about heartbreak: "...more
view 2 comments
Falling under the genre of "working girl's fiction," these stories are all about Eastern European immigrants in New York in the 1920. As the title implies, all of the characters are hungry for various things: to be an American, to be educated, to be loved, etc. Very readable, I enjoyed it very much. Interesting side note: apparently Yezierska was the first author to use Yiddish expressions in her characters' dialogue. Hm! The things you learn when you read the introduction!
overall i thought this book was pretty good...it's a collection of short stories dealing with the lives of Jewish immigrant women. Some of the stories i thought were really good, others not so...
You. Read. Now. Short story collection.
Yezierska always comes through.
Rob Hood
marked it as to-read
Stacy
marked it as to-read
Tonia's
added it
Marnie
marked it as to-read
Cheryl Spinner
is currently reading it
Danielle
marked it as to-read
Bobbi
marked it as to-read
Takethiswaltz
is currently reading it
Kerri Nash
marked it as to-read
Misssharice
marked it as to-read
Nathalie
marked it as to-read
Anna
added it
There are no discussion topics on this book yet.
Be the first to start one »
Date of Birth: 1885
Date of Death: 1970
Anzia Yezierska, the youngest of nine children, was born into poverty circa 1885 in Russian Poland. Her family immigrated to the Lower East Side of Manhattan around 1892. Immigration officials used the oldest child's name, Mayer, as the last name of the family and switched Anzia's name to Harriet, and so she became Hattie Mayer. After attendi...more
More about Anzia Yezierska...
Date of Death: 1970
Anzia Yezierska, the youngest of nine children, was born into poverty circa 1885 in Russian Poland. Her family immigrated to the Lower East Side of Manhattan around 1892. Immigration officials used the oldest child's name, Mayer, as the last name of the family and switched Anzia's name to Harriet, and so she became Hattie Mayer. After attendi...more
Share This Book
No trivia or quizzes yet. Add some now »
