What do you think?
Rate this book
Broadsides: Reviews And Opionions
From Canada's most outspoken novelist and essayist comes a broadside of outrageous remarks, irreverent wisdom and wickedly accurate criticism. Whether surveying the international literary scene or considering the excesses of pop psychology, Mordecai Richler attacks his diverse subjects with relish and devastating wit. Broadsides brings together Richler's best essays, reviews, and articles written over the last thirty years for such publications as Esquire, Playboy, Gentlemen's Quarterly and The New York Times Book Review. We learn about Richler's opinions on everything from movieland to conspiracy theories, from reincarnation to orgies, and from political wives to male impotence in 14th century France.
First published January 1, 1990
About the author
Mordecai Richler
90 books374 followersWorking-class Jewish background based novels, which include
The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz
(1959) and
Saint Urbain's Horseman
(1971), of Canadian writer Mordecai Richler.
People best know Barney's Version (1997) among works of this author, screenwriter, and essayist; people shortlisted his novel Solomon Gursky Was Here (1989) for the Man Booker Prize in 1990. He was also well known for the Jacob Two-two stories of children.
A scrap yard dealer reared this son on street in the mile end area of Montréal. He learned Yiddish and English and graduated from Baron Byng High School. Richler enrolled in Sir George Williams College (now Concordia University) to study English but dropped before completing his degree.
Years later, Leah Rosenberg, mother of Richler, published an autobiography, The Errand Runner: Memoirs of a Rabbi's Daughter (1981), which discusses birth and upbringing of Mordecai and the sometime difficult relationship.
Richler, intent on following in the footsteps of many of a previous "lost generation" of literary exiles of the 1920s from the United States, moved to Paris at age of 19 years in 1950.
Richler returned to Montréal in 1952, worked briefly at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, and then moved to London in 1954. He, living in London meanwhile, published seven of his ten novels as well as considerable journalism.
Worrying "about being so long away from the roots of my discontent", Richler returned to Montréal in 1972. He wrote repeatedly about the Jewish community of Montréal and especially portraying his former neighborhood in multiple novels.
In England in 1954, Richler married Catherine Boudreau, a French-Canadian divorcée nine years his senior. On the eve of their wedding, he met Florence Wood Mann, a young married woman, who smited him.
Some years later, Richler and Mann divorced and married each other. He adopted Daniel Mann, her son. The couple had five children together: Daniel, Jacob, Noah, Martha and Emma. These events inspired his novel Barney's Version.
Richler died of cancer.
People best know Barney's Version (1997) among works of this author, screenwriter, and essayist; people shortlisted his novel Solomon Gursky Was Here (1989) for the Man Booker Prize in 1990. He was also well known for the Jacob Two-two stories of children.
A scrap yard dealer reared this son on street in the mile end area of Montréal. He learned Yiddish and English and graduated from Baron Byng High School. Richler enrolled in Sir George Williams College (now Concordia University) to study English but dropped before completing his degree.
Years later, Leah Rosenberg, mother of Richler, published an autobiography, The Errand Runner: Memoirs of a Rabbi's Daughter (1981), which discusses birth and upbringing of Mordecai and the sometime difficult relationship.
Richler, intent on following in the footsteps of many of a previous "lost generation" of literary exiles of the 1920s from the United States, moved to Paris at age of 19 years in 1950.
Richler returned to Montréal in 1952, worked briefly at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, and then moved to London in 1954. He, living in London meanwhile, published seven of his ten novels as well as considerable journalism.
Worrying "about being so long away from the roots of my discontent", Richler returned to Montréal in 1972. He wrote repeatedly about the Jewish community of Montréal and especially portraying his former neighborhood in multiple novels.
In England in 1954, Richler married Catherine Boudreau, a French-Canadian divorcée nine years his senior. On the eve of their wedding, he met Florence Wood Mann, a young married woman, who smited him.
Some years later, Richler and Mann divorced and married each other. He adopted Daniel Mann, her son. The couple had five children together: Daniel, Jacob, Noah, Martha and Emma. These events inspired his novel Barney's Version.
Richler died of cancer.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
November 6, 2017
Serio divertimento
Qualche ora in compagnia di un vecchio amico che non si vede da tempo, il piacere di ascoltarlo narrare le sue immersioni nel torbido mondo dei cospirazionisti, ma anche la sua settimana trascorsa tra maghi, streghe e affini. O il ricordo della sua gioventù, la scuola ebraica e la scoperta del Dio iroso e terribile dell'Antico Testamento. Le risate strappate dalle sue quotidiane disavventure, tra cucine extra-lusso, perigliosi trasferimenti aerei, dispute linguistiche, amici scrittori con troppo (o nessun) talento, e tanto altro.
Mi ha fatto un immenso piacere ritrovare Mordecai Richler, anche solo per questi brevi e pungenti saggi/articoli (a cui si aggiungono estratti di diario), assolutamente politicamente scorretti e piacevolmente - in questo caso - ricchi di déjà-lu: la permanenza a Parigi della giovinezza, per esempio, quando alle ristrettezze finanziarie facevano da contraltare esperienze indimenticabili e amicizie tanto preziose quanto talentuose.
Non è il modo migliore per conoscere l'Autore, certo. E il giudizio è volutamente parziale. Ma le rimpatriate a volte riescono a intenerire anche i cuori più duri (figurarsi il mio, quindi).
Memorandum: in caso di improvvise traslazioni temporal-geografiche (ovvero, nel caso dovessi svegliarmi nell'America di quattro decenni fa), ricordarsi di acquistare Playboy - alcuni di questi scritti erano comparsi originariamente su quella celebre pubblicazione di critica letteraria.
Qualche ora in compagnia di un vecchio amico che non si vede da tempo, il piacere di ascoltarlo narrare le sue immersioni nel torbido mondo dei cospirazionisti, ma anche la sua settimana trascorsa tra maghi, streghe e affini. O il ricordo della sua gioventù, la scuola ebraica e la scoperta del Dio iroso e terribile dell'Antico Testamento. Le risate strappate dalle sue quotidiane disavventure, tra cucine extra-lusso, perigliosi trasferimenti aerei, dispute linguistiche, amici scrittori con troppo (o nessun) talento, e tanto altro.
Mi ha fatto un immenso piacere ritrovare Mordecai Richler, anche solo per questi brevi e pungenti saggi/articoli (a cui si aggiungono estratti di diario), assolutamente politicamente scorretti e piacevolmente - in questo caso - ricchi di déjà-lu: la permanenza a Parigi della giovinezza, per esempio, quando alle ristrettezze finanziarie facevano da contraltare esperienze indimenticabili e amicizie tanto preziose quanto talentuose.
Non è il modo migliore per conoscere l'Autore, certo. E il giudizio è volutamente parziale. Ma le rimpatriate a volte riescono a intenerire anche i cuori più duri (figurarsi il mio, quindi).
Memorandum: in caso di improvvise traslazioni temporal-geografiche (ovvero, nel caso dovessi svegliarmi nell'America di quattro decenni fa), ricordarsi di acquistare Playboy - alcuni di questi scritti erano comparsi originariamente su quella celebre pubblicazione di critica letteraria.
December 8, 2021
I spent some time perusing how Mordecai Richler would fare today when acerbic curmudgeons the world over can put their stuff out there through something as simple as a Blogspot account. I imagine 40 years ago, there was a lot of chortling and jaw dropping - "can you believe he just said that?!" - and that was part of his rise to fame. That's all over the place now. Plus, how entertaining is a piece about conspiracy theorists ("All the Conspirators") now that some of them are in U.S. congress?
So this collection was quaint, but that doesn't mean there wasn't some fun to it. My favourite lines:
About Hugh Hefner's sex life:
"Hefner's notion of heavenly bliss would seem to be to lie - a Pepsi in hand, mirrors overhead - on his circular rotating bed, surrounded by half a dozen nude bunnies, each one of whom is gently massaging him while a hidden camera records the love session for future reference and his butler stands by and plays 'Tie a Yellow Ribbon.'"
On Maureen Reagan's book:
"Maureen babbles on about a hitherto mercifully unexamined life that would be of no interest were she not Reagan's daughter."
On "In Search of Salinger":
"Ian Hamilton's biography does not turn up much that is new but does turn up a great deal that is neither here nor there."
So this collection was quaint, but that doesn't mean there wasn't some fun to it. My favourite lines:
About Hugh Hefner's sex life:
"Hefner's notion of heavenly bliss would seem to be to lie - a Pepsi in hand, mirrors overhead - on his circular rotating bed, surrounded by half a dozen nude bunnies, each one of whom is gently massaging him while a hidden camera records the love session for future reference and his butler stands by and plays 'Tie a Yellow Ribbon.'"
On Maureen Reagan's book:
"Maureen babbles on about a hitherto mercifully unexamined life that would be of no interest were she not Reagan's daughter."
On "In Search of Salinger":
"Ian Hamilton's biography does not turn up much that is new but does turn up a great deal that is neither here nor there."
April 30, 2024
A dated collection of hack work by Richler. Most of the book is taken up with short reviews that are snide cheap shots are immediately forgettable books. Theres also a handful of essays, none of which have the same verve as ones collected in Belling the Cat or Hunting Tigers Under Glass, and the back quarter is taken up with a journal; mostly interesting if one wants to know about his kitchen renovations. There are moments where his wit and intellect shine through, mostly when he’s writing about Hollywood, but they’re far and few between. For completists only.
Want to Read
March 10, 2020Incipit
A me e ad altri sette ragazzini riottosi la Torah fu letteralmente inculcata [...]
Un mondo di cospiratori Incipitmania
A me e ad altri sette ragazzini riottosi la Torah fu letteralmente inculcata [...]
Un mondo di cospiratori Incipitmania
June 20, 2017
A first-rate compendium of the wit and wisdom of the late, great Canadian author.
September 26, 2017
"Se non ce la fai con la vita, scrivine; se non sai scrivere, fa' l'editore"
November 15, 2010
Adelphi sembra aver deciso di centellinare Richler per i lettori italiani: questo libretto è solo una scelta di brani dall'originale Broadsizes, e non credo sia stata fatta col criterio dell'antologia.
Richler sarebbe stato un blogger perfetto: anzi no, perché giustamente avrebbe preferito scrivere per chi l'avrebbe pagato. Però il suo stile è davvero piacevole e leggero - la traduzione lo mantiene bene - sia che faccia un racconto della scuola ebraica da lui frequentata da bambino, sia che racconti della sua intervista a un'esperta di cospirazioni o della settimana passata al Terzo Festival Acquariano Gnostico Annuale di Astrologia, Potenza mentale, Scienze occulte & Stregoneria nella New Age, o ancora nelle voci di diario che terminano il libro. I ritratti che fa delle persone incontrate sono vivaci e almeno a me hanno dato quella strana impressione che si ha quando si è convinti che l'interlocutore sta parlando di cose che tu hai appena sentito al telegiornale.
Non è un capolavoro, d'accordo: ma a mio parere vale comunque la pena leggerlo.
Richler sarebbe stato un blogger perfetto: anzi no, perché giustamente avrebbe preferito scrivere per chi l'avrebbe pagato. Però il suo stile è davvero piacevole e leggero - la traduzione lo mantiene bene - sia che faccia un racconto della scuola ebraica da lui frequentata da bambino, sia che racconti della sua intervista a un'esperta di cospirazioni o della settimana passata al Terzo Festival Acquariano Gnostico Annuale di Astrologia, Potenza mentale, Scienze occulte & Stregoneria nella New Age, o ancora nelle voci di diario che terminano il libro. I ritratti che fa delle persone incontrate sono vivaci e almeno a me hanno dato quella strana impressione che si ha quando si è convinti che l'interlocutore sta parlando di cose che tu hai appena sentito al telegiornale.
Non è un capolavoro, d'accordo: ma a mio parere vale comunque la pena leggerlo.
January 27, 2014
solo per i fan di Richler aricoli recensioni e commenti totalmente politically incorrect dell'autore de la versione di Barney.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews