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Max Apple, author of "The Oranging of America" has written one of the most original, funny and touching novesl of his generation. What's a nice Jewish boy like Ira Goldstein doing managing a flashy Puerto Rican middleweight named Jesus?
- GenresFiction
183 pages, Hardcover
First published July 4, 1978
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December 24, 2025
Reading Project: This was the eighth stop in a series of writers who I haven't read before!
General Review: I think I first heard of Apple because his story collection "The Oranging of America" is included on a couple of Postmodern greatest hits lists here on goodreads. Back in 2020, I cruised through a copy of this collection at McKay's here in Nashville, and I wasn't particularly won over by Apple's prose at the time. I think I was expecting something more clipped and chic, like Barthelme's "Paradise." Back at McKay's--just a few days ago--I happened upon this novel. I was so struck by the niche premise that I decided to give the novel a try.
Here are some quick impressions:
1) Apple characterizes Ira's narrative voice with Old Testament flair. This, I believe, is on purpose, and this narrative voice gives much of the novel its artistic perspective.
2) This novel is kinda gay (non-pejorative). Ira and Jesus's friendship resonates with a certain homosocial intimacy that I wasn't really expecting. I like it!
3) Apple plays fast and loose with impressions of race and ethnicity. On the one hand, this makes sense, especially as Ira describes his grandmother and the community in which he currently lives. On the other hand, I would not call this novel's impression of race issues to be wholly sensitive or critical as current literary fiction (by both authors of color and white authors).
Further Reading (?): Maybe! Despite the novel's cavalier deployment of race, I was really struck by its homosocial themes. I don't anticipate this dynamic to be a consistent feature of Apple's work; at the same time, I'm curious to see how this sensitivity to character perhaps occurs in "The Oranging of America" or "Free Agents" or "The Propheteers."
General Review: I think I first heard of Apple because his story collection "The Oranging of America" is included on a couple of Postmodern greatest hits lists here on goodreads. Back in 2020, I cruised through a copy of this collection at McKay's here in Nashville, and I wasn't particularly won over by Apple's prose at the time. I think I was expecting something more clipped and chic, like Barthelme's "Paradise." Back at McKay's--just a few days ago--I happened upon this novel. I was so struck by the niche premise that I decided to give the novel a try.
Here are some quick impressions:
1) Apple characterizes Ira's narrative voice with Old Testament flair. This, I believe, is on purpose, and this narrative voice gives much of the novel its artistic perspective.
2) This novel is kinda gay (non-pejorative). Ira and Jesus's friendship resonates with a certain homosocial intimacy that I wasn't really expecting. I like it!
3) Apple plays fast and loose with impressions of race and ethnicity. On the one hand, this makes sense, especially as Ira describes his grandmother and the community in which he currently lives. On the other hand, I would not call this novel's impression of race issues to be wholly sensitive or critical as current literary fiction (by both authors of color and white authors).
Further Reading (?): Maybe! Despite the novel's cavalier deployment of race, I was really struck by its homosocial themes. I don't anticipate this dynamic to be a consistent feature of Apple's work; at the same time, I'm curious to see how this sensitivity to character perhaps occurs in "The Oranging of America" or "Free Agents" or "The Propheteers."
Displaying 1 of 1 review