A review by cpeterman101
The Assistant by Bernard Malamud

4.0

The Assistant, though it began with a slow start, was a great character focused story. The author, Bernard Malamud, expertly built each character into a believable and ultimately human piece of the story. Morris Bober is a stubborn yet honest man who does anything he can to change as little as possible about his life. Frank Alpine is an emotionally stunted yet thoughtful man with little control over his impulses. Morris’ daughter Helen is a self-pitying young woman who begins to believe her fate is not too different from her father’s; stuck in an uninspired existence starved of any creativity or passion. When these characters begin to entangle their lives, a thoughtful and pointed story about change over time, and persistence over an even longer period of time begins to unfold. This story has a little bit of everything: Drama, Action, Romance, but what it’s really brimming with is Heart.