Rating: 
Summary: This is A Good Story About Predjudice
Review: Snow in August is a good example about predjudice and racism in the 1940's. The story is set in Brooklyn New York, where Michael and his widowed mom live. Michael is a sweet kid, and one day on the way to catholic mass, the Rabbi Hirsch calls out to Micael to come in and do him a favor. Michael walks in the building with the rabbi Hirsch, and then an instant friendship is formed.
The rabbi teaches Michael all about jewish history and yiddish, while Michael teaches the rabbi to speak better english. Their friendship deepens, but Michael's friends turn against him for befriending a Jew. There is a big bully in town, Frankie McCarthy, who starts a lot of trouble as he HATES the jews and black people. Frankie is a big troublemaker and has a killing temper. He and a group of people start a lot of fights and hurt Michael pretty badly in one scene. They continue making problems until the get their 'dues' later in the book.
The language was just a bit too rough at times, especially with Michael's friends. The author has them swearing just a little bit too much, I felt. But other than that, the story is well-written.
Rating:
Summary: Enlightening
Review: This book brought together so many elements of society in a package that I have never seen and would never have considered. 1947 when WWII was still fresh in memory, Jackie Robinson, Brooklyn, Irish Catholics, Polish, Italian, Jews, African-Americans. The time, location and characters were a perfect setting for an interesting and believable lesson in history of race and religion in Brooklyn America. The whole baseball/Jackie Robinson angle was such a great way to bring out the true colors of everybody involved with the story and the religious diversity worked well together especially as seen through the eyes of an 11 year old boy who is smart enough, yet not too opinionated, to ask questions. What didn't work for me was how Micheal lived the stories that Rabbi Hirsh told of Jewish legends and history. I liked the stories, but was put out by Micheal actually being present in them. Very glad to have read this book!!
Rating: 
Summary: A truly emotional descriptive novel
Review: A Snow in August is one of the greatest novels I have read. It talks about the issues of religion and discrimination. Pete Hamill writes about an 11 year old boy in New York who meets a Jewish Rabbi. They go through lots as they teach eachother English and Yiddish. I was so moved by this book because he makes it so detailed and descriptive that I feel like I am the 11 year old boy facing city problems. His novel makes you feel sad, moved, joyful, and strong to withstand your own problems. He truly has written a great book. You will learn so much just from a young boy living in the 1940's.
Rating:
Summary: Snow in August
Review: FROM COLORADO - Not all of us are disappointed in the choice of book by Gov. Owens...I applaud his choice. I found Snow in August a fantastic and enjoyable book. It covered so many controversial topics from the innocent eyes of an 11 year-old. What a wonderful way to get back to looking at these topics from the way they should be viewed...from unbiased and open eyes. There is a lesson for everyone in that book. The ending did surprise me, but as we should remember - eleven year-olds have rich imaginations, we should all be so lucky!
Rating: 
Summary: Confused in Colorado
Review: I won't give the ending away. I wouldn't dare. But be warned, it is bizarre. I think it ruined the book. And if you are a Colorado reader reading this for Gov. Owen's "book club", this book is worth a read in spite of the ending. All of us Colorado folks will be asking the same question...why did the good Governor choose THIS book? This is a book that is rich with setting. Hamill paints a post- WWII Brooklyn, filled with tenements, ethnic code and spunky kids playing stickball in crowded streets. He paints pictures of bored priests at mass, snowy city avenues, and a lonely rabbi in a run-down synagogue. Hamill also addresses prejudice in such a genuine manner. Religious prejudice (Catholic v. Jew as well as Nazi v. Jew), Racial prejudice (black v. white in the baseball world) and some economic prejudice are scattered throughout this book as the main character, young Michael Devlin, tries to make sense of a cruel and hate-filled world. In Snow in August Young Devlin witnesses the near death beating of a local Jewish merchant by an Irish-American gang member. And in this event he has to examine many issues. He has to determine why the Jews who live in his neighborhood are so despised. He then sees a connections with how many whites in America despise Jackie Robinson for being the first black baseball player, and young Devlin is bothered by the hatred that seems to pepper his world. Because Devlin refuses to buy into the anti-semetic notions, he befriends the lonely rabbi. Because of this, he becomes a target of the gang member that beat the Jewish merchent, and the boy has to figure out how to keep himself and his mother safe from their violence. And that is where the story fizzles...because the ending is so out of step with the rest of the novel. The book moves from thought provoking to cartoonish in a single chapter. I keep asking myself, "What symbolism is happening here that I am not getting?" but I can't figure it out. It is worth a read, but be ready to say, "Huh?" when you get to the end.
Rating: 
Summary: Disgraceful Ending
Review: I feel the author cheated me. Most of the book is a fine story of an Irish Catholic boy who befriends a rabbi in post-war Brooklyn. Through Jackie Robinson's first season with the Dodgers, Rabbi Hirsh's stories of Prague under the Nazis, and the menace of a violent local gang, young Michael is learning important lessons about hate and racism. The reader is led along, expecting that at the end Michael will have learned how to cope with the uglier side of life without himself becoming hateful or violent. Instead, the author gives us a ridiculous cartoon ending. Shame on Pete Hamill. I give this book two stars rather than one only because until the awful ending the book was quite well done.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting and worth reading
Review: This book deals with many aspects of life: religion, baseball, gangs, and death. Based in the post-war 1940s, it was written in the perspective of an 11-year-old Irish Catholic boy growing up in Brooklyn. He learns about Judaism from an orthodox rabbi, and gets in trouble with the neighborhood gang. This book documents his journey through learning about what happened in World War II, and what the Jews are really about.
Rating:
Summary: A Splendid Evocation Of 1940's Brooklyn
Review: Pete Hamill tells a gritty, improbable tale of a friendship between a young Irish-American Catholic and an Orthodox Jewish rabbi, an Eastern European survivor of the Holocaust. At his best, Hamill succeeds in captivating us with the saga of Michael Devlin's and Judah Hirsch's friendship, drawing upon his own past to paint a vivid portrait of adolescent life in late 1940's Brooklyn. However, the tale ends on a less auspicious note when Hamill veers sharply into magical realism, invoking the classic Jewish tale of the righteous Golem, as he rushes us headlong towards the improbable conclusion. Fans of Hamill's gritty streetwise New York prose will be pleasantly surprised by the occasional lyrical quality of his writing.
Rating:
Summary: First 340 Pages are Great....last 40 are another story.
Review: I was really enjoying this book. Michael Devlin, a young irish boy in 1947 Brooklyn forms a bond with a local rabbi who lost his wife in the Holocaust. The rabbi teaches Michael Yiddish while Michael teaches the rabbi how to improve his English, via teaching him about the rules of baseball. When Michael witnesses a horrendous racially provoked crime against a local jewish shop owner, the local gang of tough kids in the neighborhood threaten him. After losing his friends because they are scared that by associating with him, they too will be a target of the gang, Michael is on his own with the rabbi as his best friend. When the gang starts up with Michael, his mother, as well as the rabbi, Michael finds himself wanting revenge. The revenge he gets is where I was disappointed in the story. I will not give away what happens as I wouldn't want to take away the surprise from a new reader.....but lets just say the way he gets his revenge is a bit implausible and doesn't fit with the rest of the story. The ending left a bad taste in my mouth. Still worth reading but the ending knocked my review from a 4 star to a 2 star.
Rating:
Summary: Magical
Review: Snow in August is a magical novel, rich with Jewish mysticism and Irish folklore. It's fairy-tale quality makes up for what it lacks technically. It's a great read for believers and nonbelievers alike.
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