The Rise of David Levinsky

The Rise of David Levinsky, if it's read at all these days, almost a century after it was written, is usually examined for sociological and historical evidence of Jewish immigrant life at the turn of the century, but it's a novel worth reading in its own right. It's a big, baggy book and Cahan, the longtime editor of the Jewish Daily Forward, is no stylist, but he's a superb and subtle chronicler of his society, with surprising emotional depths. You'll learn plenty about the business of cloak manufacturing along the way, but you also might well be moved by the flawed, full character of Levinsky himself.