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"The elder Hochschild was obsessively generous and hoarded the thousands of letters of thanks he received for his hospitality and philanthropy. His son finds his behavior inscrutable, until he discovers a synthesizing letter found among his father's papers. In it his father discusses the character of American Jews. It becomes clear that his life's idea essentially was to be everything that a stereotypical Jew was not: generous, demure, strait-laced, uncomplaining. The author recalls that his greatest crime as a child was talking too much at the dinner table. With this vulnerability--however prejudiced--his father's character becomes whole, understandable, even forgivable.
"This is a fine entry to an already rich genre. Many of the chapters have the resonance of short stories, setting small, unforgettable scenes, and capping them with a final sentence that subtly and remarkably underscores their ironies." -- Kirkus Reviews, June 1986
"[a] gem of a book." -- Publisher's Weekly, May 2, 1986
"I loved reading HALF THE WAY HOME. It is such a gentle book, its eloquence so delicate--and at the same time very strong, dealing as it does with such an exceptionally, intensely difficult relationship."--Alice Adams
"His story is fascinating, and the portrait of a lost childhood offered here evokes one of the archetypal dreams of the American mind." --E. L. Doctorow "I was so moved, disturbed and diverted by this beautifully plain account of the most complicated and delicate set of emotions, not just between father and son but more widely between the mystery of power and powerlessness." --Nadine Gordimer
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