a book to be cherished from first page to last.
Helpful Score: 1
In 1955, while waiting tables in a Catskill resort, "Bobo" Murphy, a Georgia farm boy, falls in love with Amy, a wealthy Jewish girl. He also becomes friends with the eccentric Avrum Feldman, whose death thirty-eight years later gives Bobo a chance to revisit his love with Amy. Read by the author with simplicity and emotion, the story develops with beauty and honesty. The listener will be swept into the reading. E.L.C. (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine
Helpful Score: 1
What a delightful book - one that will stay with you for a long, long time. Beautifully written.
from the cover: A "master storyteller" (The Atlanta Journal Constitution)whose "work is tender and heartbreaking and memorable" (Pat Conroy)now offers his heartfelt paean to the only emotion that really matters...
I enjoyed this. It's a good Southern story.
I enjoyed this. It's a good Southern story.
According to crazy Avrum Feldman, everyone has a divine moment that changes the course of life. For Bobo Murphy, it was the moment he fell in love with Amy Loury at a resort in the Catskills in 1955. That summer Bobo also befriended Avrum, a Jewish retiree from New York City. Forty years later,Bobo, now an art teacher in Savannah, returns to the fading resort to settle Avrum's estate. He also finds Amy again.
In the summer of 1955, Madison Lee "Bobo" Murphy was a waiter at the Catskells' Pine Hill Inn. A rural Southerner, he meets Avrum Feldman, a retired New York City furrier and they become unlikely friends. Bobo's one grand, undeniable moment of change occurs with his first glimpse of beautiful Amy Lourie. But the summer had to end for a wealthy Jewish girl and a Georgia farm boy. Nearly 40 years later, his children grown and his marriage comfortably routine, Bobo comes north once more. There Amy unexpectedly appears. The strikes against them are different now but mysteriously, miraculously, Bobo reawakens the dreams of a love larger than himself..... A love story that is intensely romantic.
From the cover . . . "In the summer of 1955, Madison Lee "Bobo" Murphy was a waiter at the Catskills' Pine Hill Inn. A rural Southerner, he had never heard the word meshugge until Avrum Feldman - a retired Nw York City furrier - became his unlikely friend. For Bobo, nothing about that special time and place ever lost its glow: Avrum's obsession with the haunting voice of a famous opera diva, music that no one else could hear; the exotic mingling of Yiddish and German in the dining room; the girl he met and loved.
. . . For a wealthy Jewish girl and a Georgia farm boy, the summer had to end, leaving bobo with the pain of loving someone and believing you cannot be with them. Nearly forty years later, his children grown and his marriage comfortably routine, Bobo comes north once more; there, admist the haunting hints of Amy's presence, she unexpedtedly appears. Nothing has dimmed the passion of their youth, yet two lifetimes and a thousand Catskills sunsets stand between who they were and who they have become. The strikes against them are different now. But mysteriously, miraculously, Bobo reawakens the dreams of a love larger than himself."
. . . For a wealthy Jewish girl and a Georgia farm boy, the summer had to end, leaving bobo with the pain of loving someone and believing you cannot be with them. Nearly forty years later, his children grown and his marriage comfortably routine, Bobo comes north once more; there, admist the haunting hints of Amy's presence, she unexpedtedly appears. Nothing has dimmed the passion of their youth, yet two lifetimes and a thousand Catskills sunsets stand between who they were and who they have become. The strikes against them are different now. But mysteriously, miraculously, Bobo reawakens the dreams of a love larger than himself."
beautiful and thoughtful
I have read four books by Terry Kay, and am now on my fifth. I cannot imagine rating his work anything less than a five--ever.
Read by the author. About 3 hours long on two cassettes.
Amid the breathtaking beauty of the Catskill Mountains, Avrum Feldman listened to the haunting voice of Amelita Galli-Curci ringing the Shandaken Valley - a voice no one else could hear. When he died at age one hundred six, his obesssion of the famous opera diva had lasted three-quarters of a century. Most people considered Avrum crazy, someone preoccupied with romantic nonsense. But Madison Lee "Bobo" Murphy was not among them, for he, too, had a love that changed his life, or almost did: Amy Lourie.
In the summer of 1955 , Bobo was a waiter at the Catskills' Pine Hill Inn; a rural Southerner who had never heard tht word 'meshugge' until Avrum-a retired furrier, teacher, and translator from New York City-became his unlikely friend. For Bobo nothing about that summer ever lost its glow: his first taste of 'kartoffel suppe'; the exotic mingling of Yeddish and German in the dining room; the girl he met and loved...
Now thirty-eight years later, Avrum is gone, leaving a will that becons Bobo north to the Catskills once more. In the places he'd walked so often on the paths of memory, he embraces the ghosts of old friendships and haunting hints of Amy's presence, until she unexpectedly appears. Nothing has dimmed the passion of their youth, yet two lifetimes and a thousand Catskills sunsets stand between who they were and who they have become. The strikes against them are different now, but mysteriously, miraculously, as Bobo carries out Avrum's last wishes for a strange 'Kaddish", he hears the dreams of his youth, of the young man who went foth and became part of a love larger than himself...
In the summer of 1955 , Bobo was a waiter at the Catskills' Pine Hill Inn; a rural Southerner who had never heard tht word 'meshugge' until Avrum-a retired furrier, teacher, and translator from New York City-became his unlikely friend. For Bobo nothing about that summer ever lost its glow: his first taste of 'kartoffel suppe'; the exotic mingling of Yeddish and German in the dining room; the girl he met and loved...
Now thirty-eight years later, Avrum is gone, leaving a will that becons Bobo north to the Catskills once more. In the places he'd walked so often on the paths of memory, he embraces the ghosts of old friendships and haunting hints of Amy's presence, until she unexpectedly appears. Nothing has dimmed the passion of their youth, yet two lifetimes and a thousand Catskills sunsets stand between who they were and who they have become. The strikes against them are different now, but mysteriously, miraculously, as Bobo carries out Avrum's last wishes for a strange 'Kaddish", he hears the dreams of his youth, of the young man who went foth and became part of a love larger than himself...
