A STONE FOR DANNY FISHER

by Harold Robbins ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 10, 1952

The calendar days in a man's life, some in red, some in black, which only occasionally matches the momentum of Never Love A Stranger and The Dream Merchants and which- in between the action sequences- intones some fairly heavy, Hebraic patriarchal sentiment. And what is to be a fairly full obituary begins in 1925, on Danny Fisher's eighth birthday, with the purchase of the house in the East Flatbush section of Brooklyn, the house which is the childhood cornerstone of his feeling for his family. With his father's joblessness during the depression, and the loss of the house, Danny takes up boxing professionally to earn the money which will save their home. Instead he only draws the bitter antagonism of his father, and when he wins the fight he's been paid to lose, is forced to run from a revengeful entrepreneur- Maxie Fields. Hiding out for two years, he comes back to face a continued family freeze, but to marry Nellie- a Catholic- and, unemployed and on relief, he pays the full price when he loses his baby due to a relief doctor's indifference. Going to work for his brother-in-law, Sam, Danny makes some hot deals in black market cigarettes, builds up a prospective monopoly in vending machine concessions, is the victim of a doublecross by Sam which cleans him out, betrays Sam to his competitor- Maxie Fields, and then when Sam saves the life of his second child, attempts to stall Fields and is killed in so doing.... As you can see, all the heavy artillery- loaded with sex, nostalgia, revenge and regret.

Pub Date: March 10, 1952

ISBN: 1416542841

Page Count: -

Publisher: Knopf

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1952

Categories: FICTION