Marjorie Morningstar
Now hailed as a "proto-feminist classic" (Vulture), Pulitzer Prize winner Herman Wouk's powerful coming-of-age novel about an ambitious young woman pursuing her artistic dreams in New York City has been a perennial favorite since it was first a bestseller in the 1950s.
A starry-eyed young beauty, Marjorie Morgenstern is nineteen years old when she leaves home to accept the job of her dreams--working in a summer-stock company for Noel Airman, its talented and intensely charismatic director. Released from the social constraints of her traditional Jewish family, and thrown into the glorious, colorful world of theater, Marjorie finds herself entangled in a powerful affair with the man destined to become the greatest--and the most destructive--love of her life. Rich with humor and poignancy, Marjorie Morningstar is a classic love story, one that spans two continents and two decades in the life of its heroine.
"I read it and I thought, 'Oh, God, this is me.'" --Scarlet Johansson
A starry-eyed young beauty, Marjorie Morgenstern is nineteen years old when she leaves home to accept the job of her dreams--working in a summer-stock company for Noel Airman, its talented and intensely charismatic director. Released from the social constraints of her traditional Jewish family, and thrown into the glorious, colorful world of theater, Marjorie finds herself entangled in a powerful affair with the man destined to become the greatest--and the most destructive--love of her life. Rich with humor and poignancy, Marjorie Morningstar is a classic love story, one that spans two continents and two decades in the life of its heroine.
"I read it and I thought, 'Oh, God, this is me.'" --Scarlet Johansson
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Community Reviews
Marjorie Morgenstern is 19 years old, a beautiful daughter of Jewish immigrants who have steadily climbed into a comfortable upper-middle class life in Manhattan. When Marjorie meets and falls in love with the director of a summer stock production at a retreat in the Catskills, she loses her naiveté, her innocence, and her heart.
Herman Wouk's classic novel follows Marjorie's romantic and theatrical career, including how she dismisses several eager and ardent suitors in favor of the self-absorbed Noel Airman, whose talent and potential she exaggerates because she simply is too young and inexperienced to realize his limitations as an artist and as a man. This is a big, fat novel that follows Marjorie through her protracted and alternately ecstatic and dreadfully painful ultimately relationship with Airman. In the process, it paints a classic story of assimilation from a first-generation American who casts aside the Jewish traditions that had held families and communities together for generations. It is also a cautionary tale about the famous Yiddish saying, "We grow too soon old and too late smart."
When Marjorie is already deeply wounded by Airman's flighty behavior, her father, worried about her declining mood and health, asks her, "Tell me, does he mean as much to you as that? Even after a year? There are so many men in the world. Does it have to be him?
Something pathetic in his tone, and in his look, brought a catch and a dryness to her throat. 'Papa,' she said, 'I'm a girl, you know. I can't help it.'"
Wouk's brilliant character portraits include not only Marjorie and Noel Airman, but Marjorie's parents, her best friend Marsha, and her Uncle Samson-Aaron, with a big heart and a big appetite that will lead him to trouble. An unforgettable book.
Herman Wouk's classic novel follows Marjorie's romantic and theatrical career, including how she dismisses several eager and ardent suitors in favor of the self-absorbed Noel Airman, whose talent and potential she exaggerates because she simply is too young and inexperienced to realize his limitations as an artist and as a man. This is a big, fat novel that follows Marjorie through her protracted and alternately ecstatic and dreadfully painful ultimately relationship with Airman. In the process, it paints a classic story of assimilation from a first-generation American who casts aside the Jewish traditions that had held families and communities together for generations. It is also a cautionary tale about the famous Yiddish saying, "We grow too soon old and too late smart."
When Marjorie is already deeply wounded by Airman's flighty behavior, her father, worried about her declining mood and health, asks her, "Tell me, does he mean as much to you as that? Even after a year? There are so many men in the world. Does it have to be him?
Something pathetic in his tone, and in his look, brought a catch and a dryness to her throat. 'Papa,' she said, 'I'm a girl, you know. I can't help it.'"
Wouk's brilliant character portraits include not only Marjorie and Noel Airman, but Marjorie's parents, her best friend Marsha, and her Uncle Samson-Aaron, with a big heart and a big appetite that will lead him to trouble. An unforgettable book.
This classic is definitely worth reading. I loved the dialogue; you could practically hear the voices. The story is full of colorful characters and rich with cultural details of the time. I would have rated this higher but for the ending. No spoilers here but the last two chapters aren't worthy of the rest of the book.
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