Joan from Flatbush
August 22, 2019
This is a guest column by Joan Yankowitz, a California-based online marketing consultant. It originally appeared on Tumblr.
Bobby in Naziland: A Tale of Flatbush—a review
I have to admit that when Bob Rosen, the acclaimed author of Nowhere Man: The Final Days of John Lennon and Beaver Street: A History of Modern Pornography, as well as my Ditmas Junior High School and Erasmus Hall High School classmate in Brooklyn, NY, graciously provided me with an advance copy of his new book, Bobby in Naziland: A Tale of Flatbush, I was a little apprehensive.
The title made me wonder if the book would be dark and depressing, or more like, to paraphrase a line in The Producers, "Springtime for Bobby: A lighthearted romp with Jewish Holocaust survivors in Brooklyn."
To my delight, I discovered it was neither. Rather, Bobby in Naziland is a deeply felt examination of one boy's Flatbush, Brooklyn childhood through adolescence with parents scarred by World War II, anti-Semitism, changing neighborhoods, and unfulfilled dreams.
To be sure, there are many funny moments that anyone who grew up in 1950s and 1960s Brooklyn rent-controlled apartments will relate to.
But you don't have to be Jewish or from Brooklyn to enjoy excellent writing and find commonality in Bobby in Naziland.
Bobby in Naziland will be available September 1. I highly recommend you place your pre-order today at Amazon. You will be entranced.