A Changed Man: A Novel

by Francine Prose

Book Overview

"Francine Prose has a knack for getting to the heart of human nature. . . . We are allowed to enter the moral dilemmas of fascinating characters whose emotional lives are strung out by the same human frailties, secrets and insecurities we all share."--USA Today One spring afternoon, Vincent Nolan, a young neo-Nazi walks into the office of a human rights foundation headed by Meyer Maslow, a charismatic Holocaust survivor. Vincent announces that he...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0060196742
• ISBN13: 9780060196745
• Release Date: March 2005
• Publisher: Harper
• Length: 432 Pages
• Weight: 1.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.0" x 1.3" x 6.1"

Customer Reviews

a great read that lingers on

So much said already - but in the end: It's a great book (at least in the audio-edition), one that continues to resonate after it's finished (snippets of dialogue or inner monologue coming back to mind, the perspective that's sharp but compassionate at the same time, hope for and questions about the characters - and can a man truly change?). Sure, there may be minor 'weaknesses' (is the end too cheesy? the Nazi too harmless? some characters too one-sided?), but those are truly minor when compared to the witty, sharp writing, clear characterizations, great inner monologues, and surprising twists and turns. It's a book that left me smiling and thinking and wishing to read on.

"A change of heart"

Kudos to Francine Prose for being able to climb inside the minds of a racist skin-head and a Holocaust survivor and produce an entertaining read. Vincent Nolan, a neo-Nazi skinhead, shows up at the World Brotherhood Watch, and offers to work for Meyer Maslow, a Holocaust survivor and director of the foundation. Brotherhood Watch will attract wealthy donors only as long as it is newsworthy. Vincent has shown up at just the right time. This is serious stuff, but Francine Prose injects it with humor and biting satire. Her characters are finely drawn. Their voices ring true. Even Maslow is not perfect. In the end, change takes place in all the characters. This was the first book by Francine Prose that I have read. It won't be the last.

ANOTHER LITERARY TRIUMPH FOR THIS AUTHOR

Eric Conger reads this story of improbables with both coolness and verve. The coolness is found in his reserved, compelling tone His verve is most obvious in the darkly comic, which abounds in "A Changed Man." A repellant skinhead, so steeped in his hateful prejudices as to almost embody them, enters the office of a human rights foundation, World Brotherhood Watch. Vincent Nolan is his name and he claims that he wants to change, completely. Meyer Maslow, an Auschwitz survivor and head of the organization has his doubts. But, he also has his beliefs, one of which is that even the scummiest of human detritus is some mother's son. In addition, it's not lost on Meyer that if Vincent could really change, he'd be a first-rate poster boy for the brotherhood of man. To this end, he's sent to live with Bonnie Kalen; she's divorced and chief fundraiser for the organization. The clash of cultures is fodder for much of Prose's incomparable satire. Both funny and thought provoking "A Changed Man" is one more literary triumph by the author of Blue Angel. - Gail Cooke

Highly engaging

Ms. Prose (what a name) wrote one of the best and funniest modern satires--"Blue Angle"--so I was eager to see what she would come up with next. "A Changed Man" is similarly insightful, and she controls the characters so deftly--and understands them so well--that even the most unlikely romance (it would seem laughable if I described the novel's plot) becomes not only plausible but quite compelling.

insightful and funny

A novelist is a person who can live in other people's skins, said E.L. Doctorow. I know of no other writer (other than Francine Prose) who can imagine so fully what a great variety of people, clearly very different from her, think and feel. In this brilliantly keen novel, she displays her nearly clairvoyant talents in a Tolstoyan fashion, but in addition to the profound psychological insights, she displays something else that he rarely did: humor. A great, satirical, and entertaining book--perfectly timely, in our times of right-wing backsliding.