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Product Description
Books in Canada
The Rent Collector by B. Glen Rotchin (Vehicule Press, $19.85, 221 pages, ISBN: 1550651951). With a prayer shawl and a cell phone, Orthodox Jew, Gershon Stein spends his days collecting rent in a large, family-owned building in the deteriorating garment district of Montreal. His father is a Holocaust survivor and "Gershon was certain that he and other children of survivors were members of a separate Israelite clan, a tribe of inbetweeners, not quite victims and not quite survivors, not rememberers nor forgetters, neither here nor there." Gershon tries to study religion, tries to live a good life, but he is buffeted at every turn by devious, cunning tenants who try to short-change him in every way. He thinks of the Mitzvot, God's 613 commandments: "It doesn't matter whether a person feels good about doing them. They're Commandments, as immutable as the laws of nature. Here's how I think about the mitzvot. God made the world. Torah is like an owner's manual, and the mitzvot are like His operating instructions, direct from the manufacturer." Gershon has what he considers a mystical experience when he meets a young bookkeeper in the hall of a building, Michelle Labelle, and sees a mysterious light emanating from her, an aura. This troubles him greatly until he breaks her name into syllables, which become, "a Hebrew sentence, a precise phrase, crystal clear. A message. Mi shel leib El- 'Who is of God's heart.'" There is a hilarious section where Gershon, trying to be profound, compares in many ways the lives of Orthodox Jews and members of the Hell's Angels. He is devastated, after his father has a stroke, to discover that his older brother, single and successful, is to be the beneficiary of his father's will, leaving Gershon out in the cold. However, Gershon is not an entirely reliable narrator. It is not until late in the novel that we see-through the eyes of his dying father-how Gershon is regarded by the rest of the family. This is the sleeper of the year, wryly funny, always plausible, deeply moving, unforgettable.
W.P. Kinsella (Books in Canada)
W.P. Kinsella (Books in Canada)
Montreal Gazette
"A genuine pleasure, a first novel of insight and tenderness."
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Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
The best spun yarns are made from moral fibres,
By A Customer
This review is from: The Rent Collector (Paperback)
What a wonderful novel. Rotchin offers a convincing portrayal of an industry whose decline can be attributed as much to its own mercenary nature as a neverending flood of cheap foreign imports. While the tenants of 99 Chabanel recklessly abandon their identities (their brands, their labels) for the sake of having just one more season, their rent collector- Gershon Stein- tenaciously holds onto his own. The Rent Collector is a must read for those who suspect that "the attainment of an ideal is often the beginning of a disillusion" (Stanley Baldwin).
5.0 out of 5 stars
An orthodox Philip Roth,
By Warren Steiner (Dallas) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Rent Collector (Paperback)
This little gem of a book is full of surprises. It takes you away into the angst filled world of Gershon, the rent collector and building manager for a rag trade building in Montreal's garment district, with whom you come to share a love/hate relationship with the colourful community of tenants. Gershon's relationships and obsessions make him into an orthodox version of a Philip Roth character.Rotchin's first novel is a great start for a promising new Canadian author.
5.0 out of 5 stars
I Loved it - and I'm not even Jewish.,
By Larry Smith (Southern Ontario) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Rent Collector (Paperback)
This novel hit me where it counts - my little universe and how I fit in it. I found myself constantly identifying with the angst and confusion felt by the central character, Gershon Stein. His relationships with his father, wife, children business clients and His Creator hit very close to home - and I'm not even Jewish. If you want to traverse a landscape of inner discovery, spend a few nights reading this book. You will be rewarded and you will find yourself looking at those dedicated men with their tzizes in a more understanding light.
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