Call It Sleep

A Novel

By: Henry Roth

Narrated by: George Guidall

Lauded as the most profound novel of Jewish life ever written by an American, Call It Sleep seamlessly weaves together the searing pains and subtle joys of immigrant life in New York’s Lower East Side. It is the story of David Schearl, a dangerously imaginative little boy who arrives from Eastern Europe in 1907. Shock by shock, he is exposed to the blows - and occasional pleasures - of life in the crowded tenements.

©1962 Henry Roth (P)1994 Recorded Books, LLC

Great book

Excellent narrator who captured the Yiddish and the Hebrew perfectly.
I would highly recommend this modernist story which seems so autobiographical!

Masterful Reading

While Roth's stream of consciousness style is not my favorite... the novel is powerful both as an immigrant perspective, and as a psychological exploration of young David's experiences growing up in a violent world. But what really made it for me was the masterful reading... handing numerous dialects and the sing-song rhythms of the Torah reading with unmatched skill. Apparently the author consulted with them to get the pronunciations correct and it shows.

Brilliant

Fabulous story and narration. Guidall is unsurpassed in expressing the various voices of characters and Yiddish and Hebrew accents.

masterful reading by George Guidall...i doubt I...

could have read all of this book since there are times it does go into long strange almost incoherent dialog BUT to hear Guidall read it kept me hooked. He did a magnificent job with the accents and pronunciations of the Yiddish dialect.
If people had been able to listen to the performance when it came out in 1935 (?), it most certainly would be one of the greatest masterpieces of American literature, IMO/

An unforgettable book.

This is an amazing book that will touch your heart in a way very few books do. It has haunted me for years - this is the second time I am listening to the audiobook. The reader George Guidall is a master and brings the characters to life.