A Stone for Danny Fisher

A Stone For Danny Fisher is a very serious, early novel by Harold Robbins that looks at the effect of the Great Depression on a lower-middle class Jewish family. Written in 1952 it is actually set in the period up to 1944.

Related Topics:
Harold Robbins - Great Depression - Jewish - 1952

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The novel opens in the mid-1920's as a young Danny Fisher and his family move in to a new house in the Brooklyn suburbs. Within a few years, however, the Depression hits and Danny is forced to drop out of school and use his one talent, boxing, as a means of supporting his family.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

A few years further on, the family have lost their house and are living in a mean apartment in the City. Danny continues to box, much against his father's wish, and dates a young Italian Catholic girl - much to the chagrin of his mother's Jewishness.

Related Topics:
Italian - Catholic

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Danny's boxing skills attract the attention of the local hoodlums and he is offered a large sum of money to throw the 'Golden Gloves' championship - a fight he could win easily and would bring him professional fame as well as, it is hoped, his father's acceptance.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Danny accepts the bribe but beats his opponent. After going on the run for a few years in Coney Island, he returns to marry his Italian sweetheart but their early married life is marred by the death of their first born child in poverty.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

At this point, Danny seeks out his former manager and goes into business with him as a black marketeer - an event which surely brings him in to contact with the very hoods he ripped off previously. The conclusion to the story, with Danny's gory machine-gun death in counterpoint to arrival of new life, is inevitable.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The novel was adapted in to the movie King Creole for a young Elvis Presley but retained very little of the original plot.

Related Topics:
King Creole - Elvis Presley

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~