Book Discussion: The Assistant by Bernard Malamud

The Assistant is the second novel by Bernard Malamud, published in 1957. Set in a working-class neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York, it explores the situation of first- and second-generation Americans in the early 1950s as experienced by three main characters and the relationships among them: an aging Jewish refugee from the Russian Empire who owns and operates a failing small grocery store; a young Italian American drifter trying to overcome a bad start in life by becoming the grocer's assistant; and the grocer's daughter, who becomes romantically involved with her father's assistant despite parental objections and misgivings of her own.

The novel was a finalist for the 1958 National Book Award for Fiction. It was adapted into a film of the same name in 1997.