The Magic Barrel

In this collection of stories Malamud displays his great gifts as a writer - his humour his profound concern for all human life and his ability to transmute common things and people into a strange poetry Many of his characters are Jewish the title story for example is about a rabbinical student trying to find a wife through a very peculiar marriage broker but through his gentle and haunting exploration of their predicaments he illuminates a region that is common to every mans world