Call it Sleep is a fictitious novel written by Henry Roth and follows the life of a young Jewish boy who lives in the Lower East Side of New York. The book was published in 1934 by Robert O. Ballou's publishing company.
The story follows David Schearl, a Jewish immigrant, who lives his life in the slums of New York. His home life is far from perfect, with an ever-increasingly violent father but his mother, Genya, is his sanctuary. The reader follows David's journey into religion and his conflicted feelings towards it as well as the secrets he discovers along the way, about his parents and life as he knew it.
The novel was commercially a success and was reviewed positively on the front page of The New York Times Book Review on October 25, 1964. TIME magazine has listed it as part of the 2005 list of 100 best English-language novels written since 1923.
"Call It Sleep" is a novel written by Henry Roth and first published in 1934. The novel is set in the Jewish immigrant community of New York City in the early 20th century and tells the story of a young boy named David Schearl, who struggles to understand the complexities of the adult world around him.
One of the novel's key themes is the immigrant experience and the challenges that immigrants face as they try to assimilate into a new culture. David's parents are Jewish immigrants who have fled from the poverty and anti-Semitism of Eastern Europe, and they struggle to find their place in the new country. David, too, is caught between two cultures and feels alienated from both the Jewish community and American society.
Another important theme is the power of language and the struggle to understand and express oneself. David is fluent in Yiddish, but he is still learning English, and this causes him to feel isolated and confused. The novel explores the complex relationship between language, identity, and culture.
The novel is also notable for its vivid and realistic portrayal of the Jewish immigrant community in New York City. Roth draws on his own experiences as an immigrant to capture the sights, sounds and smells of the Lower East Side, and he creates a powerful sense of place and time.
Overall, "Call It Sleep" is a powerful and thought-provoking novel that offers a window into the lives of Jewish immigrants in early 20th century America. It is considered a classic of Jewish-American literature.
