We just heard that Born to Kvetch has been selected in Steven Poole’s non-fiction pick for tomorrow’s Books section of The Guardian in England. Born to Kvetch was originally published in the States in 2005 and quickly became a New York Times bestseller. Last year it was published by Souvenir Press for the first time [...]
Archive | Born to Kvetch
This category contains full reviews of Michael Wex’s book Born to Kvetch
First Kvetch review in the UK
Born to Kvetch was published in England for the first time a couple of weeks ago and has just received its first review in the Jewish Chronicle. Some academics have been complaining about Born to Kvetch. This is, after all, a book that has zero inhibition regarding vulgarity. It is, moreover, quite politically incorrect and [...]
“Born to Kvetch” New York Times Review
Most children watching “The Three Stooges” didn’t realize it, but an understanding of Yiddish was required to get a lot of the jokes. In one episode, when Larry hears that Moe is heading to a hockshop, he says, “While you’re there, hock me a tshaynik.” What must have sounded like pure nonsense to most viewers [...]
“Born to Kvetch” – Jbooks Review
It’s been called folksy and quaint. It’s been labeled a dialect and dismissed as “jargon.” Even its defenders tend to admit that it died 50 years ago. Yiddish, nebekh, has suffered so much defamation of character that it could probably win a libel suit. If Yiddish ever does sue, its first expert witness will be [...]
“Born to Kvetch” Washington Post Review
In Born to Kvetch Wex straddles both the high and low end of that spectrum in a work that manages to be simultaneously entertaining and erudite. Wex explains Yiddish culture by unraveling, in great detail, the words and phrases used by Yiddish speakers in the various areas of their lives. In doing so, he draws [...]