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 enlarge | Author: Mort Zachter
Publisher: Collins
Category: Book
List Price: $13.95
Buy New: $7.96
You Save: $5.99 (43%)
New (43) Used (19) Collectible (1) from $6.15
Avg. Customer Rating:  52 reviews
Sales Rank: 327543
Media: Paperback
Edition: Reprint
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 208
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 8.2 x 5.5 x 0.6
ISBN: 0061663417
Dewey Decimal Number: 305.8940747
EAN: 9780061663413
ASIN: 0061663417
Publication Date: August 1, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
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| Customer Reviews:
 Fabulous Memoir September 19, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Mort Zachter did a fabulous job on this memoir. The title weaves the history of the family bakery with the surprise inheritance of millions.
Mort and his family grew up in New York and struggled. His two eccentric uncles ran a bakery that was the center of family life. They were tightwads and so it was a surprise to Mort when he learned of the family fortune.
It sparks a multitude of questions which I hope will be addressed in subsequent works.
It also may make your quirky relatives look tame...
Other reviews have spoken about the content but I believe it is best to let readers discover the secret ingredients in this gem for themselves.
It is a short but powerful read and I recommend it.
I really enjoyed this - compelling writing, fascinating history and personal story. Good stuff! September 18, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
From the first sentence to the last, I was engrossed in this book. I have a fondness for personal stories, especially stories about Joe and Jane Commonperson, which is what this book is about - some average guys who work hard their whole lives at what seems to be a business that doesn't make a whole lot of money, but over their 60 years or so career, they save millions of dollars.
Their story is told from the perspective of their grand-nephew, Mort Zachter (the author), who is now an adult and inherited most (all?) of their money when they died.
Bouncing back and forth between the real time of today in the last few years of his uncle's life, as he succumbed to Alzheimer's, and into the past, Zachter tells the story of an immigrant family that comes to New York City and sets up a bread selling store in the early 1900s. The historical stories are told with love and affection, but never sentimentally - Zachter is willing to point out foibles, tensions, arguments, and even a possible very active sex life for one of his life-long bachelor uncles. On this odyssey through history, trying to piece his uncles' (and thus his family's) history, he touches on the experience of Jewish immigrants, Judaism and religion (and lack thereof), forgiveness, redemption, family squabbles and dysfunction as well as family banding together and supporting one another, disappointment, joy, and so much more.
Throughout the book, Zachter makes mention that what he always really wanted to be was a writer, but his family pushed him to go into business and accounting, which he dutifully did. I'm glad he finally broke down (or, I suppose, inherited up) and decided to be a writer. He is definitely made to be a writer. His use of words and flow of story is beautiful to behold and very easy to read. In the hands of a lesser writer, the back and forth in time would be confusing and obnoxious, but he makes it work.
This book was, for me, an absolute delight to read - many memories of places in my beloved New York City that are not there any more, a compelling literate and beautiful writing style, and an honest historical look at some interesting real people, warts and greatness all. It's so good, I read it in two days - I hated putting it down.
I can't recommend this one enough. I look forward to more books from him.
Provokes some interesting thoughts September 18, 2008
I won't go too much into the summary of the story as there are already many reviews that cover this. I had some mixed feelings about this book initially. I found the concept that the author's uncles amassed a fortune quite interesting and liked how the use of visiting his childhood memories was employed. This helped to make his search for any indications that his uncles were amassing this fortune much more interesting.
But overall, I found that the story was very thought provoking. If I had a similar situation, how would I feel? I think that I say this because I have two eccentric aunts that live similarly. I am not sure if I would be bitter at the fact that a lot of the financial hardships I could have faced could have been avoided. I think that I would be more elated by having inherited a large sum of money.
I gave this book 4 stars because it really did stimulate my imagination and made me think if I had any closet rich relatives. I put this value along the same line as buying a lottery ticket - even though I know I won't win, it was worth a couple of bucks to have that optimism and hope and fantasize what I would do if I got rich.
D'oh! What a tale. September 13, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I think everyone fantasizes about having a wealthy relative leaving some money to them after said relative passes on.
Much to the complete astonishment of Zachter, this is exactly what happens, and the compelling narrative explores how the money came to be and why the family lived as if it never existed. Jokes are made about certain aspects of Jewish culture, but this book plumbs the depths of the lives of Jewish immigrants, those stereotypes and reasons for them, and reveals an unforgettable story about an unforgettable family on the Lower East Side of Manhattan (before it became the trust fund playground it is today).
Another reviewer mentions Zachter's surprising windfall and then his profit from telling the story of it, but I'm not even mad because it was a story that needed to be told. Along that vein, for more interesting and funny essays on money from various writers, check out the anthology Money Changes Everything, edited by Jenny Offill and Elissa Shappel!
 Dough Doesn't Rise August 27, 2008
4 out of 7 found this review helpful
There's no payoff in Dough, except, of course, for the author who profits from his dead uncle and then again from publishing a book about him. Uncle Harry is not as interesting as the author thinks he is, but we're intrigued because there's a feeling that finding the millions will lead to a left-field spiritual revelation or something equally unusual. However, once he realizes it's there, we see the machinations the author puts in place to get the money, not only from his dead uncle, but from his own mother, the rightful heir, by manipulating the tax code. Of course, she wants him to have it, even though it is she who worked in "The Store" for nothing her whole married life. I just don't think this story is interesting or uplifting enough to fill a book. It's about money, after all. With a little greed and envy thrown in. I think it might have worked better as an article in the New Yorker. Whole chapters seem inflated by a bicycle pump (Mr. Cohen makes a delivery in a snowstorm, yawn). I was hoping one of the uncles would turn out to be a transvestite with a dance routine just to liven things up a little bit. But no, the book plods along to a predictable denouement, with the author counting his blessings at his new lakeside home while casting the movie version in his head. I found myself wondering if the New York Times reviewer giving it a rave on the cover is a relative.
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