The Street Sweeper

The Street Sweeper by Elliot Perlman

"The inalienable dignity of the individual is very important to me" says author Elliot Perlman in an interview about his very successful novel, The Street Sweeper.  This is a very intriguing story of 2 men in New York in the 21st Century and how their lives eventually intertwine.  Through the stories of Lamont Williams, an ex-con, and Adam Zignelik, a Columbia University history professor, Perlman explores both the themes of the civil rights movement and the Holocaust.

Perlman took nearly 6 years to write this novel and it is very well researched, including visiting Auschwitz 6 times.  The stories of the courage of the Holocaust survivors and their resistance attempts in the concentration camps were very moving.  He was lucky enough to interview the last surviving Jewish Sondakommando in Poland in 2008 just a few months before he dies and this old man is the inspiration for Henrik Mandelbrot's character in the book. Perlman says that without this man's story, he would not have his novel.

The question of whether there were black troops during the liberation of Dachau was introduced to tie in with the civil rights struggle in the US.

Some people found the repetition of text annoying but I thought it was a rather clever device to remind the reader of the many characters and events in the book.  And there are so many characters! Some with incredible courage while some living with immense guilt and remorse. The roles of memory, love, betrayal, courage, cruelty and kindness are all explored in this engrossing novel.

I would like to include the following links here :

Random House video of an interview with Elliot Perlman :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=-ynCm9I0tyE

A half hour radio interview with Elliot Perlman and ABC Radio :

http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/latenightlive/elliot-perlman/3957810

A moving short film by Sara Greenberg on her grandfather who is a Holocaust survivor :

http://www.b2247thefilm.org/

We rated this novel 8.9 out of 10.

Our next book is The Lighthouse by Alison Moore and the meeting will be at Melissa's on Nov 8th Thursday at 7:30pm.

Then don't forget -- our Christmas dinner will be on Nov 13th Tuesday at the Oaks Hotel.