BKMT READING GUIDES



 
Informative,
Inspiring,
Insightful

1 review

The Jump Artist
by Austin Ratner

Published: 2009-05-01
Kindle Edition : 253 pages
0 members reading this now
0 club reading this now
1 member has read this book
Recommended to book clubs by 1 of 1 members

Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature


?A remarkable work . . . [that] documents a triumph of the human spirit over tremendous adversity.”?Harper’s


?This elegantly-written tribute makes as beautiful a use of the darkness and light of one man’s life as a Halsman photograph of a pretty ...

No other editions available.
Add to Club Selections
Add to Possible Club Selections
Add to My Personal Queue
Jump to

Introduction

Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature


?A remarkable work . . . [that] documents a triumph of the human spirit over tremendous adversity.”?Harper’s


?This elegantly-written tribute makes as beautiful a use of the darkness and light of one man’s life as a Halsman photograph of a pretty young woman.”?GQ


"Ratner weaves a psychologically arresting fiction from these facts, imagining the creep of Nazism in 1928 Europe."?Cleveland Plain Dealer


?A beautifully scrupulous, intricately detailed novel about joy and despair, anti-Semitism and assimilation, and like a great photograph, it seems to miss nothing, and to catch its subject in all his complexity.”?Charles Baxter


Philippe Halsman is famous for his photographs of celebrities jumping in the air, for putting Marilyn Monroe (among countless others) on the cover of Life Magazine, and for his bizarre collaborations with surrealist Salvador Dalí (?Dalí Atomicus,” Dalí’s Mustache). What is not well known is his role in the ?Austrian Dreyfus Affair,” which rocked Europe in the years leading up to WWII. While hiking in the Tyrolean Alps, Philippe’s father was brutally murdered when Philippe went ahead on the trail. The year was 1928, Nazism was on the rise and Philippe, a Jewish 22 year old from Latvia, was charged with the murder. He spent several years in an Austrian prison and the trial became a public scandal that pitted many prominent intellectuals, including Albert Einstein and Sigmund Freud, against the rising tide of fascism.


The Jump Artist is evocative psychological fiction based on this true story. Austin Ratner has extensively researched Halsman’s life and tells the extraordinary tale of a man who transforms himself from a victim of rampant anti-Semitism into a purveyor of the marvelous.



Editorial Review

No editorial review at this time.

Excerpt

No Excerpt Currently Available

Discussion Questions

No discussion questions at this time.

Notes From the Author to the Bookclub

No notes at this time.

Book Club Recommendations

Member Reviews

Overall rating:
 
 
  "A well researched book based on a terrible travesty of justice during a terrible time of history."by Gail R. (see profile) 10/12/19

The Jump Artist, Austin Ratner
This is the story of Phillip Halsmann, a Latvian Jew who, in 1929, was condemned falsely for the murder of his father while on a hiking trip in the Tyrolean A
... (read more)

Rate this book
MEMBER LOGIN
Remember me
BECOME A MEMBER it's free

Book Club HQ to over 88,000+ book clubs and ready to welcome yours.

SEARCH OUR READING GUIDES Search
Search




FEATURED EVENTS
PAST AUTHOR CHATS
JOIN OUR MAILING LIST

Get free weekly updates on top club picks, book giveaways, author events and more
Please wait...