Mr Rosenblum's List: or Friendly Guidance for the Aspiring Englishman

Lovely little story. Beautifully written and I rooted for Jack Rosenblum and Sadie throughout. Other commentators will say more about the naive Jack as he struggles with prejudice against his Germanic accent and being a Jew. So why not five stars? Natasha Solomons is so in love with the Dorset landscape, its flora and fauna that in writing a final paeon to nature, she forgets the story ended 30 pages before. I was fine until then but the long drawn out celebration of nature and the wrap up of events became overly sentimental and wearisome. Pity. Still recommend as a delightful read but that ending.......i can imagine what happened: Natasha Solomons didn't want to say goodbye.

I read this book because I had loved Solomons' "Novel in the Viola" so much. This novel is even more enjoyable.The basic plot is that Jack and Sadie Rosenblum come to England from Germany in the 1930s. Jack is an Anglophile. He receives a pamphlet on arrival in England that contains "helpful" advice on assimilation. As he attempts to put the advice into practice he adds his own notes to this list. He insists his family speak English at all times and to embrace what he perceives to be English values completely.Sadie resents this repudiation of their own culture.This conflict culminates in Jack's desire to become member of a golf club, in his eyes the epitome of all things English. However as a Jew he is refused by all clubs except specific Jewish clubs which he refuses to join.Not to be deterred he decides to build his own golf course and buys a tumbledown house in the wilds of Dorset with 60 acres of land attached. His aim is to have the course finished by the time of the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in June 1953.For me the joys of the book were to be made to consider the concept of "Englishness" from an outsider's viewpoint and also the wonderful description of the relationship between Jack and Sadie. The book has a completely magical feel to it that is difficult to describe but wonderful to read. I fell in love with the characters who were beautifully drawn by Solomons. I would wholeheartedly recommend this book, it's a complete joy. And as for the woolypig ...

A very touching and moving book. I am not Jewish or interested in any way in golf but anyone moving to a different society and trying to fit in can relate to it. I was laughing one minute at Mr Rosenblum's daft pomposity in trying so hard to be English, but also crying because his efforts were so poignant and misguided. Unlike other reviewers I loved the descriptions of the countryside - wish I could afford to live in Dorset!

If you look down my list of reviews you'll see that I tend to give everything 4 or 5 stars. Maybe I should stop getting books that I like the sound of and branch out a bit more, I don't know. Anyway, this book is hugely worthy of its five twinkling marks. I simply loved it. Every page. It's a fairly simple tale of a family of Jews escaping from Nazi Germany before the outbreak of war, and the sorrowful efforts of our hero, Jack Rosenblum, as he desperately tries to be accepted as an Englishman. Of course, he fails, as he comes up against all the racism and snobbery that pre- and post-war Britain could offer. Even in spite of building a golf course, to overcome his rejections from every golf club in London!The prose ranges from simple story telling to flights of fantasy, and you're often left unsure whether it's meant to be read as fantasy or as a 'normal' story. I think it's a fable - there are many morals here. But please don't be put off - it doesn't moralise; more leaves you to make your own judgements about the character's motives etc.It's very entertaining too, as well as full of pathos and heartbreak. A fine, fine story, well worth the reading.

I recognise many of the people portrayed and am familiar with most of the situations so that I did believe the story. The writer really knew what she was talking about and had great sympathy for struggling refugees. Against all odds they had found relative financial success but they still had to overcome the zenaphobia which so often confronts people of other nationalities in England and in those days and even now, especially Jews. Mr Rosenblum felt enormous gratitude to the country that had been generous enough to take them in. He desperately wanted to be accepted. Mrs Rosenblum , whose domestic role was full of patterns established by her warm and loving family in her earlier life in Europe, had still to come to terms with the dreadful guilt of having left her family to an awful fate. It made me think again of all those foreigners who speak no English and battle to make a living and to find a niche for themselves in this day and age in the UK. The book read easily and fluently and I wanted to know what happened to this family.

I have read and love this book and so ordered a hardback copy as a valentines gift. I was sent a paperback however and do not have time to refund and re order. Such a shame and slightly annoying.

When I started reading this book I was not sure I was going to like it but that very quickly changed to my loving it. An immigrant's view of what makes an Englishman was so amusing I laughed out loud on a number of occasions but felt so sad at his rejection by some, so called, gentlemen. Most of it being set in my home county of Dorset was an added bonus and I delighted in the hairy pig references. The description of the tree embedded in golf balls was wonderful and so vivid I could really see it in my mind's eye. So good.

The story is of a Jewish immigrant fleeing to Britain from Vienna, who tried his best to be everything a proper Englishman should be. This started with being a successful city businessman and ended in the deepest countryside where he displays an unlikely affinity with the local yokels and their folklore. Charming and amusing.