Max Apple describes what it was like to be an American boy raised by a Yiddish-speaking grandmother who approached everything, from acne to dating to career choices, from the perspective of a time and place long past. Here is Gootie coping with the frayed relationships within her own family and her less than happy marriage to the wildly determined and self-styled American, Rocky. Here is Gootie coping with anti-Semitic neighbors and outlandish business propositions. And here is Gootie offering a hilarious, alternate-reality commentary on grandson Max's first teenage love affair. Conjuring up a great world around a tiny, muddy Lithuanian village, Gootie gave Max the ultimate gift of all: the art of storytelling itself.

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