The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-06-09
"oNE OF US,

"ONE OF US"
 By Ezra Brudno. J. B. I.ippineott &
 Company. Philadelphia.
 One of the very best books that has been published in the past year is One of Us," by Ezra Brudno, the author of The Fugitives" "rhe Little Conscript'' and "The Tether."
 Mir. Brudno is better known in England than America, although he has lived, studied, practiced law and made his home in Cleveland, O.
 His latest novel is absolutely artistic and clever from every standpoint. It Is teeming with life--life as it is the philosophy of which he sends forth In the dictun, that the scales weigh correctly, but not always pleasantly, but the result is-life"
 The direct simplicity that Is maintained my the author in the telling of his story. "One of Us" strikes close to the heart and at the same time reveals a minute and definite analysis of character and an inevitable logic that points out things as they are-from generation to generation, in rapid succession.
 Mir Brudnos keen perception. his un- failing philosophy and his knowledge of life and its hardships and tumoils, is set forth in this clever novel, which to be appreciated must be read-read from the beginning to the end-and then maybe going back and reading it again. It is rattling good story and shouldn't escape the eye of the man or woman who Is looking for something above tho froth and glitter of everyday novels.
 The central figure in the story Is Raphael, a little hunehbaek, who from the beginning Is born with a desire to be loved for physical beauty, to love in re- turn, and yet he has the fearful handicap of an ugly body, dreadful thing which he realizes even when he is a child Why, if the child was mot naughty. T in the child's own simple phraseology when God made him, then why did he make me hunchback?' This is the question that he asks as he stands at his mothers knee. This is the thought that the author keeps before the reader all through the story.
 | There is nothing more pathetic in all 1 fiction than the description of the pooi l little cripple's mental and physical an 1 guish. when he enters foot race with his healthy, normal companions and soon drops far behind them. Against a great tree he stands the tears rolling down his cheeks, and 1t is then that something of the philosophy of life | comes to him, and he sees things as they are.
  nificance of his affliction and his grief is something terrible in one so young. Norma the first woman whom Raphael loves after he grows up, is a very well drawn type and the authors portrayal of the young boys love for her is a master stroke of genius-a touch of realism that Is wonderful.
 Jack Jessup. the burglar and philoso- pher, breaches the gospel of conquest, and may be regarded as a rather im- possible character until you know (through an interview that the author recently gave out that he is drawn from life
 MT. Brudno confesses to having known every character in his book.
 T have known Raphael and his father" says the author, "Chrs. Walter Jessup knew intimately. Nauette played the first violin in a Paris cafe and last sum mer when there l sat for two hours in the very place where she used to play" "One of Us" Is decidedly one of the best stories that has come under the observa- ton of the reviewer ii many days, and it is safely recommended to those who wish something strong, vital. we'll writ ten, gripping novel of life
 Not the least important thing in "One of Us'' is MT Brudno's Dedication" to Robert Herrick in which he says:
 Tn an age when quif drivers rush pell mell toward the goal of pest sellers, with out any apparent concern for literary values, it is indeed refreshing and en- eouragins to a recruit in the army of let ters to find a chieftain like yourself, to whom literature is, as it always has been 10 the masters. a criticism and an inter pretation of life"