Evening star., 1949-08-07

Other reviewers couldn't take 1t
problem of intolerance along tn
conventional groove.
The authors new novel Is
much finer story, with more uni
versal appeal. 1t is centeret
around the sort of man who rarel!
appears in modern fiction-a gooe
man, man Of honesty ant
decency, q kindly, tolerant man.
Mr.. Katkov has returned to
Jewish family in st. Paul for hi
second novel, but there Is yer!
little anti-semitism in "A Little
Sleep, a Little Slumber."
Lev Simon had grown up in th'
Russia of the czars, with its autoc'
racy,. its pogroms. With his wife
and their first child, he got ava!
in 1921, while the country was
still torn by the revolution. Bu
America had passed a quota law
and they'd have to wait indeflnitel!
to get into the land Lev had longee
for all his life. So they slippee
across the Canadian border-il'
legally. But that was the only un'
lawful thing Lev ever did excep
during prohibition to sell a few
bottles of liquor one time wher
his children were sick. his cred1'
cut off and he was desperate.
1t was a heartbreaking struggle
Lev had-no different from the
hard climb of many another immi'
grant, but appealing because yot
like Lev, believe in him and wan
him to succeed. There was hi!
wife. as stanch and loyal 6
sharer in his adventures as a mar
could want. And the four stall
yart sons who survived. Lev die
odd Jobs, whatever he could get
Finally he saved enough to buy
a horse and wagon. so he coule
peddle fruits and vegetables. Fin
ally came the store, a grocery
that slowly prospered. A famllial
enough pattern, but Mr.. Katko'
khndles excitement around eacf
episode in Lev's rise. There ever
came a time when Lev did wha'
he had never dared hope to do
squared himself with the Govern
ment and became a citizen.
Yet Lev paid for his 16-houl
work days, his unceasing sacri'
fees for his family. Before he wa!
so. he was broken. through. Hi
sons gathered, two of them from
a distance, to see their father once
more. They were boys to be proue
of. One was a doctor. another
studying medicine, another an en-
gineer, the fourth a newspaper
man. All had been to college. Eacf
looked back over the years, re-
membering Lev's unfailing gener'
osity and kindness. each wishins
he had been more considerate
more appreciative. There was
never a better father.
There is only one important
anti-semitic episode. The villain
of the book is a Jew, Lev's broth
er-in-law, who came over from
Russia earlier, and as Lev pros
pered became a leech, borrowing
from Lev, finally trying to black
mail him. Most gentiles were de-
cent to Lev. Our professional re-
corders of intolerance probably
will object to such a picture. s
"A Little Sleep. a Little Slum-
her" (the title comes from a pas
sage In Proyerbs) brings complete
ly to life a man who always gave
his best. His story is told with
laughter and pathos and un.
ashamed feeling.
THE BORGIA TESTAMENT
BY Nigel Balchin. (Houghton
Mt17tn; s3J
Mr.. Balchin, who wrote Mint
Own Executioner," presents ir
THE Borgia Testament" sophis'
ticated historical novel with a con-
tent high in entertainment.
The book purports TO be thu
last testament of Cesare Borgia
written in 1904 while he was 6
prisoner in Rome awaiting hi!
fate. The document reviews hi:
life and explains some OF 1t!
strange ways, at least from hi!
viewpoint if not to his satisfaction
Cesare was brother of Lu.
crezia, whom historians regard a!
something distinctly less than ad'
mirable. We first meet her wher
she is q child and no more fero.
cious than most children. Theil
father was Rodrigo Borgia, who
became Pope Alexander vi in al
era when the Vatican temporarily
was grasped by political oppor'
tunists and torn from its spiritua
moorings. The mother of the
children was Vanozza, Rodrigo'l
favorite mistress. Even after he
became Pope. Rodrigo, far from
repudiating his children, bestowed
high honors on Cesare and the
elder son, Giovanni, and saw thai
Lucrezia got suitable husbands
as she needed them.
We find Cesare a cardinal at II
But he did not care for the life OF
q churchman, even the hybrid
species flourishing at the time,
The sincerely religious had been
driven into exile, and the Vatican
was a source of temporal power
over which the two most potent
nations. France and Spain, fought
and plotted. Cesare was allowed
to renounce the priesthood, and
his father sent him to the court