In Japanese edition, Abe's Yiddish translated to Japanese. So I didn't know that Abe was speaking Yiddish(of course, not all dialogues) till I read "The Haunted Air English edition". :o

Anyway I like his character in RJ series. I wish someday Paul write a novel of Abe's story.

Another thing about Abe, I suspect that he hides behind his ethnic language and affectations. When he gets serious, I think they fade and he speaks more normally.

There are a couple of examples of that in the series...but I don't recall where.

Abe was "late fifties" in The Tomb, so we can say he's 60-ish now.

I haven't looked into it, but I imagine he was most likely raised in an orthodox family, maybe even Hassidic. Ever speak to a Hassid? Even multi-generation American-born Hassids speak English like it's a foreign language. That's becase they're so insulated from the surrounding society that they hear nothing but Yiddish-inflected English throughout their formative years.

Way to go FPW, you said exactly what I was trying to say in my earlier post...apparently I need to brush up on my writing skills

By the way, I forgot to add that Abe provides some of the only humor in the series. I think its important that he is an endearing character, because then his eccentricities become loveable. I think the Yiddish helps a lot in this sense - here's this underground arms dealer who still obviously clings to old values...just not in the sense that his parents do. I think it tightens the connection between Jack and Abe.

Abe was "late fifties" in The Tomb, so we can say he's 60-ish now.

I'm in my early 50's, and I could swear that in a recent RJ book Abe was said to be 53 or 54, which is why I remembered his age because it was so near mine.

I haven't looked into it, but I imagine he was most likely raised in an orthodox family, maybe even Hassidic. Ever speak to a Hassid?

Yes, my landlords are Hassidic. I've worked with Hassids. They are religious and keep to their community. With the Hassids I know who have been born in America, while their behavior is flavored by their religion as is their tongue, their language is not spiced as heavily as Abe's.

OK. Here's what I think, for what it's worth. I'll grant you the Hassidic background for Abe; it's the only thing that makes sense. Which means that he probably rebelled against it. Perhaps he finds the over usage of Yiddishisms to be both a tip of the hat and a finger in the face of what he left behind.

Unfortunately (again for me, I guess), in the later RJ books, to my ear, he still sounds like a caricature.

There are a couple of examples of that in the series...but I don't recall where.

Abe was "late fifties" in The Tomb, so we can say he's 60-ish now.

"Jack glanced through the window. A fiftyish man was alone inside, sitting on a stool behind the cash register, reading a paperback."

That was our introduction to Abe in THE TOMB.

Interpretations may differ, but to me, "fiftyish" means fifty, give or take a year or so. Could be fourty eight or fourty nine, could be fifty, fifty one or fifty two.

Also, Abe is 5'8" in THE TOMB.
"For a big man, Abe Grossman showed he could move quickly when he wanted too. He carried an easy two hundred pounds packed into a five-eight frame. His graying hair . . . "

In Crisscross he's five one and weighs over two fifty.

I haven't looked into it, but I imagine he was most likely raised in an orthodox family, maybe even Hassidic. Ever speak to a Hassid? Even multi-generation American-born Hassids speak English like it's a foreign language. That's becase they're so insulated from the surrounding society that they hear nothing but Yiddish-inflected English throughout their formative years.

'Nother quote from THE TOMB:

"I need some equipment: incendiary bombs with timers and incendiary bullets along with an AR to shoot them."

The Yiddishisms disappeared; Abe was abruptly a businessman. "I don't have them in stock but I can get them. When do you need them?"

The impression I get is that it's an affectation.

Ken V.

I meet many folks at my uptown hangout Marty O'Briens Irish Pub. Among them is an hombre, Ben. He's a rabbi's son, and he broke his parents' hearts by eschewing the pious life and going into business. (And =believe= me, gang, I've learned a =lot= more than I need to know about the furniture racket talking to him.) He speaks in =exactly= the cadences I hear in my mind's ear when Abe talks. Yiddishisms? Not too many. But maybe Paul intended to create a memorable, likeable character to give the Jack books a New York flavor. And he succeeded. So what's the big tsuris?

In Japanese edition, Abe's Yiddish translated to Japanese. So I didn't know that Abe was speaking Yiddish(of course, not all dialogues) till I read "The Haunted Air English edition". :o

Anyway I like his character in RJ series. I wish someday Paul write a novel of Abe's story.

I agree, Kenji! I'd like to know more about Abe.
We know he had a failed marriage, and a daughter who has little use for him.
We know he's loyal to his friends.
We know he's a man of physical courage. When Scarlip came out of the water in THE TOMB, I would have run screaming like a little girl. But Abe stood his ground (OK, backpedaled), and used his pistol to try to protect Gia and Vicky.
We know he's a smart hombre--in his youth, a potential scholar--yet, without Jack, he'd eat himself to death.
Many questions yet unanswered! Paul, the dice are in your mitt...

Eh, as much as I like Abe, I think I'm ok with just knowing what I know about him. Maybe FPW could spin off a series about him, ala OSC did with Bean and Petra and a couple of the other characters from Ender's Game. I think, though, as we get closer and closer to Nightworld, that we'll learn more about him, as he is one of just a few friends that Jack has left.

Eh, as much as I like Abe, I think I'm ok with just knowing what I know about him. Maybe FPW could spin off a series about him, ala OSC did with Bean and Petra and a couple of the other characters from Ender's Game. I think, though, as we get closer and closer to Nightworld, that we'll learn more about him, as he is one of just a few friends that Jack has left.

I'd still like to know more about him though, Tempest. Biggest question--what turned him from a life of scholarship to the outlaw trade? Was it a personal tragedy like Jack's? That might explain a =lot=!

Who knows....maybe it has something to do with the reason why his daughter doesn't want to have anything to do with him? I agree though...and I tink that we'll find that out in one of the next couple of books.