A Call from Jersey is the story of German immigrants learning their way in America. It is a search for meaning as a father and son travel looking for the father’s brother. The story lines about the two relationships (father/son and the two brothers) are interesting and full. The writing is well done; Kluge created a thought provoking story about family relationships and change. ( )

A Call From Jersey is a well-written story of German immigrant Hans and his son George. George is a travel writer who visits many places but lacks a home of his own. The father and son take a trip down to Florida to find Han's brother Heinz and along the way the re-build their relationship. P.F. Kluge created such charming characters who had beautifully detailed adventures. I enjoyed how he described the life of the German immigrant in the 20s. This was a wonderfully written and engaging novel. ( )

This book really surprised me. When I saw the boxer on the cover and started reading about boxing I thought, "why on earth did I pick this one?"

It is the story of a German immigrant who came to America between the World Wars and his son. They are on paralle jounaries to link with their past and decide on their paths in the future. Along the way they find each other.

It was both thought provoking and moving. I was pulled into scenes of Hans' live as an immigrant and related to George facing his 20th high school reunion. I can recommend it, it's not about boxing. :) ( )

German immigrants living in New Jersey before during and after WW2. The story is told by the first generation son of the immigrant couple.
Max Baer, the German boxer, plays a major role here. It helps only a little if you enjoy boxing history.
The son goes back to his childhood neighborhood, where is father and some friends from that time still live, and reconnects with them. His father reconnects with his brother who he had not seen since the war time, when his brother returned to Germany.

Well written and enjoyable read overall. ( )

Rating: 2.5* of five

The Publisher Says: With A Call From New Jersey Kluge has outdone himself with a long view of the American experience and the steady mutation of the American dream. Set in the1980's it follows the life of Hans Greifinger, a German-American who immigrated to the United States in 1928 and built a life for himself and his son, George, who has adopted the surname Griffin for his nationally-syndicated lackluster travel column.

My Review: George Greifinger, successful travel-industry flack aka columnist, files a story on Thailand's riverine delights and goes home to New Jersey, there to hang out with his aging father, his aging schoolmates, and his crumbling self-image in 80s North Jersey suburban hellhole Berkeley Heights. He alternates narrative duties with his father Hans, immigrant German success story, who is doing his own settling of accounts with the past by remembering the sparkling, witty, fun-loving gambler younger brother Heinz, who left America to fight for the German cause in WWII.

Both men confront their respective fears of life and the future, both men find women, both men end up wiser and more likely to succeed...if only life gave second chances, which to the best of my knowledge it does not.

This novel was written by the man who created the inimitable Eddie and the Cruisers, a fun book that made me stop in my tracks to absorb when I read it in the 80s. This novel packs not one whit of that power. Some lovely lines, it's true, and a few tasty metaphors, but more often than not, I found nothing and no one to care about here. I just can't get it up for Jersey in the 80s.

Far the superior narrative track is the father Hans's...his story of being an immigrant German in the 20s and 30s was elegiac and quite moving; it made me wish this yutz of a son of his would belt up and go away, leave me to talk to the grown-ups okay sonny, go 'way kid ya bother me. Whiner-boy is all midlifey over his wasted talent...even his old high-school English teacher reproaches him for the second-rate pabulum he's churning out, quite profitably let it be said, because he's sold out his early promise (ye gods and little fishes, could **anything** be less interesting than a middle-aged careerist having angst? well, apart from teenaged fang-bangers having angst, that is) and the girl that got away is still there and there's the big fat best friend conflict and

Oh hell, I can't stand it, this is as boring as reading the damn thing was. If I need to spell it out for you, I do not recommend this title. At all. If offered to you free, accept only if there are shelves going empty in your bookcase.

There. I've kept my ER commitment and can now forget I ever saw this soporific twaddle-box.


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