White Piano, Black Piano, Brown Piano

Eddie Steinberg, a boy growing up in 1950s Oregon, heads down to California with his parents on the Southern Pacific railroad, to visit his much beloved grandmother in Hollywood. This short novel relies on dialogue and detail to dramatize Eddie's amazement at the world around him, tempered by a growing awareness of a more complex reality as he becomes an adult. KIRKUS REVIEWS calls the novel is "an evocative portrayal of a young boy passionately entranced by sunny California" in the post-War era "and on the brink of comprehending the complexities of human interactions... . The book is filled with meticulously written observations of details of ordinary life, allowing Malamud to turn a simple gas-station stop into an anecdote-worthy event... . The story then surges a bit jarringly forward, with the family moving East as Eddie's father becomes a successful writer -- think Bernard Malamud, the author's late father -- in a short catch-up that brings Eddie into his late 20s." KIRKUS REVIEWS concludes "The book's portrayal of childhood exuberance and petulance, vivid characters, and Eddie's ephemeral sense of melancholy should keep readers hooked until the end."