Snow in August by Pete Hamill was a brilliant fable not only for our time but also for all time. The setting was the year 1947 in Brooklyn, the war veterans had come home, the first black man makes it to the major leagues, and great prejudice against race and religion is present.
             While reading this book I built a strong relationship and admiration for the character Michael Devlin. Michael was an 11-year-old Irish Catholic boy whose father had died in the war. His father's death was a cause of Michael's overwhelming maturity and responsibility to his widowed mother Kate Devlin and the actions he took in life. The adolescent boy helps his mom with her duties, which include a significant amount of housework not only for his apartment but the entire building they lived in. Being the responsible boy that he portrays in this book he sacrifices going out to play with his friends to help his mom. Additionally, he is an alter boy which duties include waking up to be at church by 8 o'clock in the morning. He then returns home to have breakfast with his mom. A person would be crazy not to want a clone of Michael for a son. He is headed for the right path and it's revealed at the end of this story.
             What drew me closest to Michael was his friendship between a lonely rabbi from Prague, Judah Hirsch. Initially I thought where is this story taking me? I felt it was realistically unlikely that an 11-year-old Catholic altar boy would ever become friends with a Jewish rabbi. But after becoming familiar with Michael's character and becoming in touch with his spirituality, I realized their friendship was not unlikely at all. The relationship between Michael and the rabbi is only one of the many miracles contained in this novel. It is in fact an unlikely friendship and it's evident in the neighborhoods reaction. But for Michael, the rabbi opens a window to ancient learning and lesson that compe
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