What do you think?
Rate this book
Hungry Hearts
In stories that draw heavily on her own life, Anzia Yezierska portrays the immigrant's struggle to become a "real" American, in such stories as "Yekl," "Hunger," "The Fat of the Land," and "How I Found America." Set mostly in New York's Lower East Side, the stories brilliantly evoke the oppressive atmosphere of crowded streets and shabby tenements and lay bare the despair of families trapped in unspeakable poverty, working at demeaning jobs, and coping with the barely hidden prejudices of their new land.
For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust theseries to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-datetranslations by award-winning translators.
For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust theseries to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-datetranslations by award-winning translators.
180 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1920
42 people are currently reading
819 people want to read
About the author
Anzia Yezierska
26books73followersAnzia Yezierska was a Jewish-American novelist born in Mały Płock, Poland, which was then part of the Russian Empire. She emigrated as a child with her parents to the United States and lived in the immigrant neighborhood of the Lower East Side of Manhattan.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 41 reviews
January 18, 2023
Anita Yezierska (1882-1970) was born in Poland and came to the Lower East Side of New York with her family in
1890 when she was nine years old. By the 1920’s she had risen out of poverty and became a successful writer of stories, novels, all autobiographical and an autobiography.
Her stories truly inspired that we look -evaluate and re-evaluate our own lives today.
“Hungry Hearts� is a collection of nine short stories 164 pages long (free kindle).
I could feel the author through her characters—struggling � fighting for her dream �
I experienced her longing, indignation, despair, her restlessness, desperation—her fight for herself.
She had a charming personality�. a little precocious � less naïve � than others thought of her�..
I loved her expression—which showed through her prose.
“My heart chokes in me like in a prison! I’m dying for a little love and I got nobody—nobody!�
So dramatic she was at a young age�.but there was truth.
�.
“It was all a miracle—his coming, this young professor from one of the big colleges. He had rented a room in the very house where she was janitress so as to be near the people he was writing about. But more wonderful than all was the way he stopped to talk to her, to question her about herself, as though she were an equal. What warm friendliness had prompted him to take her out of her dark basement to the library were there were books to read!�
Anita’s stories were candid and passionate—she wanted to come to America to go to school - to learn - to think - to make something beautiful from her life. (not be stuck in a factory or cleaning forever).
“Just as there ain’t no bottom to being poor, there ain’t no bottom to being lonely. Before, everything I’ve done was alone, by myself. My heart hurt with hunger for people. But here, in the factory, I feel I am with everybody together. Just the sight of people lifts me on wings in the air�.
The longing for a friend - a great friend � was felt �
“I felt sometimes that I was burning out my heart for a shadow, an echo, a wild dream. But I couldn’t help it. Nothing was real to me but my hope of finding a friend�.
The odor of herring and garlic—the ravenous munching of food—laughter and loud vulgar jokes�
There were family stories of her parents - and stories of obsessively wanting love.
Like hunger for bread, (or potato lotkes) was her hunger for love.
Questions explored >
were immigrants happy with their slavery?
�
why wasn’t there more rebellion against the galling grind?
“What do I got from living if I can’t have a little beautifulness in my life? I don’t allow for myself the ten cents to go to a movie picture that I’m crazy to see. I never yet treated myself to an ice-cream soda even for a holiday. Shining up the house for Aby is my only pleasure�.
What do any of us have without ‘allowing� ourselves pleasure?
1890 when she was nine years old. By the 1920’s she had risen out of poverty and became a successful writer of stories, novels, all autobiographical and an autobiography.
Her stories truly inspired that we look -evaluate and re-evaluate our own lives today.
“Hungry Hearts� is a collection of nine short stories 164 pages long (free kindle).
I could feel the author through her characters—struggling � fighting for her dream �
I experienced her longing, indignation, despair, her restlessness, desperation—her fight for herself.
She had a charming personality�. a little precocious � less naïve � than others thought of her�..
I loved her expression—which showed through her prose.
“My heart chokes in me like in a prison! I’m dying for a little love and I got nobody—nobody!�
So dramatic she was at a young age�.but there was truth.
�.
“It was all a miracle—his coming, this young professor from one of the big colleges. He had rented a room in the very house where she was janitress so as to be near the people he was writing about. But more wonderful than all was the way he stopped to talk to her, to question her about herself, as though she were an equal. What warm friendliness had prompted him to take her out of her dark basement to the library were there were books to read!�
Anita’s stories were candid and passionate—she wanted to come to America to go to school - to learn - to think - to make something beautiful from her life. (not be stuck in a factory or cleaning forever).
“Just as there ain’t no bottom to being poor, there ain’t no bottom to being lonely. Before, everything I’ve done was alone, by myself. My heart hurt with hunger for people. But here, in the factory, I feel I am with everybody together. Just the sight of people lifts me on wings in the air�.
The longing for a friend - a great friend � was felt �
“I felt sometimes that I was burning out my heart for a shadow, an echo, a wild dream. But I couldn’t help it. Nothing was real to me but my hope of finding a friend�.
The odor of herring and garlic—the ravenous munching of food—laughter and loud vulgar jokes�
There were family stories of her parents - and stories of obsessively wanting love.
Like hunger for bread, (or potato lotkes) was her hunger for love.
Questions explored >
were immigrants happy with their slavery?
�
why wasn’t there more rebellion against the galling grind?
“What do I got from living if I can’t have a little beautifulness in my life? I don’t allow for myself the ten cents to go to a movie picture that I’m crazy to see. I never yet treated myself to an ice-cream soda even for a holiday. Shining up the house for Aby is my only pleasure�.
What do any of us have without ‘allowing� ourselves pleasure?
August 15, 2011
This is a collection of short stories by Anzia Yezierska, of whom I was a die-hard fan in my early 20's. I liked her novels better, but all her writing is the same: set amongst Jews of the Lower East Side and featuring a female protagonist desperate to get out. The best and longest story in this collection is "The Fat of the Land," and it won "Best Short Story of 1920" and was made into a film. But the quote I remember best was from another of her stories about heartbreak: "I've breathed the air from the high places where love comes from, and I can't no more come down."
March 19, 2023
...e mezza.
November 21, 2015
Yezierska wrote these stories in the late 1910s, and this collection was published in 1920. The stories are quite raw in that they are unvarnished, and show what the life of the immigrant was in the early 20th century. It's quite a glimpse at a rough period and the despair and demeaning way of life is eye opening. The stories are uneven, but "The Fat of the Land," about an immigrant mother whose children made good, was so beautifully captured it and rendered so clearly, it gave me new insight into the dilemmas of immigrant parents. That story alone makes the collection worth reading (or just go straight to this story!).
August 17, 2013
There aren't enough stars to rate this work and I don't think this is a work that should be rated. I will however give it the highest number in the currently popular star rating system, FIVE.
Attaching stars to this book though feels like I'm sullying her and her author.
If I were told that I could only have ten books for the rest of my life, this would be one of them.
Attaching stars to this book though feels like I'm sullying her and her author.
If I were told that I could only have ten books for the rest of my life, this would be one of them.
June 3, 2012
Perhaps it's my own family connection to the stories, but Yezierska's work touches me. I find her stories fascinating, and her protagonists heartbreaking.
January 28, 2013
A very readable collection of short stories about immigrants in New York in the early part of the 1900s. The women who populate these stories are all searching for themselves and for their piece of the American dream that they bet on when they left their villages in Poland and Russia to come to New York. The women now find themselves barely scraping by while trying to break free from the poverty and daily grind of children and sweatshops. I found the characters compelling and their voracious desires for bigger, more real lives to be both heart-wrenching and yet surprisingly optimistic.
January 25, 2008
Falling under the genre of "working girl's fiction," these stories are all about Eastern European immigrants in New York in the 1920. As the title implies, all of the characters are hungry for various things: to be an American, to be educated, to be loved, etc. Very readable, I enjoyed it very much. Interesting side note: apparently Yezierska was the first author to use Yiddish expressions in her characters' dialogue. Hm! The things you learn when you read the introduction!
November 19, 2018
Tales of immigrant women. The better ones explore domestic settings or interactions with do-gooders.
June 17, 2024
The stories are important, in that they tell of immigration of women, however I did not enjoy the writing style. 3 �
February 13, 2014
I read about 2/3 of the book. The author wrote in the early 20th century about the immigrant experience, probably most Jewish, probably set in New York. The book is made up of a number of stories, each about different characters. Each story is about an immigrant with a "hunger" hence the title. The stories are very sad and affecting. The atmosphere is chaotic, with many of the characters living with a panicky desperation as they worry about finding their place in America and often about also finding love. I had to put it down, finally. It was so depressing. I'm glad I read what I read but there was a sameness to the stories that wore me down.
November 29, 2023
Telling the stories of Eastern European immigrant woman at the turn of the 20th century, Anzia Yezierska’s Hungry Hearts gives the reader insight into the lower east side of New York. Where families were stacked together in small rooms and money for food was scarce.
I found the most impactful of these stories to have been told in “The Fat of the Land�. Hanneh Breineh lived with her six children in a small room with barely any food to feed them. Miserable, she wishes for a life where her children don’t have to fight for food. Years later after her children have become rich and she has a large home to herself, she finds herself still miserable and wishing for the way life had been before: where neighbours looked out for each other and people walking down the street aren’t strangers. In her story, it becomes apparent that while people should chase their dreams, they also shouldn’t become disillusioned by them and take for granted what they already have.
I found the most impactful of these stories to have been told in “The Fat of the Land�. Hanneh Breineh lived with her six children in a small room with barely any food to feed them. Miserable, she wishes for a life where her children don’t have to fight for food. Years later after her children have become rich and she has a large home to herself, she finds herself still miserable and wishing for the way life had been before: where neighbours looked out for each other and people walking down the street aren’t strangers. In her story, it becomes apparent that while people should chase their dreams, they also shouldn’t become disillusioned by them and take for granted what they already have.
January 31, 2023
This book was an excellent accounting of life on the Lower East Side of New York City. That is where most of the Jewish immigrants settled after arriving to the promised land. It is a WAY more dismal and depressing picture than the one my mother and grandparents talked about. The poverty seems to match what I have heard, but not the desperation. Anzia Yezierska only touches on the sense of community felt by the impoverished. The book definitely portrays the essence of the strong, yearning desire felt by this immigrant population to become educated, learned and cultured, not to mention assimilated! It was a touching book and gave me more insight into the America my ancestors experienced.
March 23, 2015
I received this book through a ŷ Giveaway contest!
Contrary to what the stars say, I actually enjoyed this collection of short stories. I first want to begin by saying I gave it 2 stars because these stories have real and factual elements to them, but ultimately they were fiction. Some people enjoy that. I, personally, prefer the raw story - no fictional elements. I understand that that was the entire point of this set of stories. Authors do that a lot, but it's simply not what resonates with me.
I loved this because it was about Jewish people. Perhaps some of the most marginalized, stereotyped peoples' experiences were brought to light through these short stories. They were heartbreaking to say the least. Reading them, I thought about the experiences of my parents and even my own experiences as an immigrant and there was definitely a connection.
I recommend this book to those who enjoy short stories. I recommend this book to anyone who wants to understand the immigrant experience (which is truly something I think many Americans need to understand). But more importantly, if you're planning on reading this book, appreciate and recognize that this is the JEWISH immigrant experience, which is in my opinion the most important element of this book.
Contrary to what the stars say, I actually enjoyed this collection of short stories. I first want to begin by saying I gave it 2 stars because these stories have real and factual elements to them, but ultimately they were fiction. Some people enjoy that. I, personally, prefer the raw story - no fictional elements. I understand that that was the entire point of this set of stories. Authors do that a lot, but it's simply not what resonates with me.
I loved this because it was about Jewish people. Perhaps some of the most marginalized, stereotyped peoples' experiences were brought to light through these short stories. They were heartbreaking to say the least. Reading them, I thought about the experiences of my parents and even my own experiences as an immigrant and there was definitely a connection.
I recommend this book to those who enjoy short stories. I recommend this book to anyone who wants to understand the immigrant experience (which is truly something I think many Americans need to understand). But more importantly, if you're planning on reading this book, appreciate and recognize that this is the JEWISH immigrant experience, which is in my opinion the most important element of this book.
September 25, 2023
4/5⭐️
A beautiful collection of short stories set in early 20th century New York, told through the eyes of Jewish immigrants as they struggle to find their place in America. These stories were beautiful and sad all at the same time. It made me really think about how my ancestors had suffered so much in order to make sure that their children would be free from religious persecution. These stories truly show the hunger that so many immigrants felt, whether for a loaf of bread or for the American Dream.
A beautiful collection of short stories set in early 20th century New York, told through the eyes of Jewish immigrants as they struggle to find their place in America. These stories were beautiful and sad all at the same time. It made me really think about how my ancestors had suffered so much in order to make sure that their children would be free from religious persecution. These stories truly show the hunger that so many immigrants felt, whether for a loaf of bread or for the American Dream.
December 1, 2014
3.5 Stars.
In general, short stories aren't my favorite thing to read, but I enjoyed this collection. The author did a great job of capturing the immigrant experience and of writing about different experiences. There were some stories that I enjoyed a lot more than other, but I didn't dislike any of them. I would definitely recommend this collection to people who enjoy short stories.
Received from NetGalley.
In general, short stories aren't my favorite thing to read, but I enjoyed this collection. The author did a great job of capturing the immigrant experience and of writing about different experiences. There were some stories that I enjoyed a lot more than other, but I didn't dislike any of them. I would definitely recommend this collection to people who enjoy short stories.
Received from NetGalley.
January 18, 2017
America Still Calls
Amazing short stories, full of heart and grit. A new learning experience for me about immigrant Jews from Russia & Poland. Heart breaking and lovely all at once.
Amazing short stories, full of heart and grit. A new learning experience for me about immigrant Jews from Russia & Poland. Heart breaking and lovely all at once.
May 19, 2008
overall i thought this book was pretty good...it's a collection of short stories dealing with the lives of Jewish immigrant women. Some of the stories i thought were really good, others not so...
October 19, 2008
Yezierska always comes through.
November 9, 2008
You. Read. Now. Short story collection.
December 21, 2015
"Hungry Hearts" was Anzia's first book. See my rating for "The Open Cage."
June 29, 2016
Love the messages in this book, and the stories are all really humbling. The writing tended to be melodramatic, though.
May 2, 2014
This is about as saccharine and sentimental as it gets.
February 20, 2015
Interesting stories of the immigrant experience. I received this book as part of the good reads program.
February 16, 2015
ARC: Netgalley
An intimate glimpse into the lives of Jewish immigrants in the early 1900's. I love books from this time so this was right up my alley.
An intimate glimpse into the lives of Jewish immigrants in the early 1900's. I love books from this time so this was right up my alley.
February 18, 2015
A touching collection of stories that capture the immigrant experience. I received this book from the goodreads program.
April 5, 2015
Excellent. A powerful evocative voice.
April 6, 2015
Optimistic writing, despite the sometimes sombre themes.
April 1, 2022
Hungry Hearts
This book features 10 short stories of Jewish immigrants living on the Lower East side in early 1900s. Its written by Anzia Yezierka, herself a Jewish immigrant from Poland.
I was confused by some of the Yiddish words and phrases that are now well-known, but written differently than in this work. It took me a few times to realize "Oi Weh" meant 'Oy vey".
As I was reading these stories, instead of imagining it actually happening, I imagined it on stage. I've never experienced that before, not even when reading theatre scripts. I think it was because of how dramatically the characters spoke and that even their internal thoughts were between quotation marks. I wonder if anyone else interpreted it this way.
The stories are generally sad and their protagonists disheartened. Their dreams of success in America have not panned out. There are glimpses of hope, sometimes dashed, rarely fulfilled, but sometimes still comforting despite not coming to fruition. The characters are loath to accept help from charities, but turn to when desperate, but this does not often work out well and they discover help can be rescinded quickly.
"The Fat of the Land" intrigued me the most. Hanneh Breineh's children succeed in their careers and give her the life she always wanted, but it does not make her happy as she thought it would, as evidenced by this quote,
“A good neighbor is not to be found every day,� deplored Hanneh Breineh. “Uptown here, where each lives in his own house, nobody cares if the person next door is dying or going crazy from loneliness. It ain’t anything like we used to have it in Delancey Street, when we could walk into one another’s rooms without knocking, and borrow a pinch of salt or a pot to cook in.�
However, I was also surprised her children supported her in their success at all given the verbal abuse they received.
This scene from the last story, "How I found America" was very moving and shows the strength of the character through hard times.
"As I neared the house we lived in, I paused terror-stricken. On the sidewalk stood a jumbled pile of ragged house-furnishings that looked familiar—chairs, dishes, kitchen pans. Amidst bundles of bedding and broken furniture stood my mother. Oblivious of the curious crowd, she lit the Sabbath candles and prayed over them.
In a flash I understood it all. Because of the loss of my wages while I was in the hospital, we had been evicted for unpaid rent. It was Sabbath eve. My father was in the synagogue praying and my mother, defiant of disgrace, had gone on with the ceremony of the Sabbath."
This book features 10 short stories of Jewish immigrants living on the Lower East side in early 1900s. Its written by Anzia Yezierka, herself a Jewish immigrant from Poland.
I was confused by some of the Yiddish words and phrases that are now well-known, but written differently than in this work. It took me a few times to realize "Oi Weh" meant 'Oy vey".
As I was reading these stories, instead of imagining it actually happening, I imagined it on stage. I've never experienced that before, not even when reading theatre scripts. I think it was because of how dramatically the characters spoke and that even their internal thoughts were between quotation marks. I wonder if anyone else interpreted it this way.
The stories are generally sad and their protagonists disheartened. Their dreams of success in America have not panned out. There are glimpses of hope, sometimes dashed, rarely fulfilled, but sometimes still comforting despite not coming to fruition. The characters are loath to accept help from charities, but turn to when desperate, but this does not often work out well and they discover help can be rescinded quickly.
"The Fat of the Land" intrigued me the most. Hanneh Breineh's children succeed in their careers and give her the life she always wanted, but it does not make her happy as she thought it would, as evidenced by this quote,
“A good neighbor is not to be found every day,� deplored Hanneh Breineh. “Uptown here, where each lives in his own house, nobody cares if the person next door is dying or going crazy from loneliness. It ain’t anything like we used to have it in Delancey Street, when we could walk into one another’s rooms without knocking, and borrow a pinch of salt or a pot to cook in.�
However, I was also surprised her children supported her in their success at all given the verbal abuse they received.
This scene from the last story, "How I found America" was very moving and shows the strength of the character through hard times.
"As I neared the house we lived in, I paused terror-stricken. On the sidewalk stood a jumbled pile of ragged house-furnishings that looked familiar—chairs, dishes, kitchen pans. Amidst bundles of bedding and broken furniture stood my mother. Oblivious of the curious crowd, she lit the Sabbath candles and prayed over them.
In a flash I understood it all. Because of the loss of my wages while I was in the hospital, we had been evicted for unpaid rent. It was Sabbath eve. My father was in the synagogue praying and my mother, defiant of disgrace, had gone on with the ceremony of the Sabbath."
February 5, 2023
A short story collection about European Jewish immigrant women at the turn of the 20th century. The author, Anzia Yezierska, was a Jewish American novelist who immigrated to Manhattan from a Polish-Russian village in the 1890s.
Her short stories draw upon her lived experiences and examine how classism, sexism, and xenophobia function to oppress immigrant women in our society. Nevertheless, her characters possess an inner strength that compels them to fight against these injustices and secure their place in the world. The title, Hungry Hearts, refers to these women’s hunger for education, work, independence, and equality.
One of my favorite short stories in the book, “Soap and Water,� centers on a young woman who aspires to be a teacher. She is confronted with the ivory tower of academia and shunned by professors who find her “dirty� due to her poverty and having to work full-time doing laundry to afford college. In one powerful passage, Yezierska voices how our nation was built on the labor of oppressed immigrants and minorities:
“I, soaking in the foul vapors of the steaming laundry, I, with my dirty, tired hands, I am ironing the clean, immaculate shirtwaists of clean, immaculate society. I, the unclean one; am actually fashioning the pedestal of their cleanliness, from which they reach down, hoping to lift me to the height that I have created for them.�
I had to take a minute to let that quote sink in when I read!
Despite this heavy subject matter, these short stories were also enjoyable reads. Yezierska ties in romance and humor so that her characters are fully realized, multidimensional women who occupy more than just one identity.
Recommended for lovers of short stories, immigrant stories, and historical fiction.
Her short stories draw upon her lived experiences and examine how classism, sexism, and xenophobia function to oppress immigrant women in our society. Nevertheless, her characters possess an inner strength that compels them to fight against these injustices and secure their place in the world. The title, Hungry Hearts, refers to these women’s hunger for education, work, independence, and equality.
One of my favorite short stories in the book, “Soap and Water,� centers on a young woman who aspires to be a teacher. She is confronted with the ivory tower of academia and shunned by professors who find her “dirty� due to her poverty and having to work full-time doing laundry to afford college. In one powerful passage, Yezierska voices how our nation was built on the labor of oppressed immigrants and minorities:
“I, soaking in the foul vapors of the steaming laundry, I, with my dirty, tired hands, I am ironing the clean, immaculate shirtwaists of clean, immaculate society. I, the unclean one; am actually fashioning the pedestal of their cleanliness, from which they reach down, hoping to lift me to the height that I have created for them.�
I had to take a minute to let that quote sink in when I read!
Despite this heavy subject matter, these short stories were also enjoyable reads. Yezierska ties in romance and humor so that her characters are fully realized, multidimensional women who occupy more than just one identity.
Recommended for lovers of short stories, immigrant stories, and historical fiction.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 41 reviews
Can't find what you're looking for?
Get help and learn more about the design.