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Yakov borrows the broken horse and wagon from his father-in-law and with it he rides away from the present, his past of little and less, towards hope and opportunity in the bigger city of Kiev. Though he is a Jew, in his heart Yakov Bok believes there is more in this life for him, even in this land, even in this time. Soon, opportunity does come, in the form of gratitude, after Yakov helps a man fallen in the snow one night. Though the man is a man of means, he also wears the Black Hundreds symbol on his lapel, men who actively denounce the Jews and their citizenship in Russia. With reluctance, Yakov accepts the gift presented. Since he does not look Jewish, he does not offer it up. To do so would certainly be worse. Opportunity then. The chance of a future.

But for some, favor is not their part in life. Their fate is something very different, or so Bok comes to believe.

Through Yakov's experience in The Fixer, Malamund dives deeply into antisemitism found to exist in early twentieth century Russia. It is the time of Tsar Nicholas II, Russia’s last emperor. He is one who seems to speak from both sides of the mouth. Inaction speaks louder than the care for man and country that is his facade. Although Malamund was born in the States, his parents were Jewish Russian emigrants, so I wonder how much of their living experience influenced the writing of this story. What Yakov endures here in prison is extreme and therefore it imparts volumes. At times he is a completely broken individual, alone in his suffering on the edge of suicide, and at times he stands defiantly, exuding hope for the reader through his thoughts and dreams. It is in those sudden dream-like states of mind I found that Malamund's prose became more than exceptional. It was simply transportive.