I Love Gootie: My Grandmother's Story

In 1994, Max Apple published Roommates: My Grandfather's Story, about his adult years spent with his irascible grandfather Rocky, who was devotedly American in the way that only a naturalized American can be. Gootie, Rocky's sturdy counterpart, always spoke Yiddish and belonged in spirit to Serei, the Lithuanian shtetl which she left behind physically in 1923 when she moved to Grand Rapids. Her extended family life was warm and rich and occasionally problematic. Gootie and young Max--"Mottele" to Gootie, named for the son she had lost--had a relationship almost as remarkable as Max and Rocky's. He worried about holding her hernia together if her body truss should break; she insisted that his 16-year-old female study partner was pregnant and looking for a sucker to marry. When he rebelled against the strictures of Gootie's Michigan shtetl and started hanging out at the local diner, she put on her Persian lamb coat and accompanied him over his embarrassed protests, determined to observe for herself the suspicious attractions of overpriced coffee and teenage aimlessness. But when she had a stroke, Max sat at her bedside and translated from Old English to Yiddish, just to keep her company. Her final bequest to him was two bottles of champagne for his wedding and the fine art of telling a grand story. The champagne evaporated, but the spring of stories flows freely. Though she might publicly lament that he never opened a store, Gootie would almost surely be proud.

Product Description
"It must have been the Yiddish," muses Max Apple in the introduction to I Love Gootie of the conversation at the Houston Yiddish speakers' club that became the seed of this book. "In her language it seemed easy and natural to talk about her. In English, when I told questioners that my grandma did nothing, it was true--in English. In Yiddish I began to scratch at the richness of that nothing."In 1994, Max Apple published Roommates: My Grandfather's Story, about his adult years spent with his irascible grandfather Rocky, who was devotedly American in the way that only a naturalized American can be. Gootie, Rocky's sturdy counterpart, always spoke Yiddish and belonged in spirit to Serei, the Lithuanian shtetl which she left behind physically in 1923 when she moved to Grand Rapids. Her extended family life was warm and rich and occasionally problematic. Gootie and young Max--"Mottele" to Gootie, named for the son she had lost--had a relationship almost as remarkable as Max and Rocky's. He worried about holding her hernia together if her body truss should break; she insisted that his 16-year-old female study partner was pregnant and looking for a sucker to marry. When he rebelled against the strictures of Gootie's Michigan shtetl and started hanging out at the local diner, she put on her Persian lamb coat and accompanied him over his embarrassed protests, determined to observe for herself the suspicious attractions of overpriced coffee and teenage aimlessness. But when she had a stroke, Max sat at her bedside and translatedfrom Old English to Yiddish, just to keep her company. Her final bequest to him was two bottles of champagne for his wedding and the fine art of telling a grand story. The champagne evaporated, but the spring of stories flows freely. Though she might publicly lament that he never opened a store, Gootie would almost surely be proud.

I am reading this book slowly since I don't want to ever finish it. It is such a joy to read.

P.S. I find it most interesting that "I Love Gootie" is out of print. But, as is often the case, some of the best works of literature are not always popular. In closing, I would like to say, I chanced upon this find while browsing through, of all places, a [LOCAL STORE]. Yes indeed, on one of the shelves I saw around a dozen copies of same and was immediately attracted by the title (and the picture on the cover). I took out my one dollar, and smiled all the way home, since I knew this was going to be one great read. Shortly I am returning to that store in hopes that there are still some copies left. There are a few colleagues of mine that would most appreciate having this gem in their library.


Absolutely wonderful book. Gootie will capture your heart.   January 15, 1999
 2 out of 2 found this review helpful

After thoroghly enjoying Max's previous book (Roommates) I must admit I was looking forward to reading I Love Gootie. Now I feel even closer to this loving, quirky family that I have never met. In this book Gootie grows on us and makes us wonder how we would adapt to being "thrown into the next century" -- surely we would hold onto the "old ways" as well. I wish all grandchildren and grandparents had the good fortune to have such a close and caring relationship -- driving each other crazy at times, but underneath it all a deep love that is shown in different ways each and every day of their lives. I wholeheartedly recommend this book to anyone who loves a good story and appreciates the humor of everyday life. Thanks, Max, for revealing more about your family and capturing a story that would have otherwise been lost.