Solomon Gursky Was Here

More than any of Richler’s previous books, Solomon Gursky Was Here flirts with the line between truth and fiction. Richler variously cites the names of actual historical figures (Sir John Franklin, Meyer Lansky, Kurt Waldheim), fabricates characters from whole cloth (Ephraim Gursky, Solomon Gursky), and alters the biographies of recognizable people. The latter is what makes Solomon Gursky acutely provocative.