Books: Bricklayer

CHRIST IN CONCRETE — Pietro di Donato—Bobbs-Merrill ($2.50).

This is the precocious first novel of a precocious bricklayer. Born 28 years ago in the slums of West Hoboken, N. J., handsome Pietro di Donato was 14 when his father was killed in a construction accident, leaving a widow and eight children. Pietro, a "bricklayer in diapers," took up his father's bricklaying trowel, has supported his family ever since. In his off-hours he read everything in sight, especially Russian novels.

Christ in Concrete, autobiographical but imaginative, is a passionate, humorous, pathetic story of peasant Italians in the U. S., at work, in tenements, in...

Want the full story?

Subscribe Now

Subscribe
Subscribe

Learn more about the benefits of being a TIME subscriber

If you are already a subscriber sign up — registration is free!