NOTE: SPOILERS IN THE LAST PARAGRAPH!
KRITZER TIME is the final installment of a great biographical novel; I refuse to see it as a third novel by Mr Bruce Kimmel, but as the third and final installment, just as Mr Dickens, Mr Dumas and others wrote their epic tales in installment form.
KRITZER TIME is resonant on many levels: Benjamin Kritzer, our eponymous hero, progresses through high school, develops more of his talents, endures more loss and gains, finds himself, and emerges as the Young Artist. The nebbish turns tables on bullies, suffers more embarassment and humiliation from his Martian family, learns to love, learns that he is not alone in the scheme of things, and comes out a winner. We've all been there, and we think we're the only ones to suffer as Benjamin does, but all of us should suffer with such excellent humor.
Once again the book is crammed with humor, compassion, popular song, lots of movies, things I thought I'd long forgotten like fizzies and wax lips, and once again the undercurrent is the loss of time, traditions, love, and change, whether we want it to happen or not. Benjamin's last performance in the book is the narration of Gordon Jenkins' MANHATTAN TOWER, but the resonance of loss in the final chapter extends far beyond Benjamin's loss to the World Trade Center on 9/11.
The final scene between Susan Pomeroy, who vanished in the first book and whose presence haunts the second, is as moving as the final scene between Pip and Estella in GREAT EXPECTATIONS. It is to Mr Kimmel's credit that the comedian in him steps down and lets his soul take over. And what a beautiful soul it is!