The Fixer is considered by some to be the author’s finest novel. It is the story of a Jewish handyman, or fixer, who discovers that there is no rational reason for human cruelty; he also learns that freedom requires constant vigilance. As in Malamud’s other works, the condition of the Jews serves as a metaphor for the condition of humanity.
The novel, set in czarist Russia in the early 20th century, tells the story of Yakov Bok, who leaves his ruined marriage and rundown village to seek his fortune in Kiev. Bok says of himself that he fixes what’s broken—except in the heart. His tinkering includes altruistic acts of kindness to others, but his generosity is repaid with misfortune and vilification. When he offers a ride to an old woman, his cart breaks down; when he helps an old Jewish man, observers turn against him, accusing him of the ritual murder of a Christian boy; when he rescues an ailing anti-Semitic industrialist, the man eventually brings about his arrest. Officials eager for an excuse to start a pogrom, jail the innocent Bok for two years without trial. Most of the novel takes place while Bok is imprisoned, awaiting trial for a murder he did not commit. Taunted, humiliated, he tries to understand his fate but finds no answers. By the end of the novel, Bok submits to trial, no longer apolitical; he dreams of fixing his nation while realizing that in fact the world itself is broken, perhaps beyond repair.