Troubles
Highly commended in the Alan Marshall Award
"The publication of these stories is quite an event…" Judah Waten
"Alan Collins’s stories indicate the presence of a sharp-eyed social observer, a keen-eared listener, a writer with a lively grasp of the physical world, and a rich sense of humour. A writer with a sense of the theatrical and the absurdity of human behaviour." Faye Zwicky
The Boys from Bondi
"This book is a kind of Australian psalm to life …there’s humour, sensitivity and wisdom here." Faye Zwicky launching the book
"…evocative without descending to mawkishness … a nice blend of humour, sensitivity and realism…." Shirley Zauer Australian Jewish News
"Tolerance and compassion form the twofold themes… a remarkable impression of Sydney in the years immediately preceding World War II, from the viewpoint of a Jewish boy struggling to find his place in Australian society." Toowomba Chronicle
"…many memorable characters…a strong novel…" John Hanrahan Times on Sunday
"Collins brings to life a period when our changing society, while sheltering the dispossessed, allowed much ignorance and prejudice to flourish. We are … entertained by a rich cast of characters…" Agnes Nieuwenhuizen The Age
"What has been rare if not totally absent is the ‘reffo’ period seen through the eyes of Australian Jews and to fill this gap comes a delightful and poignant new work, ‘The Boys from Bondi’….One of the fascinations of this work is the picture it draws of the casual Australian bigotry towards Jews or indeed all ‘foreigners’…" Susan Bures Australian Jewish Times
"…Collins has not restricted his reading audience, rather the theme becomes a universal concern and for the word Jewish, the reader could insert the name of any one of a number of nationalities or cultures newly arrived in Australia…a skilful blend of dual cultures: Australian and Judaic…" GEC in Fiction Focus
"We are going to publish a hardcover edition … wonderful book. I’ve read it several times and have been impressed by the novel’s depth, great style, insight, and characterizations….Your novel is very moving…" Rosemary Brosnan, Senior Editor Lodestar Books, New York
Going Home
"…highlights the events of today in Palestine with the comment of Uri, another kibbutznik, ‘Already there have been a hundred wars for this tiny piece of land.’ And to what end?" Joan Zahnleiter Magpies
"The book is deeply relevant to the kind of Australia we want to have." Clyde Holding, Federal Member for Melbourne Ports who launched the book
"Alan Collins with his acute observations establishes scenes and characters quickly, using well-chosen details. Sydney in the 1940s comes alive." Vivienne Ulman Australian Jewish News
Joshua
"…this enchanting story…the relationship between father and son and the son’s path to self-awareness and maturity…sheds light on the core of man’s quest in the world: Who are we? Where d we come from? Where are we going? For Joshua Kaiser, seeking his own truths throughout this tale, finally finds his path in Eretz Yisrael." Caroline Held Australian Jewish News
"As with the first two books in the trilogy, ‘Joshua’ has a strong Jewish theme. It deals with a child of the Holocaust, raised in Australia from infancy who in young adulthood is called up in the Vietnam ‘Birthday Lottery’. He later faces a dilemma over the Six Day War in Israel." Victor Kleerekoper Sydney Jewish News
"He describes an Australia quite different from what we see today and, more importantly, a Jewish community comprised of battlers and underdogs, not the comfortable middle class that we are now familiar with. ‘Joshua’ takes a strong position on the heated political issues of the day conveying a passion also fast disappearing as Jews and non-Jews confront the reality of the collapse of Communism and the emergence of Israel as a strong and economically viable state." Sam Moshinsky, Chairman of Directors, Australian Jewish News
A Promised Land?
"…the easy narrative, engaging style and chronicle of migrant experience in Australia’s history from The Great Depression until the end of the Vietnam War offers a plethora of empathy, humour and enough intertwined subplots to keep most Australian readers occupied and interested. Jacob Kaiser, like all of us, is a boat person….The moral of the story spanning three generations, many ideologies and a century of bloodshed is inspirational, funny, moving and sad….As an Australian text, it resonates with simplicity and heart, and is really the story of us." Jason Jewell Victorian Association for the Teaching of English
"Few authors have imposed the Australian historical experience on their narrative as strongly as Alan Collins in his triptych, ‘A Promised Land?’" Rodney Gouttman Australian Jewish Historical Society Journal
"Its vivid recreation of the many-layered Jewish experience in Australia makes is a required reader." Margaret Dunkle Australian Bookseller & Publisher
"…moving and memorable" Publishers Weekly (US)
"…an omnibus of the Jacob Kaiser trilogy…it is pleasing to see how the three stories flow smoothly on from each other…Jacob’s childhood is recounted in ‘The Boys from Bondi’ in which I saw shades of ‘Angela’s Ashes’. … This collection remains topical, particularly in light of the continuing Middle East conflict…." Janette Offermann Fiction Focus
"’A Promised Land?’ is not just an omnibus edition of the Jacob Kaiser stories. It stands as one of the significant family sagas of Australian youth … It is highly recommended reading for those who cherish the plurality of Australian society and the diversity of Australian literature." Kerry Neary, Magpies
"…a solid portrayal of the issues which affected life in Australia, both as a nation and within the Jewish community…" Rabbi Jeffrey Cohen Australian Jewish News
"This is a fine book, a wonderful story of post-war Australia and the Six Day War in Israel. Collins tells the story with passion, wit and even humour and optimism. Highly recommended this one." Janet Croft Between the Covers, Radio 2 ARM FM
"Alan Collins is a writer who has recorded with passion, the lives of Jews who struggle to survive in two disparate and sometimes hostile worlds. He has drawn widely on his own experiences from the days of his early working life and his attempts to reconcile politics, religion and simple existing – yet never yielding to introspection. Alan Collins is a writer for whom the phrase, ‘a wry smile’ might have been coined" UQP ‘blurb’ on back cover of ‘A Promised Land?’