SOURCE: A review of World's Fair, in World Literature Today, Vol. 61, No. 1, Winter, 1987, p. 101.

The following review provides a brief report of the contents and concerns of World's Fair.

Novels that are truly evocative of childhood are rare. It takes a special kind of talent to remember what the world looks and feels like through the sensibilities of a child. When it is done well, the remembrance resonates through the reader's own being in a way that is both pleasant and painful. World's Fair is one of the finest novels of this kind published in recent memory. It is a nostalgic and beautifully modulated look at New York City in the thirties through the eyes of a boy growing up there. Centered in the Bronx, it tells with poignancy the story of a Jewish family of four and their extended family, which includes scores of interesting grandparents, aunts...