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His greatest novel, Solomon Gursky Was Here, I read three times. (I consider Son of a Smaller Hero to be my personal favorite, but I adhere to the critics who say Gursky is his best.) Note, the book is loosely based on the bootlegging Bronfmans though Richler denied it.

Richler is rooted in the Jewish tradition of story telling reminiscent to the realism and magical realism found in Aholom Alaichem and I.B. Singer.

This book was criticized by some as being a moral tale and being too disjointed with too many characters.

He is very entertaining, and his prose brings his characters to life so vividly it's like a real movie. (I see Richler's face as I write this.)

One detail: the book includes a Chabad BT, who is half Eskimo and ends up smoking weed all day in a rented apartment in Manhattan(sound familiar?). Richler must have visited Crown Heights for his research, for - and may my Crown Heights friends correct me if I am wrong - he writes of a store called Tzivos Hashem and of eating a Marmelstein beef burger.

There is a scene in this book, and I won't give it away since I want you to read it, which will remain with you for a long time for its irony, obnoxiousness, hilarity and originality.

Ah! I should have gone to meet him, his having passed away a few years ago.