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The Assistant, novel by Bernard Malamud, published in 1957. Set in Brooklyn, the novel portrays the complex relationship that develops between Morris Bober, a worn-out Jewish grocer, and Frank Alpine, a young Italian American who first robs Morris and then comes to his aid after wounding him. In the course of the novel, Frank becomes Morris’s assistant, falls in love with his high-minded daughter, Helen, and challenges the old man’s expectations of life. Morris pursues...