City Boy: The Adventures of Herbie Bookbinder
First edition
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| Author | Herman Wouk |
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| Cover artist | H. Lawrence Hoffman |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Publisher | Simon & Schuster |
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Publication date
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1948 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback and Paperback) |
| Pages | 317 (1969 Hardback edition) |
| ISBN | (1992 Paperback edition) |
| OCLC | 25509067 |
| 813/.54 20 | |
| LC Class | PS3545.O98 C5 1992 |
| Preceded by | Aurora Dawn |
| Followed by | The Caine Mutiny |
City Boy: The Adventures of Herbie Bookbinder is a 1948 novel by Herman Wouk first published by Simon & Schuster. The second novel written by Wouk, City Boy was largely ignored by the reading public until the success of The Caine Mutiny resurrected interest in Wouk's writing. Like The Caine Mutiny, the novel is semi-autobiographical in setting and situations, if not protagonist. In 1969 the novel was re-issued, with paperback editions in 1980 and 1992, and according to Wouk was translated into eleven languages. John P. Marquand, in a preface to the 1969 twentieth anniversary release, likened Herbie Bookbinder to a city-dwelling Huckleberry Finn or Tom Sawyer.
In many of his novels Wouk evinces through his characters a love of Dickens, particularly in use of language to set mood. In City Boy he devises humorous twists of language to set a less-than-serious tone throughout this coming-of-age story. Also like Dickens, Wouk expertly manages a large cast of characters, including more than a dozen adults (and a one-of-a-kind horse named Clever Sam) woven in-and-out of a narrative about children, with depictions that ring true both in description and actions.
Set in the spring and summer of 1928, City Boy spins the tale of an 11-year-old Jewish boy from the Bronx, New York City, New York. The novel first follows Herbert Bookbinder through the final days of school at New York Public School 50, and then through a summer spent at Camp Manitou, a summer camp in the Berkshire Mountains operated by his school's principal. Herbie's city world is one of endless daydreams and small urban pleasures: playing in empty lots, going to the movies on Saturday, arguing with friends around a forbidden campfire, feasting on "fraps" (in this context, a fancy sundae) in Mr. Borowsky's candy store, and going out to dinner at Golden's Restaurant with his dad and his dad's business partners.
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