Can I read Pay Day on EtoBox?

Pay Day by Nathan Asch is a work of fiction available to read on EtoBox.

What is Pay Day about?

Asch could easily have called this, his second novel, Saturday Night and Sunday Morning. Jim, a clerk, picks up his pay and heads home to change for a night on the town, hoping for some adventure that will reward his daily drudgery:Something wonderful was going to happen in a little while. Maybe in the subway, maybe home, or later in the evening. Coming out of the office, through with work for the day, the time absolutely his own until the next day at nine ‘clock, he felt happy, he was excited.This Saturday happens to coincide with the execution of Sacco and Vanzetti, but Jim has no interest in larger events. He wants to get drunk, hold a woman close, have a few laughs. Throughout the night, though, the execution intrudes into his consciousness, regularly triggering the thought: is there something I could be doing? In the end, he surrenders to the assumption that he is too small to make a difference: “It was too damned bad these two were killed if they were innocent, but some people said they did it, and it didn’t make much difference anyway. Tomorrow he’d have to go to the office just the same....” Pay Day is a fascinating snapshot of life in New York City in late Prohibition as w

Who reads Pay Day?

Author

Nathan Asch

Published

1930

Language

EN

Category

work of fiction

Subjects

Fiction, Classics

Rating

4.15 / 5 (228 ratings)

Updated

2026-03-14