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briandice's review against another edition
5.0
Etgar Keret became known to me in 2008 when I happened across an excellent interview with him in a 2006 edition of The Believer. I liked what he had to say in that piece, so I picked up a book of his stories ([b:The Nimrod Flipout: Stories|60424|The Nimrod Flipout Stories|Etgar Keret|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1316635601s/60424.jpg|58785]). His style of writing was a marked difference from so many of the MFA graduate story writers that I had come to enjoy and respect - that differentiation was a good thing. Some of his stories are three pages, two pages long. His ability to write a handful of paragraphs that are funny, meaningful and sometimes heartbreaking is nothing shy of miraculous. I enjoyed his first couple of story collections (translated from Hebrew) and was very happy that I had read that Believer piece before tackling that first story. You can really sense Keret working through some serious shit in those first two books of stories - like Vonnegut circling the Dresden bombing dragon in his early novels before slaying it in Slaughterhouse-Five. So I have been looking forward to Keret's next collection to chart his maturity as a writer and to see what new creations his beautiful mind unleashes. This collection was released in 2012, and with all of the other great fiction I have been devouring (thanks to you good people here), Keret fell off my radar until this week.
This collection of 35 stories shows a giant step forward in Keret's writing ability. His dark sense of humor and economical style of writing are very much on display here; there's also a deeper glare into the void that Keret wrestles. More specifically, and from that Believer interview, here's a glimpse into Keret's approach to life:
Yeah, that does sound pretty bleak, now that I re-read it, but you have to trust me that Keret takes that feeling as bedrock given - and then does exactly through his stories what he says in that last sentence. It's just that he isn't willing to sugarcoat any of it. Love or hate these stories, they bang a gong. They will not go quietly, and since Keret has you flipping pages those pages anyway, he'll try to expose that sacred cow of yours and make you ask yourself just why it is so sacred. And then laugh whilst you ponder.
Highly recommended for fans of short stories, and I also suggest reading The Believer interview first if you've not read anything by Keret (available for free in its entirety here: http://www.believermag.com/issues/200604/?read=interview_keret
This collection of 35 stories shows a giant step forward in Keret's writing ability. His dark sense of humor and economical style of writing are very much on display here; there's also a deeper glare into the void that Keret wrestles. More specifically, and from that Believer interview, here's a glimpse into Keret's approach to life:
"I think that any authentic feeling one has of life should be a feeling of defeat. It’s a losing game. You’re going to die. Civilization is going to end. Our society is in decline, and we should feel OK about it because Roman society was in decline and before it the Assyrian one was, and they disappeared off this earth and we will disappear too. If you really grasp what is going on, in some sort of way, you should feel some desperation. But that doesn’t mean that you can’t love your life or try to improve it."
Yeah, that does sound pretty bleak, now that I re-read it, but you have to trust me that Keret takes that feeling as bedrock given - and then does exactly through his stories what he says in that last sentence. It's just that he isn't willing to sugarcoat any of it. Love or hate these stories, they bang a gong. They will not go quietly, and since Keret has you flipping pages those pages anyway, he'll try to expose that sacred cow of yours and make you ask yourself just why it is so sacred. And then laugh whilst you ponder.
Highly recommended for fans of short stories, and I also suggest reading The Believer interview first if you've not read anything by Keret (available for free in its entirety here: http://www.believermag.com/issues/200604/?read=interview_keret
jdintr's review against another edition
4.0
It's interesting to read Karet's stories on a number of levels. As a reader, his unique situations and clever insights make almost every tale in this collection immensely satisfying.
As a writer, I am fascinated by the germ of his ideas: characterizing the visitors at a surprise birthday party with facial features, bringing to life a board game in the lobby of a toy manufacturer, imagining a conversation between two people in a cafe who are there to meet someone else.
This was a really fun read.
As a writer, I am fascinated by the germ of his ideas: characterizing the visitors at a surprise birthday party with facial features, bringing to life a board game in the lobby of a toy manufacturer, imagining a conversation between two people in a cafe who are there to meet someone else.
This was a really fun read.
carrieliza's review against another edition
4.0
Always enjoy Etgar Keret's quick stories. Loved the one about Winnie the Pooh, of course. The penultimate story was a bit taxing--and long for Keret, at I think 10 pages or so?--but otherwise, a good collection.
zimnotutaj's review against another edition
3.0
Now this is a weird case...
I really liked some of these stories. I also disliked some of them but, you know, that's often the case with short story collections. I've read like 3/4 of the book & I had to return it to the library today. I could borrow it again but... I don't feel like it? Some of the stories were smart, funny, fun to read, yes. But I never loved them. They are easily forgettable, too. So I'll just leave it at that.
I really liked some of these stories. I also disliked some of them but, you know, that's often the case with short story collections. I've read like 3/4 of the book & I had to return it to the library today. I could borrow it again but... I don't feel like it? Some of the stories were smart, funny, fun to read, yes. But I never loved them. They are easily forgettable, too. So I'll just leave it at that.
lgiunta's review against another edition
funny
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.0
debr's review against another edition
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
nunuseli's review against another edition
5.0
¿Que quién es Etgar Keret? Pues para mí es la gran esperanza de la literatura contemporánea. Y sí, soy capaz de soltar semejante elogio y quedarme tan tranquila. Podría decir que Edgar Keret es un escritor israelí que se caracteriza por su originalidad y por la frescura de su estilo, pero no le estaría haciendo justicia. Cuando ya pensaba que estaba todo inventado y estaba convencida que todos los autores contemporáneos que pretenden ser originales acaben siendo cansinos, me encuentro con este hombre que me demuestra que estaba equivocada. Puede hablar de los temas de siempre (relaciones entre hombres y mujeres, padres e hijos, la soledad y la sensación de ir a la deriva) pero lo hace de una forma que parece completamente nueva.
‘De repente llaman a la puerta’ es una colección de cuentos impecable. Se trata de cuentos realmente breves (hay 37 cuentos en un total de unas 200 páginas, así que haced la cuenta), pero esta brevedad no impide que estos cuentos sean intensos y profundos, todo lo contrario. Keret tiene un estilo particular, ágil y fresco, con toques fantásticos y metaficcionales, con un sentido del humor sutil y amargo y a veces también absurdo, y una capacidad para la melancolía exquisita. Sus cuentos son originalísimos, inesperados, te llevan por caminos que cuando empiezas a leer no puedes ni sospechar, porque están llenos de giros imprevisibles y deliciosos. De verdad que es algo realmente diferente, unos relatos que incorporan lo fantasioso y sobrenatural de una forma totalmente realista, que mezclan a la perfección humor y tristeza, que encuentran el equilibrio justo entre la originalidad formal y la de fondo, y que sin duda te emocionan.
‘De repente llaman a la puerta’ es una colección de cuentos impecable. Se trata de cuentos realmente breves (hay 37 cuentos en un total de unas 200 páginas, así que haced la cuenta), pero esta brevedad no impide que estos cuentos sean intensos y profundos, todo lo contrario. Keret tiene un estilo particular, ágil y fresco, con toques fantásticos y metaficcionales, con un sentido del humor sutil y amargo y a veces también absurdo, y una capacidad para la melancolía exquisita. Sus cuentos son originalísimos, inesperados, te llevan por caminos que cuando empiezas a leer no puedes ni sospechar, porque están llenos de giros imprevisibles y deliciosos. De verdad que es algo realmente diferente, unos relatos que incorporan lo fantasioso y sobrenatural de una forma totalmente realista, que mezclan a la perfección humor y tristeza, que encuentran el equilibrio justo entre la originalidad formal y la de fondo, y que sin duda te emocionan.
cheezh8er's review against another edition
funny
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.0
A mixed bag. Some of the stories were too short for the humor to really develop and land, but others did have that sense of something deeper beneath the surface that I see a lot of reviewers pointing to. Lieland and Unzipping were a couple of my standouts.
emk2097's review against another edition
adventurous
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0