Reviews

The Bus Driver Who Wanted to Be God & Other Stories by Etgar Keret

Only show reviews with written explanations

peelspls's review

3.0

A collection of touching and somewhat absurdist tales. The narrators almost always seem to converge to be cynical young men with older brothers, to enjoy provoking the system, to be ethically and morally dubious people and speak in sentences long enough to make an actual human breathless. (see what I did there?)

They negotiate difficult ethical and moral circumstances but they almost always seem to converge to the same point. Some of the stories felt like they had many interesting concepts forced into a few pages, which felt incomplete rather than letting the themes breathe. The author definitely has characters with strong voices and personalities but they all end up sounding really similar to each other, and therefore almost predictable.

Many stories explore the concept of the Afterlife, particularly how it could hold meaning in it's various mundane manifestations. Almost all of the women who are written about are either very dutiful or very demanding or very attractive, and sometimes all of the above to the narrator-protagonist. They are rarely explored emotionally, as in the case of Leehee and Desiree in the novella.

abitters's review

Go to review page

2.0

The title story was the best and then it was a lot of head scratching after that. Very haphazard narration that has very little direction or depth. At times felt vulgar for vulgar sake. If you’re considering reading this title, read the NYTimes review first here https://www.nytimes.com/2001/10/28/books/no-moral-please.html This is a fair review and sums it up nicely.

carrieliza's review against another edition

Go to review page

5.0

I love Etgar Keret, and I think I like this collection more than The Nimrod Flipout, which I read a few years ago. This one has "Kneller's Happy Campers", which was the basis for the movie "Wristcutters", and a story that I read in Hebrew class. Keret's stories are incredibly short (with the one exception being "Kneller's Happy Campers", the longest Keret story I've ever read), and often absurd. It's a little jarring moving from one story to the next so quickly, but they're all good reads.

pineconek's review against another edition

Go to review page

4.0

I picked up this book primarily because of Kneller's Happy Campers (i.e. the basis for Wristcutters: A Love Story) and was delighted at the multitude of other satyrical, funny, and enchanting stories. Keret is a gem to read and writes with light, playful cynicism.

audshuffs's review against another edition

Go to review page

medium-paced

3.0

adelelane's review against another edition

Go to review page

4.0

A short book filled with short stories. Overall I really enjoyed it and it made me smile, especially with Kneller's Happy Campers.
With some stories I couldn't help feeling disappointed because I wanted to know what happened but Keret's style of writing makes up for that so I was content afterwards.
However there were some stories where it made me think for a while and how to have a different outlook to situations. It made me think for better reasons to improve how I already am, and Keret to do that in what, less than 6 paragraphs you can tell he has a talent which is very special.
So this mini novella of short stories was very a good read, and I'd definitely read it again without a doubt.