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3.48 AVERAGE
3.48 AVERAGE
As beautifully written, and translated, as this book is, I feel missold. Honestly the 'fateful and gruesome choice he had to make between the two people who were dearest to him' turned out to just be the imaginings of a young boy who hasn't been given enough information to know what he is walking in to.
It wasnt funny, it wasnt particularly poignant and I still have no idea why the comedian wanted to get in touch with a friend he had for a few weeks 40 odd years ago that was shitty to him.
I think really this was supposed to be about the process of grieving and self blame. For me, it missed the mark entirely.
It wasnt funny, it wasnt particularly poignant and I still have no idea why the comedian wanted to get in touch with a friend he had for a few weeks 40 odd years ago that was shitty to him.
I think really this was supposed to be about the process of grieving and self blame. For me, it missed the mark entirely.
If there's one genre that is difficult to translate, it's jokes, and Jessica Cohen has created magic with her translation from the Hebrew. The translation is not only fluid and natural, it just never makes its presence felt. I also loved the German and Hebrew sentences left untranslated in the dialogues (not many), the world should not be reduced to monolingualism, nor be normative.
The form of this story is challenging, Grossman went all experimental in this. The book opens in a comedy club in Netanya, and the story follows the stand-up comedy act of Dovaleh who is going to give one heck of a strange performance.
The twists and turns of this live show are narrated by Avishai, a retired judge with whom Dovaleh was acquainted as a teen and who was invited out of the blue by Dovi, after decades of having lost touch.
What happened to Dovi since they last saw each other, and what has pushed him to open up to an audience of strangers who just came for jokes, are what the story will slowly reveal.
What I loved about Grossman is that he explicitly stated my role in this: he turned me into an audience member who could walk out of the experience at anytime, as easily as I could have walked out the door of the club. It's a thought provoking take on our reading experience in relation to the author who knows this can happen but cannot help her or his style of delivery. Dovi is desperate to be listened to, and to get out of his mind and body, a deeply wounding story. But will his audience stay?
It a challenging frame to adopt for a novel, and Grossman anticipates the exasperation of the reader all the way with little tricks that show his precise awareness of the timing & effect of his narration. I was exasperated many times but it's a short novel (200 pages), and it was rewarding to stick it to the end.
The form of this story is challenging, Grossman went all experimental in this. The book opens in a comedy club in Netanya, and the story follows the stand-up comedy act of Dovaleh who is going to give one heck of a strange performance.
The twists and turns of this live show are narrated by Avishai, a retired judge with whom Dovaleh was acquainted as a teen and who was invited out of the blue by Dovi, after decades of having lost touch.
What happened to Dovi since they last saw each other, and what has pushed him to open up to an audience of strangers who just came for jokes, are what the story will slowly reveal.
What I loved about Grossman is that he explicitly stated my role in this: he turned me into an audience member who could walk out of the experience at anytime, as easily as I could have walked out the door of the club. It's a thought provoking take on our reading experience in relation to the author who knows this can happen but cannot help her or his style of delivery. Dovi is desperate to be listened to, and to get out of his mind and body, a deeply wounding story. But will his audience stay?
It a challenging frame to adopt for a novel, and Grossman anticipates the exasperation of the reader all the way with little tricks that show his precise awareness of the timing & effect of his narration. I was exasperated many times but it's a short novel (200 pages), and it was rewarding to stick it to the end.
A super fast, at times captivating, often gruesomely affecting read. But just didn’t do it for me — the conceit was too much and I didn’t get enough of either main character to really invest
4.5 what a great finale to 2018. At the beginning I felt awkward . situations of people putting themselves out there , showing their raw material always makes me cringe whether its movies or books. I almost put it down, But Grossman is a storytelling master. he wraps the story around you, caresses you as you cringe and gentle lure you deeper into the story.
It's a beautiful book.
It's a beautiful book.
The story is filled with dark humor and is told in a very unique monologue but I felt it dragged on a little.
The stand up comedian talks about his life slowly unraveling each layer. The end of it seems tragic. You feel yourself as the little boy in the truck and imagine what is going through his head.
The end of it is vague but not sure how else it could've ended. Strange but interesting read
The stand up comedian talks about his life slowly unraveling each layer. The end of it seems tragic. You feel yourself as the little boy in the truck and imagine what is going through his head.
The end of it is vague but not sure how else it could've ended. Strange but interesting read
Not a long book, but somehow I ended up with the feeling that it work have worked better as a short story.
A clever novel that takes place during a neurotic Israeli comedian's stand-up set. He uses the occasion to interrogate his past and work out issues in his life... with some jokes sprinkled in. His audience sways between alienation and can't-look-away fascination. Throughout we are treated to a wild examination of the Israeli identity and a wilder display of one man's superego operating on steroids. The book starts slow and requires some warming up, but I was ultimately glad I stuck with it.
challenging
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes