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3.48 AVERAGE
3.48 AVERAGE
3.5 stars
This was a really interesting read. It is a two hour comedy show with darker undertones.
I thought this was really well written and the tone subtly alters as the book progresses and you only notice how big the change is when you reflect on your experience.
Although this is short, it is an intense read. You feel like you are in the comedy club with the characters and you must stay until the end and it feels a bit painful at times. The jokes are either really bad or really problematic or both. The stories told are uncomfortable and you question whether you should here it or not.
A thing I don't like about stand-up is when personal anecdotes get drawn out and the book does this naturally but it annoys me so much.
However, I really respect Grossman's work and I think this is a well written piece.
This was a really interesting read. It is a two hour comedy show with darker undertones.
I thought this was really well written and the tone subtly alters as the book progresses and you only notice how big the change is when you reflect on your experience.
Although this is short, it is an intense read. You feel like you are in the comedy club with the characters and you must stay until the end and it feels a bit painful at times. The jokes are either really bad or really problematic or both. The stories told are uncomfortable and you question whether you should here it or not.
A thing I don't like about stand-up is when personal anecdotes get drawn out and the book does this naturally but it annoys me so much.
However, I really respect Grossman's work and I think this is a well written piece.
Wow, this is not going to be an easy book to review. To start with, it's one of those rare stories of nothing much happening. Importantly though, it remains captivating. It's something that doesn't always work well... or at all really. But, when it does I am hooked. The fact that I'm reading a translation is a huge credit to both Grossman's original text and Jessica Cohen's translating skills. Stories like this are a lazy river on a hot summer's day; if you sit back and let it pull you along you'll be rewarded richly.
So now you know better than to expect pages of intense action you may be wondering what you should expect instead. Well, the blurb tells the plot fairly well. In the coastal city of Netanya, a stand up comic turns his routine into his memoir. A decision which, not unsurprisingly, doesn't exactly prove a big hit with the audience. But it's clear that he's doing this for himself more than the audience. It's some kind of therapy for him, a cathartic piece of performance art.
That final point is a fascinating aspect of this book, and for me what really makes it work. It's easy to miss the incredible performance that Dovaleh delivers because we know Grossman is in complete control of all the characters. It feels odd praising how a performer can work the audience when deep down you know that behind both is the same author who can decide exactly how the two see and react to each other, but Grossman doesn't do Dovelah any favours. He makes the audience react realistically, and when you look at the performance in itself you can see the subtle finesse of a performer really working for every response.
Dovelah bares himself on stage, both figuratively and, at least partially, literally. He appears lost in his private bubble yet he's astutely aware of the room. He plays with the audience. He crafts their reactions; he insults them and he humours them. He uses them to make his entire performance come together. He feeds off them.
Dovelah moves targets for his abuse because a crowd will always relish fresh blood - especially as a distraction from their own wounds. Dovelah flips out cheesy jokes when he knows they need some respite from it all. He is at once awkward and elegant, taking himself right to the line and then pulling back to keep the audience on his side. When he crosses the line he does so with purpose. He knows exactly when he'll go too far and with whom.
The whole story has a darkness to it. We're witnessing an outpouring of hurt, but our protagonist is intent on offering us a buffer. As much as he dishes out the pain he also knows when to pull the verbal punches. He offers respite when the pressure gets too high. Painful memories have an unusual effect on people though. They're hard to look away from. Someone else's hurt often brings out our own. We listen as much for us as for them. And Grossman captures that sentiment well. That odd addiction we all know.
It's what makes the bad jokes so good. Outside of this book, you'd groan and roll your eyes at the attempts at humour. But here? Scattered through this story? They become hilarious. Whether poor taste or just plain poor, they are exactly what you need at the point you need them.
I never really felt the weight of the book pushing down on me. Despite the depth and complexity, I was simply engrossed. I found a confident in Dovelah very early that meant I wanted to be part of his journey no matter what happened. I was a willing companion on his meandering journey. I'd ride it again and again.
Like I say, there's something about this style of story that just grabs me. There's a very small group of them that just click so well I can get lost in time and time again. I think that group has just grown by one. This is a story that I am confident will give me more each time I drift away with it.
So now you know better than to expect pages of intense action you may be wondering what you should expect instead. Well, the blurb tells the plot fairly well. In the coastal city of Netanya, a stand up comic turns his routine into his memoir. A decision which, not unsurprisingly, doesn't exactly prove a big hit with the audience. But it's clear that he's doing this for himself more than the audience. It's some kind of therapy for him, a cathartic piece of performance art.
That final point is a fascinating aspect of this book, and for me what really makes it work. It's easy to miss the incredible performance that Dovaleh delivers because we know Grossman is in complete control of all the characters. It feels odd praising how a performer can work the audience when deep down you know that behind both is the same author who can decide exactly how the two see and react to each other, but Grossman doesn't do Dovelah any favours. He makes the audience react realistically, and when you look at the performance in itself you can see the subtle finesse of a performer really working for every response.
Dovelah bares himself on stage, both figuratively and, at least partially, literally. He appears lost in his private bubble yet he's astutely aware of the room. He plays with the audience. He crafts their reactions; he insults them and he humours them. He uses them to make his entire performance come together. He feeds off them.
Dovelah moves targets for his abuse because a crowd will always relish fresh blood - especially as a distraction from their own wounds. Dovelah flips out cheesy jokes when he knows they need some respite from it all. He is at once awkward and elegant, taking himself right to the line and then pulling back to keep the audience on his side. When he crosses the line he does so with purpose. He knows exactly when he'll go too far and with whom.
The whole story has a darkness to it. We're witnessing an outpouring of hurt, but our protagonist is intent on offering us a buffer. As much as he dishes out the pain he also knows when to pull the verbal punches. He offers respite when the pressure gets too high. Painful memories have an unusual effect on people though. They're hard to look away from. Someone else's hurt often brings out our own. We listen as much for us as for them. And Grossman captures that sentiment well. That odd addiction we all know.
It's what makes the bad jokes so good. Outside of this book, you'd groan and roll your eyes at the attempts at humour. But here? Scattered through this story? They become hilarious. Whether poor taste or just plain poor, they are exactly what you need at the point you need them.
I never really felt the weight of the book pushing down on me. Despite the depth and complexity, I was simply engrossed. I found a confident in Dovelah very early that meant I wanted to be part of his journey no matter what happened. I was a willing companion on his meandering journey. I'd ride it again and again.
Like I say, there's something about this style of story that just grabs me. There's a very small group of them that just click so well I can get lost in time and time again. I think that group has just grown by one. This is a story that I am confident will give me more each time I drift away with it.
reflective
slow-paced
What is entertainment? When an artist or a creative makes art based on personal life struggles and pain, what am I doing by purchasing or viewing that art? Am I signaling that the pain is okay? As the comedian of the novel pushes his audience to uncomfortable places so too does the author push his reader to uncomfortable places.
I won't be able to stop thinking about this book for years to come. I know I'll keep wondering why I kept reading the novel as my discomfort grew and grew.
I won't be able to stop thinking about this book for years to come. I know I'll keep wondering why I kept reading the novel as my discomfort grew and grew.
I read this as part of my personal mission to read more books in translation. It was one of the few available works of translated fiction on Libby from my library (at least that I’ve found so far in my admittedly limited search).
This was an interesting change of pace for me; I’m not sure I’ve ever read anything set in Israel or translated from Hebrew. I found the premise of setting the story in a standup set over the course of one night bold. There were definitely some poignant moments and sparks of humour, but ultimately it was a challenge for me to connect with this in a meaningful way. To be honest I’m generally not very drawn to or interested in stories about older men. Still, I don’t regret adding it to the list of books I’ve read this year.
This was an interesting change of pace for me; I’m not sure I’ve ever read anything set in Israel or translated from Hebrew. I found the premise of setting the story in a standup set over the course of one night bold. There were definitely some poignant moments and sparks of humour, but ultimately it was a challenge for me to connect with this in a meaningful way. To be honest I’m generally not very drawn to or interested in stories about older men. Still, I don’t regret adding it to the list of books I’ve read this year.
3.5 stars, I think. Gathering my thoughts for the review.
An emotionally charged novel about the last performance of a stand up comedian and what lays beyond his repertoire of at times not so funny and crass jokes.
It made me think how often people put out public life performances and unless you take the time to know people better and put in the effort, you will never find out who is really there. In this fast moving world of technology and social media, I hope we will all still find the time to meet with our friends and family and try to find out whom they really are before it is too late.
It made me think how often people put out public life performances and unless you take the time to know people better and put in the effort, you will never find out who is really there. In this fast moving world of technology and social media, I hope we will all still find the time to meet with our friends and family and try to find out whom they really are before it is too late.
It is probably not really fair for me to rate this book as I gave up after just 20 pages, but I had no interest in it. Perhaps you need to love stand up comedy and know more about Israel. It is set in a stand-up comedy show in Israel that takes place over just two hours. It recounts the tale of a comic who is obviously facing some sort of personal crisis while performing his routine. The routine is not funny, (I am not sure that it is supposed to be), and the insider jokes/comments about Israel went over my head. I loved his book To The End of The Land, but this is nothing like that. Maybe I did not give it a fair chance, but there are too many other books to read.
Can't say I enjoyed it reading overmuch, or that I really understood what the author was going for. On the other hand, the writing conjured extremely vivid imagery, and at one point the narrative becomes almost unbearably propulsive to the point where it's pretty much impossible to stop reading. So I have a large measure of respect for the work, even if I didn't technically 'like' it. I like the expression I heard a comedian say once, which is "the truest humour comes from pain" - that's almost what we're getting here but not quite, because I feel like I'd have to be demented or have a truer understanding of what it means to live in the fallout of the Holocaust to find anything really funny here. It does, however, capture how laid bare someone is when they take a microphone and get up in front of an audience whose basic demand is "entertain us".
“But a mermaid has no tears, and therefore she suffers so much more.”
― Hans Christian Andersen, The Little Mermaid
Review to come. :)
― Hans Christian Andersen, The Little Mermaid
Review to come. :)