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3.48 AVERAGE
3.48 AVERAGE
"I'm stuck there for a few hours with an insane driver who's taking me to a funeral and is about to tell me jokes."
You might have trouble in the middle of the book but if you manage to finish it, you'll know it was worth it. It is unlike anything I've ever read. I don't understand how it made me feel. It was exceptional.
An award winning book and this time I can totally see why it won. The book is based in a small dive of a theatre as we watch a comedian falling apart on stage, the "sadness of a clown" is captured spot on. Dov is our comedian and what starts out as a standard show soon goes belly up as the hecklers kick off, Dov doesn't seem healthy either. As the show goes on Dov loses his grip more and more as his jokes become darker and the flashbacks to a scene in his early life become more prominent. This is where the book wins its award it stays inside the dive but somehow transports you elsewhere to experience Dov's tragic upbringing, with Dov telling the odd joke to keep you tethered in the dive.
The writing is top notch and Dov's meltdown is mesmerising, you really feel for the guy as people heckle or leave and as the story comes to the end you find yourself on the edge of your set with the few remaining audience members who are left. And as for the jokes Dov tells? They are not Christmas cracker friendly that's for sure. :-)
Blog review: https://felcherman.wordpress.com/2019/12/19/a-horse-walks-into-a-bar-by-david-grossman/
The writing is top notch and Dov's meltdown is mesmerising, you really feel for the guy as people heckle or leave and as the story comes to the end you find yourself on the edge of your set with the few remaining audience members who are left. And as for the jokes Dov tells? They are not Christmas cracker friendly that's for sure. :-)
Blog review: https://felcherman.wordpress.com/2019/12/19/a-horse-walks-into-a-bar-by-david-grossman/
I picked this book up when I was in Israel. It is translated from Hebrew. I wonder if some of it is lost in translation? It's a challenging read and a bit tragic, but you can't stop reading it to learn what happened to this poor stand up comic.
I can see why this novel won the Man Booker International. It has got an original plot with a deep subtext.
The main premise is that an aging stand up comedian decides to put on a show in his hometown and he pulls out all the stops. He invites a childhood friend, who is narrating the book and the comedian decides to tell his life story in the funniest way possible. The thing is that Dovaleh G. (the comedian) is a victim of Israeli politics and the story is quite serious. However by the end of his spiel the narrator goes through a period of self realisation and becomes of conscious of Dovaleh and how they are both victims of history.
There's a lot of good things to say about this book - the translation is excellent. Usually when I read a translated novel the translation glares at me. It doesn't here. In fact it's difficult to pull off puns and jokes in a different language and the translator, Jessica Cohen, does a first class job. I also liked the way Grossman mixes humour with more serious topics. I'll also admit that some of the jokes veer from offensive to funny but I thought they were dropped at the right moments. I did have some issues with the book though.
First of all, I did find it difficult to connect emotionally with the novel itself. I appreciated it but I did not feel that it was an immersive experience, and technically, it was possible to do so, especially when the narrator starts to 'understand' Dovaleh's torn psyche.
Secondly there are some dull bits, at least I found some dull bits. I never resort to speed reading but there were times where I mentally said 'get on with it!' but that's just me.
I am slightly disappointed with this novel as I felt it was a slightly unsatisfactory reading experience but I will definitely reread it in a couple of year's time.
The main premise is that an aging stand up comedian decides to put on a show in his hometown and he pulls out all the stops. He invites a childhood friend, who is narrating the book and the comedian decides to tell his life story in the funniest way possible. The thing is that Dovaleh G. (the comedian) is a victim of Israeli politics and the story is quite serious. However by the end of his spiel the narrator goes through a period of self realisation and becomes of conscious of Dovaleh and how they are both victims of history.
There's a lot of good things to say about this book - the translation is excellent. Usually when I read a translated novel the translation glares at me. It doesn't here. In fact it's difficult to pull off puns and jokes in a different language and the translator, Jessica Cohen, does a first class job. I also liked the way Grossman mixes humour with more serious topics. I'll also admit that some of the jokes veer from offensive to funny but I thought they were dropped at the right moments. I did have some issues with the book though.
First of all, I did find it difficult to connect emotionally with the novel itself. I appreciated it but I did not feel that it was an immersive experience, and technically, it was possible to do so, especially when the narrator starts to 'understand' Dovaleh's torn psyche.
Secondly there are some dull bits, at least I found some dull bits. I never resort to speed reading but there were times where I mentally said 'get on with it!' but that's just me.
I am slightly disappointed with this novel as I felt it was a slightly unsatisfactory reading experience but I will definitely reread it in a couple of year's time.
A Horse Walks Into A Bar is narrated by a retired district court judge, who out of the blue receives a invite from a stand-up comedian, Dovaleh G. The judge and Dovaleh had been childhood friends, but have not spoken to each other for more than 40 years.
The narrator talks us through Dovaleh's routine, and the audience's reactions, both as a group and individually, and fills in some of the gaps of the history that Dovaleh recounts during his routine. What starts as a normal stand-up routine soon becomes something much more personal, as Dovaleh reveals key events in his life that shaped the man he became. To some extent, what the audience (and us the reader) are seeing is a man on the brink of a breakdown.
In a way, it's a car-crash of a book - you know it probably won't end well but you can't tear yourself away. But I mean that in the best possible way. Grossman's (and Cohen's) skill here is to introduce to us a rather vulgar, obnoxious comedian, and then slowly draw us into his story, and make us really care about him, really want to know what happens to him. It's a book that can be read in one sitting - but you may need a bit of a break from the rollercoaster of emotions.
Touching on racism and anti-Semitism, bullying, anxiety and mental health, this is a hard- hitting book, but an immensely rewarding read.
This is about a man over sharing his story in a comedy bar. It is set in Israel, and explores same of the societal issues by exposing it through offensive jokes. I don’t think I know enough about Israel to judge how clever or not this was.
It's good ,it's personal and persuasive but...it feels like authors is forcing reader to have an uneasiness and sometimes it makes reader to feel guilt as if we are somehow responsible for Dovelah's problems in life .
Dark, bitter, funny, sad, hard-to-read and a quick read. Remarkable. Recommended.