Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.48 AVERAGE
3.48 AVERAGE
Dark, depressing and I'm not sure that I quite believed the conceit. The translation (by Jessica Cohen) is fantastic though, and it's worth a read.
This is one of those high-wire performance books-- the main narrative is the stand up comedy performance one character, intercut with remininiscences from the protagonist, a childhood friend of the comedian. And it mostly works-- the jokes are good, the storytelling uses a couple cheats to tell the stories of the characters, but it's mostly plausible, and it's a moving story. Someone noted how the difficulty level of making this work-- using comedy, especially, which is so tied to language-- is increased since this is a translation. And it does work in the jokes, though there's a weird kind of slippage around the word "orphan" that made me wonder....
It's not perfect-- the coming and especially going of the audience is a little too convenient. And the presence of Pitz wants it both ways-- that her presence is a coincidence, but then later seems deliberate. But this is still a swing for the fences and a striking accomplishment.
It's not perfect-- the coming and especially going of the audience is a little too convenient. And the presence of Pitz wants it both ways-- that her presence is a coincidence, but then later seems deliberate. But this is still a swing for the fences and a striking accomplishment.
Not a fan. This book would have made a better short story. The story is set in a comedy show where a comedian goes from telling weak jokes to telling a traumatic story from his childhood. At the same time there is a man in the audience that serves as the narrator of this story. The book went on way too long only to lead to a disappointing conclusion. It wasn't even the narrator (the comedian's childhood friend?) that made the story overstay its welcome, but the comedian himself. He constantly interrupted himself with lame jokes and name dropping the city. I guess it was to build up the suspense. It got tired real fast. Also, there were times where it wasn't clear when the narrator ended and the comedian began. I would reread passages because it would get confusing. Overall the story just wasn't that interesting to me the way the author wrote it.
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
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.
Can't really say I liked this book but was moved at the 'punchline'. Stand up comedian walks into a bar and tells his story. A story that has kept him emotionally trapped for his entire life. A day in his life where his world came crashing down. The build up to get to this story was necessary but I got lost in the ackwardness of his delivery. This delivery for an Israeli that included an overlay of the Holocaust. And understanding that, with his parents surviving, made his personal story so much poinent and his childhood in an abstract way 'understandable'
Nope, nope, and nope. One big, long, quasi-stream-of consciousness bout of verbal diarrhea. OK, there were some good tibbits but this book exhausted me and I honestly had to force myself through it. Kudos, though, to the translator. It must have been a Herculean effort working on this book.
What a load of rubbish! What was it all about? Should have given up reading it but I thought it might reveal a purpose but it didn’t.
I was totally gripped by this and read it all in one go, like watching one stand up special.
This is definetly a different book. The story is told in a setting of stand up comedian doing his set. At the start there were more comedy but soon it turns into a narrative of his past.
His childhood "friend" is invited to watch his performance and we, the reader see it from his point of view and he has no idea why he is contacted after around 30+ years..
It's a story about grief and family life about an israeli family with a bit of a past which the comedian doesn't actually know about. And he is reliving these moments as he narrate.
At first I did not like some of the jokes because they were literally offensive to his audience and women. There are some political jokes as well but his jokes reduce with time.
It is a well written book..
His childhood "friend" is invited to watch his performance and we, the reader see it from his point of view and he has no idea why he is contacted after around 30+ years..
It's a story about grief and family life about an israeli family with a bit of a past which the comedian doesn't actually know about. And he is reliving these moments as he narrate.
At first I did not like some of the jokes because they were literally offensive to his audience and women. There are some political jokes as well but his jokes reduce with time.
It is a well written book..