More Than I love My Life by David Grossman

 

More Than I Love My Life by David Grossman

Israeli fiction

Original title – אתי החיים משחק הרבה

Source – Library book

This was one of two of the booker international titles this year that my local library had so when the list came out I was in town next day to collect this book which I had seen a couple of times in my twitter feed as someone had been reading it in the weeks just before the longest came out so it was on my radar as he is a writer I have read before and have reviewed three books from him the three are the the last three books before this he has published starting with to the end of the land which for me is his best book hands down. That is not to say this is a bad book no not is better than the a horse walk into a bar in my humble opinion.

Two days ago we celebrated vera turning ninety(Plus two months, she had pneumonia on the actual date and we postponed the party,)The family gathered in the Kibbutz clubhouse. “The family”, of course, means Tuvia’s family, which Vera had joined, but, over the course of four decades, she’d become its core. It’s always amusing to think that most of the grandchildren and great grandchildren who cling to her to compete for attention don’t even know that she is not their biological grandmother. Each child in our family goes through a little initiation rite when , usually around the age of ten, they learn the truth.

Vera is the heart of the family.

The book is the fictional account of a woman that he first met meet many years before he decide to write the book Eva whom Vera is based on had contact Grossman after a newspaper article almost twenty years before the story she first called him when she was 70. The novel is set in part when she turns 90. She was a settler living in a Kibbutz like the fictional version pop herself.Eve who had come from the former Yugoslavia is one of those figures that jumps of the page. When  she marries a widower Tuvia whom has lost his wife the story is focused on the family in the years after this marriage. He has a son Rafael Vera(the name Grossman has for the real person who is called Eva)has a daughter a similar age to Rafael the two connect over time this is one of the story Klines but when in adult hood Nina has a daughter she leaves Nina she is the third generation of the family we meet and the third that Grossman describes in the story. The action takes use around the world as we see them grow and also the haunted past of Vera which is hinted at as the book has another story and that is her return to Croatia.earleir we see the Croatia songs being sung in the kibbutz. We learn of how this woman suffered in the post war Yugoslavia of Tito a piece of history that hasn’t I haven’t read much in fiction there is a lot around Tito and the war but not a lot after that.

I am a fan of Grossman I have read three of his book in the time I have blogged and also have a few more on my shelves which I have brought over the years to read. As one of of Juror Paul point us in the direction of there is a documentary about Eve that maybe if you watch which I have gives you a problem that is the fictional Vera and the real eve are two different beings. I watch a Jewish book council interview with David about the book and he explained how he meet and was tempted to write the real eve story and over the years how she had hinted at the past she had each time the meet he knew a bit more she often ask if he would write the story when he did he said he would only writer her as a fictional character with her real life and his fictional version of the life mixing. Grossman is a perfectionist even in the translation which is by his usual translator Jessica Cohent that has translated all the books that I have read by him what he does is gets his main translators together and he reads the book in Hebrew to them and then they all work on the book what he said was hardest and that is the voice of vera from Hebrew where he says you can tell she is from the Balkans this is something he wanted to be felt in the translation and form it works(I am no expert but have spent a lot of time int he company of Balkan writers over the last 15 years so have an ear for the syntax and rhythm of some one from the balkans talking in English and Jessica cohen seems to have caught this very well. Grossman also for a male writer writes very strong Female characters and the three her are the same I remember in to the end of the Land that Ora was a strong character in that book. For me this wasn’t as good as To the end of the land which is his masterpiece for me but it has some interesting points to make about escaping the past politics. The post war Israeli and Yugoslavia post Yugoslavia world viewed through a single person a prism of this world that shows the many colours both light and dark of the times of this family. Have you a favourite book from Grossman or From Israel. (I am looking forward to Days of Ziklag when it comes out)

Winston’s score – +B a solid book from one of my favourite writers.

A long night in Paris by Dov Alfon

A long night in Paris by Dov Alfon

Israeli fiction

Original title –  לילה ארוך בפריז

Translator – Daniella Zamir

Source – review copy

I was sent this and usually maybe not into thrillers. As a youngster, I read more thrillers my father is a huge fan of the genre so growing up there was always a thriller around to read if I want. In recent years the only thriller writer I have read in English is Le Carre being a huge fan of the BBC versions of his smiley works in the 80s  I have read his books from time to time so when Dov Alfon work was compared to that of Le Carre it made me want to read it then when I saw Alfon himself had served in the 8200 unit on top of that had been editor of Ha’aretz the leading Paper in Israeli I knew this book would be one that was relevant and true to life.

Nine people witnessed the abduction iof Yaniv Meidan from Charles de Gaulle airport, not including the hundreds of thousands who watched the security camera footage once it had been posted online.

The intial report of the French police described him as ” an Israeli passenger, approximately twenty years old”, although a week earlier he had celebrated his twenty fifth birthday. His colleagues described him as “Mischievous”, some calling him “Childish”. They all agreed he was “Fun-loving”.

The opening chapter and the sense of how far info goes is caubght in the line about the camera footage !

A night in Paris opens when a young man a marketing man for a software company disappears with a woman in a sexy red dress after arriving at harle de Gaulle. Then another passenger from the same flight happens to disappear from his hotel room. The French police assign Commissaire Leger to sort the case. But also on the same flight, the two arrived on is the new head of 8200 unit Colonel Zeec Abadi Like Alfon that wrote the book is from Tunisia and had family in Paris he is on the way to visit his mother so he contacts his deputy in Tel-Aviv  lt Oriana Talmor to try and get info on the victims and what is happening to lead to the third side of the story a bunch of Chinese commandos sent and using the woman in red to get hold of certain people in the hold of certain facts. As the night goes on the bodies pile up and even in Tel-Aviv the deputy has trouble after falling out at a meeting and then she is subject to an attempt to be rape only saved by the fact she is very good a Krav mag. A long day will Zeev get to the kidnap victims back.

Oriana hoovered above Paris. She knew it was Paris because she could see the Eiffel tower below, and Abadi was waving to her. She landed softly beside him, like tinker bell. She wore a short, peach-coloured dress but she was not cold; it was a beautiful day with as blue a sky as only a dream might conjure. She asked Abadi weren’t supposed to be in uniform. Abadi said no. He was wearing a three piece suit but had fins on his feet; he told her they were going diving into the seine to find Rav Turai Yerminshi’s body and that she was dressed prefectly for the mission

THe two in aParis search for the second kidnap victim as they aim to search the river!

I like this it has a wonderful flow t the tale it is told in 120  short chapters each a little tale in itself as we wind our way around Paris and find out what is really happening it has some great thriller touches Zeev the main man has a touch of Bond and Smiley maybe more of the Smiley side the 8200 unit collects data and codes and is the leading technical unit of its sort in the world. That is what Alfon has caught this is maybe a new line in the thriller with China as the enemy. We also see technology and information as the new currency in the spy world. The place is something that is covered well here Paris is a great backdrop to the night of action here as we move around the city’s arrondissements. Every main character in a thriller needs his back team and in Oriana, he has a modern woman that has sharp wits and is his only ally at this moment.So all the box are tick for a great thriller add to that black suit Chinese commandos with heat seeking bullets you have great thriller it has been sold to make both a film and Tv series in Israeli. This is what Steve Jobs would have written as a thriller or Bill gates this is the modern thriller for the tech age where what we think and the information is paramount.

Soumchi by Amos Oz

Soumchi by Amos Oz

Israeli fiction

Original title – סומכי

Translator – Amos Oz and Penelope Farmer

Source – personal copy

I always fall back to short books when I’m feeling down so I had this from the library and it was only 80 pages long so one evening last week I decided to read it it is the fourth book by the Great Amos Oz I have reviewed on the blog. It is also the earliest book written by Oz I have read it first came out in 1978 and this translation came out in 1980 and this new vintage edition came out a couple of years ago.

“Sum it up, Soumchi, sum it up, Soumchi”. While Mr Shitrit sweeled like a frog, grew red in the face and roared as usual:

“Let all flesh be silent!”And then, besides:”Not a dog shall bark!”

After five more minutes the class had quitened down again. But, almost to the eight grade I remained Soumchi. I’ve no ulterior motive in telling you all this. I simply want to steess one significant detail; a not sent to me  by Esthie at the endof that same lesson which read as follows:

You’re nuts. Why do you alway have to say things that get you in trouble? Stop it!

A note from the giurl he likes to stop being the class clown at tmes.

The book is narrated by Soumchi it’s the nickname of the narrator. The book is set in 1947 as Britain is still occupying Jerusalem. What we see is the day this young boy gets his first bicycle from his dodgy Uncle Zemach. The Uncle is known to dabble in Black Market. He also used to turn up with strange and exciting gifts for his nephew. So when he turns up with the bike for his nephew the parents aren’t too sure but Soumchi is happy. He is a boy that like many his age eleven is just discovering the other sex for him, in particular, it is one girl that has caught Soumchi eye. The Girl Esthi is one he is driven to try and impress and therefore get her attention. The book is filled with those daydream notions we have as a child the bike could take him to the heart of Africa or to the Himilayia’s. But the bike also causes problems for this bullied boy. His day gets worse when his best friend a richer boy who hasn’t a bike swaps the bike with him for a train set. We also see the Jerusalem under British control through a child’s eye.

This time, Uncle Zemach marked the feast of Shavout by riding all the way from the egged bus station in the Jaffa road to the courtyard of our house on a second hand raleigh bicycle, complete with every accssory: it had a bell, also a lamp, also a carrier, also a reflector at the back; all it lacked was the crossbar joining the saddle to the handlebar. But, in my first overwhelming joy, I overlooked just how grave a shortcoming that was.

Mother said: Really, this is excessive, Zemach, The boy is still only elven. What are you proposing to give him for his Bar Mitzva

Zemach had always turned up with strange and exciting gifts.

I have always been a fan of Oz’s books he is one of those writers that is on the edge of the Nobel prize. For me he is in the Pamuk and LLosa vein of writer his books are readable and compelling but maybe not great but always good if that makes sense. You can see on his Wiki page you can see a list of all the prizes that he has won from around the world. which include a couple of those prizes that other Nobel winners have won. This is a classic coming of age tale Soumchi is a typical boy he has to deal with blossoming teen hormones, Bullying, Love, and hate. He also is a great daydreamer and Imagination. Character-wise Soumchi has some similarities with the Narrator of Stand by me who also had a great imagination and also was starting to get interested in girls. reminded of the lines he said about never have friends and times like you do when you are twelve (or elven in this case). It is a view of a day in the life of a boy trying to get told in short chapters that keep the reader right there with Soumchi through his day the day he got a bike and what happened.

Judas by Amos Oz

 

Judas by Amos Oz

Israeli fiction

Original title – שיצא לאור ב

Translator Nicholas De Lange

Source – Personnel copy

I’m back and reviewing the first of the books I have been reading for the Man booker longlist I hope over the next few week or so to get most if not all the books reviewed before the shortlist although this year we will announce ours a little later as this year we have all had more books to read than other years . First up is the second Israeli book on the longlist I had reviewed the first by David Grossman  before the longlist was announced . This is a book by one of my favourite writers and one I had purchased before longlist as I have reviewed Amos Oz twice on the blog and both were translated by Nicholas De Lange who in fact strangely messaged the blog about the book Days of Ziklag which forms a small part of this novel as one of the main characters .

A woman of around forty-five, she held herself erect and moved around the room as if well aware of her feminine power. She was wearing a plain light coloured dress that reached her ankles and a simple red sweater. Her long dark flowed softly down on one side of her neck to land on the mound of her left breast .Beneath the hair nodded a pair of large wooden earings .Her clothes hugged her body

Atalia captures the young mans eye at first sight when he comes for the job with Wald

Shumel is a young man who is trying to finish his degree but unable to do so quits and just as he is about to leave sses a job for a student on a board at the university , he applies for this job which is to take note and write down and be a partner in speaking to an old man Gershom Wald , he starts talking with the young man about his life and his own life , he sparks a light in the boy who had gone out and the is the story of Judas what was his person , a difficult story and the way history has viewed him this is done through a number of books that he has read Oz lists the books in his notes about the book. The book is set in the sixties and adding to Shumel life at the house is the third member of the household Atalia she is the former daughter in law of his son who cares for the older man  , but capture the eye of the younger man she is 45 , but looks younger and her father was also connected to the begining of the state , which is a main thread in the book as we see how the old man admired David Ben -Gurion  calling him the most exalted person of the war and even now , meanwhile Atalia whose   late father was one of the few to question the tactics of the time by David Ben-Gurion as he was a the heart of the regime at that time  , this time and the outcome of the decisions these men made is  strangely is also the time that is covered by Days of Ziklag which follows one of the army groups on the ground . as the young man gets closer to the older woman .

Gershom Wald was convinced that Nestor never existed and that there had never been any converted preist, but that all these foul texts were written by narrow indeed little Jews because they were afraid of the attractive power of christianity and trued to exploit the protection of Muslim rule by attacking the figure of Jesus while sheltering safely beneath the cloak of Muhammad

Shummel disagreed:,” but the Polemic of nestor the priest shows a certain acquaintance with the world of christianity , a knowledge of the gospels , familiarity with christian theology

Wald just loves to argue it is what keeps him going so he will always take the opposite side .

This book is all about how the man Judas is seen , but not just him anyone that does what he did and could be viewed one way or another , even who was Jesus a christian or a Jews ! , this is a really interesting field and one that the two men discuss as the older man tries to spark the interest lost in the younger man also whilst Shumel falls for the older man ex daughter in Law . As ever the translation by Nicholas De lange is very readable and he had said he would love to translate the epic days of ziklag one of the best Hebrew novels  of all time , we got the first book by its writer S yizhar. This is a thought provoking book and for me one of the best of the list I have read so far .

 

A horse walks into a bar by David Grossman

A horse walks into a bar by David Grossman

Israeli fiction

Original title – סוס אחד נכנס לְבָּר

Translator – Jessica Cohen

Source – personnel copy

I have been a fan of David Grossman for a while now and have reviewed his books twice before on the blog. Grossman has seen his books translated into more than 30 languages and has won many lit and other prizes .he has published over twenty novels and children’s books as well as plays and this is his latest book to be translated into english and like the previous two I have reviewed it is again translated by Jessica Cohen

“I want you to come to my show “he said on the phone after finally breaking pleasant recollections from our twice weekly walks from Bayit Va’gan to the bus that took me home to Talpiot. He talked about those walks with great enthusiasm; “It was a real friendship we started there; he said a couple of times and giggled with bemused happiness. We’d walk and talk for ages. Walkie talkie friendship; he continued, reminiscing in great detail, as though that brief friendship was the best thing that had ever happened to him

A chance call and Avishai get a call to see the show that particular night .

does what it says in the title in a way it is a story of a a joke and a comedian. We meet Dovaleh g an aging comedian , but in the audience are two of his dearest friends are in the audience this is a man setting his life in front of his audience the story of his life in a stand up show and how they end up here and how they are able to take Dovaleh show that is bad not just bad  it’s offence at times , our narrator one of the two friend there a retired judge wonders where the night is going and why his friend is doing this whince at the lines and what has the small woman he keeps drawing into his story and of friendship truth and having to make decisions that have a lasting effect on all those around you this is more than a man on stage in crisis this is a story that can face all making decisions at times .

“These kind of things are done quietly and quickly in our system.Three or four months and the whole hing was over” I laughed “You see, sometimes the wheels of justice do turn quickly.”

He didn’t respond. I was a little disappointed at my inability to make a comedian laugh.

“Every time I saw your name somewhere; he said “I would remember how we were, and I was interested in what you were doing,where you were. I wondered if you even remembered me. I watched you climb he ladder and I was really happy for you honestly ”

The two share banter but it is a deep cut and past he has brought him here to remember !

As ever Grossman is a writer of the most powerful of human feeling and is maybe using the stand up as a character to look back on a life maybe not his but some one of his generation there is five years between him and the comedians age. This is one of those books that need time to dissect it is full of bad jokes and bad feelings as the night turns nasty but he is scratching the surface of real life and how many people say one thing and think another ! A book about deep wounds and also maybe about what happens when pain is buried as ever Grossman is a writer of true brilliance not an easy read but a lasting read.

Have you read Grossman ?

 

Falling out of time by David Grossman

Falling out of time by David Grossman

Hebrew Fiction

Original title –נופל מחוץ לזמן 

Translator Jessica Cohen

Source – Library

 

 

Would you know my name
If I saw you in heaven?
Would it be the same
If I saw you in heaven?

I must be strong
And carry on,
‘Cause I know I don’t belong
Here in heaven.

I was struck by this song the first time I heard it the same way I was with this book Eric clapton’s Tears in Heaven is also about the loss of a son

I’ve review a book by David Grossman before his wonderful book from a few years ago To the end of the land , which I really enjoyed so when I saw he had a new book out and it had made a few end of year lists including Boyd Tonkin (usually an early sign for the IFFP prize ) .I decide it was time to read a book by him again .Since I last reviewed him , he has been involved in protests about the further settlements in Israeli where he was actually beaten by the police .He lost his own son in 2008 how like most Israelis was serving his military service and was killed in the line of action at just 20 ! .Like the earlier book this one looks at the Grief ,but in a different way .

Woman :

The earth

Gaped open.

gulped us

and disgorged

Don’t go back

There , do not go ,

not even one step

out of the light

Man :

I could not , I dared not

look into your eye,

that eye of

madness ,

into your noneness

a the start when he mentions going home .

Falling into time is one of those books that is hard to pigeonhole in many ways as it is rather like a play with characters names and what they said , but then like a poem with rhyme and rhythm to the words spoke by each of the characters , then there is a story in their as well .The book follows a man and woman as the walk to the place where their son died , as they go along they gather up more people each telling of their own losses along the way almost like a chorus building a nation of stories of sons and children lost as the town they live in comes together in some sort of collective grief as the town all starts to walk along the man and woman .

Walkers :

But they are so

alive ! they flicker

with flash of smiles

with questioning and sorrow ,

as if those longing , desperate faces

wish to try out

every last expression

one more time,

to thereby taste

the potency

of plundered feelings ,

The collective walkers in the story talking as one about the dead .

Now I said hard to place this book the nearest two books to it I can think of are under Milkwood , which is shares a spoken feel  to the words  , this book is one that probably work  best if read a loud to get the full power of Grossman’s prose .The other book I was reminded of was Mr Darwin’s garden that came out a couple of years ago from Peirene press anoother book of voices again set in a small town like this book and like this it also built as the book went along .But unlike them there is little about the place they are in or where they are this is a book about grieving for a son a daughter a bother husband wife etc .Another feeling is almost the words go back to be almost like the words we all know from prayers or bibles with a feeling of repetition to hammer the words and their meaning home to use as the reader  .Heartfelt is what I came away with from the book a real feel of a writer pouring out on the page what he must have felt be feeling since the loss of his own son .But what he has also done with the lack of place and time has turned the grieving into universal grieving so the parents could even be Arab ! .

have you a favourite read about Grief and Death ?

 

 

Exposure by Sayed Kashua

Israeli fiction

Original Title – גוף שני יחיד

Translator – Mitch Ginsburg

Source – Personnel copy brought on kindle

 

Sayed Kashua is a well-known figure in Israeli ,he publishes a regular column in an Israeli newspaper .He is also the writer behind the hit comedy show Arab Labour which has been a runaway success in Israel .Exposure is his fourth book .I’ve found a clip of the title actually full episodes are available on you tube it is a sitcom following Arabs and Israelis living together .

He looked at his watch and saw that the store would be closing in ten minutes. He already knew which book he was going to buy: he had seen it reviewed in that week’s

paper, had spotted it on the shelf, and knew that after a quick walk through the classics he would return to it. As he browsed, The Kreutzer Sonata caught his eye and he remembered that his wife had asked him once, as the resident expert on books, whether he’d ever read the novella by Tolstoy. The lawyer had been surprised by her sudden interest in books and she explained that The Kreutzer Sonata came up in class whenever her professor discussed Freud. He pulled the book off the shelf and walked over to the new-books section, where he picked up Haruki Murakami’s most recent novel. “I’d like this one gift wrapped, please,” he said, handing Meirav the used copy of The Kreutzer Sonata, adding, “my wife’s studying psychology and she’s been nagging me forever to get her this book.”

The lawyer buys the book in question .

Well the show is a good starting point for the book although the book isn’t comic ,but touches a lot of the same ground and the is identity in Israeli from both side Arab and Jewish .The book is formed of two stories that unfold side by side the first is the story of an Arab lawyer .but he is a high-flying lawyer trying to escape from his Arab background and get accepted in the mainstream Jewish life as a lawyer . The lawyer  by chance finds a copy of Kreutzer  sonata  by Tolstoy a book that his wife recommend to him  to read in this second-hand book he discovers a letter in Arabic that appears to have been written by her wife to the books previous owner of the book. the previous Yonatan is the link to the second story ,but back to the first he of course now want s to find out from his wife who this was and why she wrote the letter .The second story is about a young Arab man Amir  struggling to get work ,then finds himself working as a carer at night looking after a young Israeli who is called Yonatan ,Amir starts to look into this young man’s life his likes and dislikes .Takes things like his camera and then decides he could become Yonatan ,so is he the one in the first story ?

Well the book is as Tony put it is very easy read and it is but it tackles a lot of subjects close to the heart of Israeli and to some one like Sayed as he is an Arab Israeli that is their place in modern Israeli ? How close can they come to be a full part of Israeli life without taking Amir’s path and stealing an identity or the Lawyer (we never get told his name )  where he has really sold his soul to be where he was and of course the first story on its line of marital betrayal  , jealousy could be a spin on the Tolstoy story which Thou I’ve not read it is about a marriage ,a wife’s betrayal and the husband in that book kills his wife .(an  aside to this is I had said I will get this book by Tolstoy next time I see it and low and behold last week I brought a second-hand copy a little bit of a deja vu moment .) .I feel this is very much an IFFP book as it tackles issues but also is one that serves well as a book group book with many points to dive off from about it .This was the third book by Kashua to be translated to English another book apart from this one had been on the longlist for the IFFP .

Have you read him

 

Rhyming life and death by Amos Oz

Rhyming life and death by Amos Oz

Hebrew Literature

Hebrew  title חרוזי החיים והמוות (רומן

Translator – Nicholas De Lange

Source – library

Well I ve read a number of books over the years by Amos Oz I have one under review here ,the Iffp book from 2012 scenes from a village life  its hard to sum up Amos Oz he is probably the best know Hebrew writer of his generation he has won a number of large national and international awards ,his name is frequently mentioned as a future Nobel literature prize winner .he has written 27 plus books in his time covering both fiction and Non fiction .His book have been translated into 36 languages .

These are the most commonly asked questions . Why do you write ? Why do you write the way you do ? are you trying to influence your readers ,and if so how ? what role do your books play ? do you constantly cross out and correct or do you write straight out of your head ?

The opening lines the writer talks about what he may be asked tonight I was reminded of the Peter Kay line about talking to taxi drivers and what we say .Been busy etc .

Well Rhyming life and death is set on one evening in the mid eighties in Tel Aviv ,we meet a writer ,we are never told his name .But it is his story an evening in his life we follow him from a literary event ,and earlier before the event in a  cafe and then to wandering in  the night .The story drifts from the actual events of the evening to the imagination of the writer as he tells himself tales from the world around him  .As we see him answering mundane questions and deeper questions in between the questions he images little stories for the people in the crowd .Then to a cafe where he starts imaging and giving a name to a waitress that is serving him ,he calls her Ricky and sketches a life for her  with himself .He also  turns two gents on another table in the cafe , into a pair of henchmen working for a gangster .These flights of fantasy he has a carefree and full of that middle age  groaning for what life could have been .

While he caresses Rochele he closes his eyes tight and tries to recover lost ground by visualising the outline of Ricky’s underwear , the asymmetric line of her knickers that was visible through her short skirt and caused him so much excitement earlier in the evening ,before the literary event .

The writers thoughts can be racey at times .

I was reminded at times when I read this book  of  the world of Dennis Potters works particularly the singing detective the Lead character is very like the lead character in the singing detective is also a writer and  a daydream .It’s easy to see the writer as Oz himself he was in his mid forties when the book is set .The beauty of Oz is his ability to change styles between books and still keep the reader its easy to write similar books and live in a comfort zone as a writer but Oz never does .I think Oz answers the question Why do you write that is mention on the first page of the book by showing how his imagination works using the unnamed writer as how he maybe uses his skills to construct stories out of the every day .Also I was made to think if a writer at an event looks out and writes tales about the people in the crowd ,Have I ever been noted and written or has any of us ? A short book from Oz but a highly enjoyable one .

Scenes from Village Life by Amos Oz

Scenes from Village life by Amos Oz

Hebrew Literature

Translator Nicholas De Lange

So I move on to the other novel by a hebrew writer ,Unlike Aharon Applefeld I have read a couple of Amos Oz’s books and had one on the tbr pile so was pleased when this was on the list to read .Amos Oz is probably the best known modern hebrew writer his best known book being his 2003 work a tale of love and Darkness ,a novel from his own experiences that has been translated in 23 plus languages including Arabic  .He is a professor of literature and he has also been a journalist and a vocal speaker in political matters and a supporter of the two state solution to Israelis current problems .He has won numerous awards over the last thirty years most notable the Goethe prize  in Germany .

So scenes from village life ,when I read the blurb about this book I wished I d followed through my half heart village challenge as it turns out this book would have been perfect for that challenge as it is set in a village (fictional it seems ,but I feel Oz knows places like this )  but has the feel of any village even thou like a lot of books set in village like this is about so much more .We meet an Old man who has lived in the village since it was formed after Israeli state was formed  and is our guide to the village he has lived in and seen change .We find out about this village in a series of eight chapters ,which you could say are almost little stories, but all narrated by the old man so from his daughter Rachel  who is the local school teacher ,this is the longest story in the collection they argue and when the old man say ,there is digging but this isn’t happening and is just in the old mans head and almost become a metaphor for the old mans past he was a politician and the Rachel’s student a  young arab man hears it as well as  the old man hears the sound . Maybe this is a sign of the shift thoughts in some in Israeli society like Oz’s himself .Other stories involve visiting singing neighbours ,the after math of the Holocaust ,a lonely boy falls for the librarian an older women ,then a rather quirky final chapter /story that I ll leave you too find .

They are digging ,I tell you !It starts an hour or two after midnight ,all sorts of tapping and scraping sounds .You must be sleeping the sleep of the just if you don’t hear it .You always were a heavy sleeper .What are they digging for ,in cellar or under the foundations ? Oil ? Gold? buried treasure ?

the old man wonder who’s digging as his daughter denies it is happening .

I said midway through this book on twitter I was loving it and I did right to the end it was one of those book I could happily read as much again. Oz’ village was so real it drew you in ,but also on another level was surreal  as there is no animals and a lot of the young people had moved away, so it is a dying village .I do wonder how much of this is Oz’s comment on the current state of affairs in the country as a whole maybe like the village they need some new life or the may die off .I felt the old man could have almost been one of the character from S Yizhars books about  the forming of israeli as a nation one of the men that fought then governed the country and now seeing what went wrong .I did have a feeling I read something similar to this but not set in Israeli but there been lot of interlocking story books recently and this is among the best ones I’ve read ,Nicholas De lang the well-known Hebrew translator and Professor of hebrew and Jewish studies at Cambridge has translated Oz and also S Yizhar (who’s book I suggest you read before or along side this one as they seem to connect on some level )

Have you read Amos Oz ?

 

Blooms of darkness by Aharon Appelfeld

Blooms of darkness by Aharon Appelfeld

Hebrew Literature

Translator Jeffery M Green

I just don’t know what has taken me so long to get to one of his books I pleased The IFFP longlist gave me the nudge to try him Aharon Apppelfeld is an Israeli writer ,he was born in Romania and spent time in the concentration camp in Romania with his father which he never saw again after they arrive ,he then moved to Palestine after the world war two  was over and then to the state of Israeli when it was founded .He is well-known for using his war experiences as a diving board to explore the holocaust and not maybe his own tale  but the effect of the holocaust and afterwards how the people involved returned to normal life .He is also a great admired in the Jewish writing community ,the writer Philip Roth used him as a character in one of his novels and said of him he is a displaced writer writing displaced fiction .

So we get to the book , blooms of darkness and it is a story set in Poland in world war two just as the Nazis invade ,it’s the  story of two souls that maybe for the wrong reason find solace and love in one another .The first is  a young boy Hugo,he is thoughtful boy more worried about his parents than himself . He is Jewish and is brought by his parents to be hidden in the home of Mariana .Now we come to Mariana is a prostitute. She is a women that hates her life and the fact that she is given the chance to help this young boy is a bright light in her dark world .So Hugo arrives and find himself in a pink girly room that of Marianne ,in the times when no ones about he comes out into the room but at other times when she ha to service the german soldiers he has to stop in a dark closet as he hers the sounds outside and how badly treated Mariana is  by the soldiers as they abuse her  .He just has to sit there and she his savour take this .This maybe is what makes the second part of the book his feelings of caring

For a long time Hugo stands still ,wondering about the nature of this Roomy place.Finally he sums it up for himself :it’s not a beauty Parlour .There isn’t a broad bed in the middle of a beauty Parlour .

Meanwhile ,Marianna comes back with a tray of little sandwiches and says ,”this is for you .Sit in the armchair and eat as much as you want ”

Young Hugo arrives at the brothel to be put in the care of Mariana .

As the war moves on Hugo is a boy who quickly grows to the edge of  manhood Mariana when she leaves him in another women’s care at the brothel .He has to escapes capture,finds Mariana and comes  to rescue her from the bottle  as she has started drinking heavily .I know some of the judges have struggle with the dynamics of this relationship but I feel it is natural you spend time with someone in such circumstances it ends people care and Hugo is such a gentle chap and Mariana is the classic tart with a heart that needs a knight in shining armour and that turns out in the end to be Hugo.  A form of Stockholm syndrome (not Helsinki as some people say ).This is a new take on a holocaust story A boy hidden I m reminded a bit of the german film Europa Europe the story of a boy who spent the war pretending to be german not Jewish and had relationships along the way ,this is part love story ,part coming of age .Like Anne franks diary it shows that love can be a strong tie what ever the circumstance   .Aharon has shown why he considered one of the foremost Hebrew writers .Jeffrey M green translated it he has a number of major Hebrew writers you can see here .

Have you read Appelfeld  ?

What’s your favourite Hebrew writer ?