Mysteries bedevil the inhabitants of an Israeli village in this slim story collection, the 14th work of fiction from the renowned Israeli (Rhyming Life and Death, 2009, etc.).
The village of Tel Ilan was founded by farmers at the start of the 20th century. A century later, the village is gentrifying as wealthy outsiders discover its charms. That’s a problem, but the locals are wrestling with less obvious disturbances. In the longest story ("Digging"), an 86-year-old man, a former Knesset member and unpleasant misanthrope, is being cared for by his middle-aged daughter; their handyman, an Arab university student, also lives on the property. The old man complains of mysterious digging sounds under the house at night. Imaginings. But then the Arab hears them, and finally so does the daughter. Whether a metaphor for an unhappy house or something else, the puzzle fails to intrigue. Yossi Sasson, the realtor in “Lost,” is troubled by the feeling he must do something, but exactly what he doesn’t know. If his unease is existential, how to explain his sighting of an Alpine hiker in the middle of town? The popular mayor, Benny Avni, is looking for his wife after receiving a cryptic message from her ("Waiting"). Like Yossi, he must make a decision; if only he knew about what. A third character troubled by an undefined mission is the unnamed narrator of "Singing.” He’s a guest at a communal singing event, a successful evocation of village life by Oz. The hosts are a couple whose only child committed suicide. That memory triggers the narrator’s own “despair”; but despair over what? He’s a mystery man. There are yet more unresolved mysteries in "Heirs" and "Relations." In the former, a man living with his ancient mother is visited by a predatory lawyer claiming kinship. But why does the bedridden old woman fondle this obnoxious intruder? In "Relations," a doctor is disturbed by the non-appearance of her beloved, absent-minded nephew.
Pub Date: Oct. 20, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-547-48336-8
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Review Posted Online: Aug. 17, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2011
These letters from some important executive Down Below, to one of the junior devils here on earth, whose job is to corrupt mortals, are witty and written in a breezy style seldom found in religious literature. The author quotes Luther, who said: "The best way to drive out the devil, if he will not yield to texts of Scripture, is to jeer and flout him, for he cannot bear scorn." This the author does most successfully, for by presenting some of our modern and not-so-modern beliefs as emanating from the devil's headquarters, he succeeds in making his reader feel like an ass for ever having believed in such ideas. This kind of presentation gives the author a tremendous advantage over the reader, however, for the more timid reader may feel a sense of guilt after putting down this book. It is a clever book, and for the clever reader, rather than the too-earnest soul.
Pub Date: Jan. 1, 1942
ISBN: 0060652934
Page Count: 53
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 17, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1943
A modern day fable, with modern implications in a deceiving simplicity, by the author of Dickens. Dali and Others (Reynal & Hitchcock, p. 138), whose critical brilliance is well adapted to this type of satire. This tells of the revolt on a farm, against humans, when the pigs take over the intellectual superiority, training the horses, cows, sheep, etc., into acknowledging their greatness. The first hints come with the reading out of a pig who instigated the building of a windmill, so that the electric power would be theirs, the idea taken over by Napoleon who becomes topman with no maybes about it. Napoleon trains the young puppies to be his guards, dickers with humans, gradually instigates a reign of terror, and breaks the final commandment against any animal walking on two legs. The old faithful followers find themselves no better off for food and work than they were when man ruled them, learn their final disgrace when they see Napoleon and Squealer carousing with their enemies... A basic statement of the evils of dictatorship in that it not only corrupts the leaders, but deadens the intelligence and awareness of those led so that tyranny is inevitable. Mr. Orwell's animals exist in their own right, with a narrative as individual as it is apt in political parody.
Pub Date: Aug. 26, 1946
ISBN: 0452277507
Page Count: 114
Publisher: Harcourt, Brace
Review Posted Online: Nov. 2, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 1946
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