This is a quick and interesting read. Nearly all the stories hover around five pages in length and deal with large issues of suicide, death, and belief without ever feeling preachy or heavy. This is because of the unique voice of Etgar Keret , a voice some critical readers complain has the sophistication of a five year old. I think this simple, childlike quality gives the books its grace and allows it to search through such heavy terrain.
Most plots are an amalgamation of serious, straightforward reality and bizarre, magical elements. An ordinary man gets a guardian angel, only to find the angel is lazy and doesn't really do much, a man finds himself in the
afterlife for suicide victims and it is barely different from the world he left behind, a woman lives in a town that is a tourist trap for men on vacation from hell… you get the idea.
Worth a read even if the cover's desperate attempt to promote Keret as the “hippest writer in Israel” turns
you off.
But what do you think?