Pile by the Bed reviews Maror by Lavie Tidhar an underbelly look at the history of Israel bewteen the mid 1970s and the early 2000s in the vein of James Elroy. Recommended
Pile by the Bed reviews The Escapement by Lavie Tidhar a new wierd fantasy with Western styling.
Pile by the Bed reviews By Force Alone by Lavie Tidhar, a profane, violent enjoyable take on the Arthurian legend.
Pile by the Bed reviews The Slaughterman’s Daughter, a wild ride across 19th century Poland by Israeli writer Yaniv Iczkovits
Pile by the Bed reviews House on Endless Waters by Israeli author Emuna Elon. The book explores the fate of the Jews of Holland in World War II and in particular the hiding of children to save them from transportation.
Pile by the Bed reviews The Violent Century by Lavie Tidhar an alternate twentieth century history with X-men style powers that asks what it means to be a hero.
Pile by the Bed reviews Unholy Land by Lavie Tidhar
Evacuation is the second novel by French/Israeli author Raphaël Jerusalmy. Actually more of a novella, it takes as its background a war in the Middle East and a threat to Tel Aviv that leads to a decision to evacuate the city. The story is narrated after the emergency has ended. Naor, a young filmmaking student is driving his mother from his father’s kibbutz in the north of the country back to Tel Aviv. The story itself focuses on how Naor, his girlfriend Yaël and his grandfather end up staying in the city after its evacuation. When the busses come, Yaël and Naor’s grandfather simply refuse to leave, the bus departs with all of their belongings and the three set up in an apartment owned by Naor’s friend who is in the army. The narrative then is their exploration and lives in the empty city. Naor, being a filmmaker, starts to make a film of their experience. There is plenty of post-apocalyptic styling to this tale. The need to live without power or running water, looting local stores for food and clothing, the hint of other “survivors” just out of view, and a constant threat of missile attack. But this is more of a love letter to the city of Tel Aviv as the characters visit famous sights and art galleries. As Naor observes: It’s true…
Israeli author Yoav Blum’s debut novel (published in 2011) and first novel to be translated into English is a metaphysical love story. It takes as its premise the forces behind the every day. But it imbeds these forces with a deep humanity. Guy is a coincidence maker. His job is to arrange the world so that certain events take place. He is given missions to produce certain outcomes. He has the ability then to map out exactly how small and large events are going to happen and then nudge the variables to produce results. Missions come as an envelope under his door and he plans all of the interconnecting strands of his mission as a map on the wall of his apartment. Guy’s expertise is in bringing two people together, creating relationships out of a web of seeming coincidence and happenstance. But he is part of a much bigger and deeper organisation and it is possible that these missions are just small parts of a much bigger plan. Guy works with two other new coincidence makers – Emily and Eric. Emily is in love with Guy but cannot make him see her. Guy is still mourning the loss of his…
