City of Many Days
Shulamith Hareven. Mercury House, $11.95 (200pp) ISBN 978-1-56279-050-9
A fine portrait of the interwoven lives of various residents of Jerusalem between 1918 and 1948. (Nov.)
Details
Reviewed on: 11/01/1993
Genre: Fiction
- Amazon
- Apple Books
- Barnes & Noble
- Bookshop
- Share
- Tweet
- Copy Link
More By and About this Authorchevron_right
- THE LIBERATED BRIDEAbraham B. YehoshuaA starred or boxed review indicates a book of outstanding quality. A review with a blue-tinted title indicates a book of unusual commercial interest that hasn't Continue reading »
- RUN, BOY, RUNUri OrlevOrlev (The Island on Bird Street ), an award-winning writer and Holocaust survivor who now lives in Israel, devotes this memorable novel to the extraordinary Continue reading »
- A Woman in JerusalemAbraham B. YehoshuaIsrael's master novelist (Mr. Mani ) tells a spellbinding tale about a spellbinding woman whose luminous smile, swan's neck and Tatar eyes are so Continue reading »
- To This DayS. Y. AgnonFirst published in 1952, this subtly woven, comic tale by Nobel Prize–winner Agnon is set in Germany during World War I. A young scholar writing a book on the history of clothing has strayed Continue reading »
- The Song of the WhalesUri OrlevOrlev (Run, Boy, Run ) blurs the edges of dream and reality in this story about Michael, a friendless child of self-absorbed parents, who “[doesn't] Continue reading »
- The Lady with the HatUri OrlevThe Israeli author of Lydia, Queen of Palestine and The Island on Bird Street reprises the theme of Jewish experience during WWII, opening this novel two years after the war has ended. Yulek, the Continue reading »
- Man from the Other SideUri OrlevOrlev's ``judicious invocation of historical events and his energetic emphasis on the characters' personal dramas'' bring to life two very different protagonists in these exceptional novels set Continue reading »
- The Man from the Other SideUri OrlevA true story of WW II Warsaw, this novel relates events so dramatic as to be cataclysmic. But the voice of its 14-year-old narrator, Marek, would be gripping given any plot, so candid that it Continue reading »
- Mr. ManiAbraham B. YehoshuaThe Israeli writer's previous novels ( A Late Divorce ; Five Seasons ) were critically acclaimed in this country; here he offers another richly textured, provocative work. An account of six Continue reading »
- Lydia, Queen of PalestineUri OrlevOrlev's ``judicious invocation of historical events and his energetic emphasis on the characters' personal dramas'' bring to life two very different protagonists in these exceptional novels set Continue reading »
- Thirst: The Desert TrilogyShulamith HarevenHareven, one of few women widely accepted in Israel as a member of that country's intellectual elite, is better known for her eloquent essays than for her fiction. Here, however, three novellas bring Continue reading »
- The Lady with the HatUri OrlevA Polish boy whose family perished in WWII is searched for by a long-lost aunt, who traces his circuitous route from a refugee camp to Israel. ""The issues of a Jewish homeland are presented Continue reading »
- A Perfect PeaceAmos OzIt is 1965, and Yonatan Lifshitz considers running away from the kibbutz in Israel where he was raised and has begun his own family. His departure is at the core of what PW called ""a rich and moving Continue reading »
- Tevye Drymn/Rrd StrsSholem AleichemWith his supple, intelligent translation, Halkin makes accessible the poignant short stories by the legendary Yiddish humorist Sholem Rabinovich (18591916), who wrote under the nom de plume ""Sholem Continue reading »
- ProphetShulamith HarevenAs restless nomads wandering the Judean hills after Moses led them out of Egypt, the ancient Hebrews with their invisible, monotheistic god must have seemed strange to the idol-worshipping peoples Continue reading »
- The Miracle HaterShulamith HarevenThis small jewel by a prominent Israeli writer is an inspired revision of the biblical Exodus, the Hebrews' worship of the Golden Calf and their brutal, seemingly endless, 40-year desert sojourn. The Continue reading »
- The Boy from Over ThereTamar BergmanThis potent book about children living through Israel's war for independence is set on a kibbutz in the Jordan Valley. Young Rina waits in vain for her father to return from World War II. Avramik, a Continue reading »
- Five SeasonsAbraham B. YehoshuaIf not as kinetic and intricate as A Late Divorce , the author's daring treatment of nine frenzied days in the life of a troubled Israeli family, Yehoshua's latest novel reconfirms his status as a Continue reading »
- Jewish FolktalesPinhas SadehThe graceful, elegant prose of Israeli novelist and poet Sadeh, expertly translated by American-born Halkin, is continually engaging, even when he is retelling predictable scenarios of a vengeful God Continue reading »
- The Blue MountainMeir ShalevPassionate, ribald and tender, bursting with dozens of interwoven tales, this lushly nostalgic novel (a bestseller in Israel) records the loves, hates, infidelities, feuds and enterprises that fuel Continue reading »
- Lydia, Queen of PalestineUri OrlevLydia Hoffman, the vigorous narrator of Orlev's ( The Man from the Other Side ) forceful and uncannily moving novel, describes herself as a ``terror.'' Sure enough, she bulldozes her way past a Continue reading »
- With Friends Like You: What Israelis Really Think about American JewsMatti GolanIsraeli journalist Golan asserts that American Jews have no right to criticize Israel, for it is the Israelis, and not the Americans, who face destruction every day. American Jews, he charges, are in Continue reading »
- Flying LessonsNava SemelThe Israeli author of Becoming Gershona weaves dreamlike images and innocent profundity into a coming-of-age tale of great power. In a remote part of Israel, Hadara, the 12-year-old daughter of the Continue reading »
- The Cap: The Price of a LifeRoman FristerStaggering in its honesty, Frister's memoir of his life in Poland as it was shaped by WWII has been deservedly praised in the international press. The book, ably translated from Hebrew, sparked Continue reading »
- The Vocabulary of Peace: Life, Culture, and Politics in the Middle EastShulamith HarevenHareven (City of Many Days), the first woman admitted to the Academy of the Hebrew Language, has written 15 books ranging from poetry to novels to stories. Her breadth is clearly evident in this Continue reading »
PW EDITORS’ PICKS FOR
THE BEST NEW BOOKS
PW EDITORS’ PICKS FOR THE BEST NEW BOOKS
Featured Fiction Reviews
Code Noir: Fictions
Canisia Lubrin
Windham Campbell Prize–winning poet Lubrin (Voodoo Hypothesis) makes her fiction debut with a thrilling and inventive collection centered on Black life in the Caribbean and the Continue reading »
Dengue Boy
Michel Nieva
Argentine writer Nieva sets his ingenious and outré English-language debut, expanded from an O. Henry Prize–winning short story, in a far-future world radically altered by Continue reading »
The Riveter
Jack Wang
In this exemplary historical, a Chinese Canadian man fights prejudice and falls in love during WWII. Josiah Chang, who’s unable to join the army because of his race, finds work Continue reading »
Barley Patch
Gerald Murnane
This spectacular novel from Murnane (Inland), originally published in Australia in 2009, takes the form of an internal dialogue about the images, memories, and obsessions the Continue reading »
chevron_right
