ARAFAT'S ELEPHANT

The edgy, tenuous nature of modern life in the Middle East gets a thorough but uneven examination in this debut collection, a series of hit-and-miss character studies bringing to life a startling array of protagonists. The most effective story is also the most relevant: "A Story About a Bomb" starts with a narrator who finds a marvelous short story about a terrorist bomber who is asked by two unwitting tourists to take their picture; when the narrator attends a party he encounters the story's author and stumbles into a remarkable real-life rendition of the ending. "Her Hero" captures a similar slice of Middle East life as a woman hunts for her lover, an ordinary man who disappeared after becoming a war hero. "Love and Coffee" delves further into the effects of war on romance and marriage, as an older couple have their affections rekindled after they journey to a coffee factory whose product leaflets have an intriguing amorous effect on the soldiers who receive them. Tel is at his best capturing an unusual character in the framework of a brief vignette, but in several cases he leaves his readers hanging: "Spleen, or the Goy's Tale" does little with a situation in which a rabbi encounters Arafat's chef, while the title tale, though amusing, is little more than a quaint fable. These stories will probably receive more attention than they otherwise would have because of recent events in the Middle East, and Tel has performed an estimable service, intriguingly portraying life in a land where, as he puts it, "whoever tells the best story wins." (Mar. 1)