The Bus Driver Who Wanted To Be God And Other Stories [Paperback]

Keret Etgar (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Picador (2002)
• ISBN-10: 0330364286
• ISBN-13: 978-0330364287
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (32 customer reviews)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

38 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Short Fiction from Israel, September 7, 2002

By 

A. Ross (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Bus Driver Who Wanted to Be God & Other Stories (Hardcover)

Although wildly popular in his native Israel, this collection is the first of Keret's work to be published in the US. Two-thirds of the small book is given over to 22 equally small short stories, all ranging from 5-8 pages or so. These stories are difficult to characterize, although they generally feature alienated males (often children or teenagers), and the writing is universally deft and satirically witty with an underlying tone of irony and sorrow-occasionally drifting into unreality. Any description of them would not do them justice at all. I don't read enough American writers to think up a good comparison, although I would say Kerst shares some of Jonathan Lethem and Mark Jude Porier's territory. However, what the stories more similar to is some of the short fiction that came out of Scotland in the early to mid-'90s from people like Gordon Legge, Duncan McLean, and James Kelman, who also write very brief stories. Perhaps most of all, the book bears comparison to the absurdist fables of another Scot, Magnus Mills (All Quiet on the Orient Express, The Restraint of Beasts, Three To See The King). The novella which occupies the final third of the book, "Kneller's Happy Campers", about the afterlife of those who commit suicide, is especially redolent of Mills' odd and affecting mix of black humor and fantasy. The collection is drawn and translated from Keret's bestselling collections in Israel, and one can only hope that more makes it into English and across the shores.

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars thoughtful and original., September 19, 2003

By 

Linda C. Gerhardt "degeneratemite" (MD) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Bus Driver Who Wanted to Be God & Other Stories (Hardcover)

Etgar Keret takes the term "short story" very literally. The majority of the stories don't exceed four pages. Keret doesn't engage in excessive prose, he doesn't devote much energy to setting a scene. He punches you on the nose with a story, then runs away. In the hands of any other author, this technique could be problematic: It doesn't allow the reader to truly know or care about his characters, and the only atmosphere present is the brevity of Keret's style. But it works because he is a very skilled storyteller, more concerned with walloping the reader over the head with a message and a purpose than taking the time to pull you into another world. Each story is a fable, a fairy tale. The short length and lack of detail can prove to be misleading--these are very complicated, well-thought out stories. They don't take long to read, but it does require time and brain-power to comprehend them.

A few stories fall flat. "Uterus," for instance. Sometimes I got the impression that something was lost in translation. But "The Bus Driver Who Wanted To Be God: & Other Stories" is a very satisfying collection, meaty in ideas if not physical heft.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant, February 5, 2008

By 

M. Reyero - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Bus Driver Who Wanted To Be God & Other Stories (Paperback)

I read this book in its Spanish translation before reading the English one -- they each read a bit differently but Keret's literary brilliance comes through in either: a forceful plunge into humanity's flaws.