Closing the Sea [Hardcover]

Yehudit Katzir (Author), Barbara Harshav (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1992

A collection of short stories by the author of The Closing Sea features the story of two cousins discovering sex and love as they plan the murder of their uncle, a young waitress swept off her feet by an aging film director, and others.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The four stories in this debut collection by a young Israeli writer conjure a surreal Israel suffering from a moral malaise, a land where the chasms between young and old, Jews and Arabs, parents and siblings grow wider every day. In "Schlaffstunde," a nasty little family drama interlaced with Holocaust memories, two young cousins secretly make love; when an uncle discovers them, they plot to kill him. Mother-daughter rivalry fuels "Disneyel," a garishly funny tale, set in a hospital, about two women who are both in love with a tacky entrepreneur who plans to build an amusement park in the Negev. "Fellini's Shoes," a modern fairy tale spiked with macabre phantasmagoria, tells of an ordinary waitress courted by a film director who begs her to play a leading role; soon enough, her life comes to resemble a Fellini movie. "Closing the Sea" limns a timid schoolteacher on her day off, adrift in cold, hard Tel Aviv. In each of these stories, Katzir turns the trivia of daily existence into wickedly mordant social commentary. 'slice of life' used in review of debut collrection in first drop, I think.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

In this collection from Israel Katzir establishes herself as a new and disturbing voice. Four long stories probe the psyche--their naked reality vying with phantasmagoria. In "Schlafstunde," written in a first-person stream of consciousness, two cousins discover their sexuality. In "Fellini's Shoes," Millie, a dissatisfied young waitress yearning for a release from her boring life, meets aging director Joshua Spielman and enters a Fellini-like romp. In "Disneyel," a mother and daughter are pictured in a bleak modern hospital waiting room, reality juxtaposed with memories of a businessman whom they both love and who has extravagant plans for building an amusement park. In "Closing the Sea," Ilana, an unfulfilled schoolteacher, sneaks a day off and takes the bus from Haifa to Tel Aviv to visit her old friend Tami who, Ilana thinks, lives a glamorous actress's life. Ilana's day is spent in re-creating childhood imagery and desperately trying to have a good time in the big city. These are well-written stories with a fresh, powerful style. Recommended for most libraries.
- Molly Abramowitz, Silver Spring, Md.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 147 pages
• Publisher: Harcourt; 1 edition (April 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0151182000
• ISBN-13: 978-0151182008
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.7 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #618,650 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A gentle but powerful voice, June 7, 2007

By 

Eric Maroney (Trumansburg, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Closing the Sea (Paperback)

Kazir's collection of short fiction, Closing the Sea, offers a decent range of expression, and a slice of Israeli literary fiction not widely known to American readers. She uses a technique to great advantage in one story, Schlaffstunde, where the narrator tells a story to a former child lover, now from an adult perspective. The story of sexual awakening is charming and moving, and the technique works well here. In another story, Disneyel, she uses the technique to less effect. There seems to be less engagement with the subject matter. The relating-of-the-story effect is more distanced than in Schlaffstunde, and therefore less satisfying in its results. The most powerful pieces, Fellini's Shoes, and Closing the Sea, are more straightforward tales, and told to great effect. Both have a dreamlike quality, a sense that the prosaic action of the stories are but a front for deeper, less tame emotions below the surface of reality.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brought me back to short stories, January 6, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Closing the Sea (Hardcover)

I found Katzir's voice to be refreshing and her stories to be engrossing. It has been a long time since I have read a short story which created such a sense of place and person in a matter of 20 or so pages. Katzir's voice crosses national boundries and I can't wait to get some more! I've been waiting for a friend to return to Israel so she can see if there are more of her books available which are translated into English.