From Publishers Weekly
From an Israeli humor columnist comes a somewhat bleak trio of tales dissecting failed relationships, with zealous attention to detail. In the title story, exhibits A through D are "the woman," "the man," "the dog" and their uneasy attempt at cohabitation. Since little is revealed about what brought them together (or why they persist, for that matter), the tracking of every power shift, mood swing and cruelty is an unsatisfying exercise: it's never made clear what's at stake. More engaging is "The Happiness Game," in which diffident Ph.D. student Maya becomes entangled in her elderly parents' impulsive divorce, played out in comic, often touching counterpoint to Maya's own relationship with Nathan, a man even more aloof than herself. This story contains some strong writing and fully imagined characters, like Maya's intolerably optimistic friend Noga, who explains, "For men, brains and sadness are a lethal combination," and Maya's mother, whose mixture of helplessness and pluck is finely portrayed. The story is marred slightly by some heavy-handed symbolism that diminishes the real-life, real-people appeal. Rounding out the collection is "Matti," a composite portrait of a man dying of brain cancer, told alternately by his wife, Mira, and by Alona, the teenage girl Matti once loved. The story's shifts in perspective are effective, except in the final section, in which Mira and Alona's voices dovetail ("Are you okay? I asked. Yes, I said, but maybe I'll go have another cigarette first..."). Readers with a taste for existential angst will be the likeliest audience for these stories. (June 5) Forecast: First published in Israel in 1997, Housebroken has also been translated into Dutch, French, German and Italian but may be a hard sell this side of the Atlantic.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Library Journal
This collection of three novellas is Israeli writer Hedaya's first publication to appear in English. Although all three novellas treat troubled relationships, each relies on its own distinct literary devise to illustrate the complexities, and perhaps impossibilities of a happy union. In "Housebroken," a stray dog is taken in by a couple trying to navigate their way into a stable relationship. As the relationship develops and disintegrates, the dog also thrives and sickens. In "Matti," the male protagonist, through separate story lines, is portrayed as an obsessive and self-absorbed partner in two different relationships. As he dies, both women begin to view him as who they had hoped he might be for them, rather than as he truly was. In "The Happiness Game," an elderly couple divorces and reunites as their daughter unsuccessfully attempts to create stability and happiness out of a transient affair. Hedaya's stories take intriguing twists and turns, but her take on the male-female relationship is relentlessly dark; readers will conclude that happiness is created from within oneself and is, perhaps, most safely maintained on one's own. Appropriate for libraries with significant fiction collections. Rebecca Stuhr, Grinnell Coll. Libs., IA
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
