Customer Reviews

Scream Queens of the Dead Sea: A Novel

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First of all, some reviews I've read appear to want to make much of the book's status as "metafiction." Yes, here the metafiction works--but why? It seems that in this novel metafiction has finally reached a point where it's not even "experimental" anymore; it serves a simple artistic purpose. Because the book deals so much with mental illness, I understood metafiction simply as the acknowledgement that this is Gilad Elbom's (properly meaning here the character of the same name as the author, which of course is no accident, but anyway...) way of acknowledging that this is not an authoritative reality he is weaving but, largely, a record of his own complexes confronting a sort of "given" outside himself. The metafiction is not overbearing; for the most part it reads as a straightforward fictional narrative, and a fun one too.

The plot centers around an era of Elbom's life when he works in a mental hospital in Israel and its setting both inside and outside of this hospital. Elbom records his experiences on the inside mainly as the social interactions he has with, and observes between, six patients whose illnesses/quirks have been covered elsewhere. On the "outside" Elbom records his experiences with Carmel, a married woman waiting for her terminally ill husband to die; with a man who had his vehicle "drafted" by the Israeli army; with said army as they, in their way, "draft" Elbom's vehicle by asking (forcing) him to take soldiers between bases; with a very friendly, hospitable Arab associated with HAMAS who collects motorcycles and goes into an unexpected (even somewhat feminist?) disquisition on ancient epic poetry; etc. (Read the book!) Such episodes are interrupted or embellished by Elbom's fascinations, obsessions, complexes: heavy metal, sexual fantasies of an occasionally bizarre nature, and (maybe most of all?) linguistics.

The book is driven by dialogue; in fact, it seemed to me the dialogues were the whole "point" of the novel, at least for me. If you simply excerpted a dialogue without any reference to characters, who would be speaking? Would they be the "mentally ill" or the "sane"? Cinematically speaking, the dialogues were reminiscent of both the lighter Monty Python and the more philosophical Richard Linklater, often at the same time. And it was this tension between the serious and the zany that is not only highly entertaining, but begs the question: Who is insane and why? Is a society plagued with inter-ethnic and interreligious violence "sane" while a man incapable of believing in anything "crazy"? It is fascinating to think about, and *Scream Queens of the Dead Sea* offers a lot of food for thought, especially (I thought) in the last chapter.

All throughout the novel I was trying to find something concretely inferior about this novel, yet I was having such a good time reading it. I have to give it 5 stars out of 5; this book was my sort of thing. I'm happy I read it.

i've pretty much given up hope in the novel these days--but this one restores some faith. the german version has a much better cover, but you've gotta read it in english to get the jokes. vive!

In Gilad Elbom's witty, metafictional novel of life in Jerusalem, an iconoclastic "fictional" speaker named Gilad is writing a novel which parallels events in the life of the book's real author Gilad Elbom. The main character, a young man who studied languages and linguistics at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, has taken a job as an assistant nurse in a mental hospital, and as he speaks to us in his lively and sometimes flippant style, the reader observes his personal relationships, the lives and behavior of the inmates in the asylum where he works, the uncertainties of daily life of Jerusalem, and the overriding question of what constitutes sanity in modern-day Israel.

Gilad's girlfriend Carmel is married to a dying man whose death she anxiously awaits. His patients, a motley crew whom the reader comes to know well, include an atheist who describes himself as suffering from Faith Deficit Disorder, a Beat poet who writes paeans to a porn star goddess, a woman who believes she is dead, and the Palestinian murderer of a young Israeli woman, whom the military has assigned to the asylum for observation.

The dark humor of daily life in Israel permeates the novel, from Gilad's delay of his departure for work until he has heard that the daily deaths and bombings by terrorists have already occurred (and have missed him once again), to his running around to military camps throughout the country to obtain files and paperwork for one of his patients. His trip to the Palestinian territories to a casino (populated entirely by Jews, since gambling is anathema to Muslims), and his attempts to take his patients on an outing to a restaurant add to the color and sense of absurdity.

Moments of hilarity abound, varying in style from rapid-fire, who's-on-first interchanges, to descriptions of personal quirks, the inclusion of absurd poems by a patient, Carmel's constant, chorus-like interruptions of Gilad's day at work, and literary discussions of Robinson Crusoe, which Gilad is trying to read at work. Stream of consciousness writing and free association, some of it related to Gilad's interest in heavy metal music, are interposed into discussions of life and literature, creating a wild, existential tone. Plot is almost non-existent. Fortunately, the light touch, the humor, the self-deprecating commentary, and the pseudo-angst of the main character provide enough intrinsic excitement and charm to keep the reader going in lieu of a "real" story. Mary Whipple

Enter Gilad Elbom, purveyor of dark ramblings and metal-infused interludes, straight from the heart of Israel. In this freshman release from an up-and-coming literary powerhouse we find Elbom, also the main character of Scream Queens, reflecting on his life inside a mental hospital as an assistant nurse. Through driven dialogue and off-beat characters we plunge into a world of mental instability and quirky obsessions where we are often lost between insanity and reality. A fun, tight novel told through the eyes of a self-deprecating (albeit self-involved) Israeli national, Scream Queens of the Dead Sea is bound to be a cult hit.

Its subtitle says it all. In his highly impressive debut novel, Gilad Elbom zaps between sex, heavy-metal and linguistics (not to mention crazy people) and takes you right along with him. Sometimes photorealistic down to the institutional kosher blue and orange cups familiar to most Israelis, then just as easily hilarious and over-the-top, this is fresh and well worth the read.

I am so grateful that Gilad Elbom decided to write his first novel in English. I can't imagine reading this book in translation (but if English is not your first language, I'm sure the translations still stay true to form). Gilad's ability to effortlessly draw me into his make-believe(?) world is really what I enjoyed most about Scream Queens.

Some compare Scream Queens to a ride on a roller coaster. I'd agree, and add that it left me panting, excited to read Mr. Elbom's second book. This is a fun, accessible book for anyone who wants a glimpse into many minds crazier than their own. Plus, you get a rear-view-mirror glance at the Israeli-Palestinian conflict from one underexposed Israeli perspective.

You should read this book. It fills up your senses.

Gilad's stream of consciousness pulls you in. This book is fascinating on many levels, from the first hand account of modern day Israel as seen through the eyes of a candid and cynical young writer to the hard core sex scenes. The collection of unlikely characters will keep you guessing as to who is sane and who is not. In this must read novel you will meet an intelligent HAMAS activist, a man who spent his whole life sleeping for a living, a silent ethiopian girl and many more chararcters. All this together with the references to grammer and heavy metal will keep you wanting more.

The only complaint I have with Gilad Elbom is that he appears to have disappeared from the internet entirely. I suppose he's teaching or something. This is one of the funniest most horrifying books you are ever going to read about one of the funniest most horrifying places on the planet. Like Lenny Bruce or Sarah Silverman, Gilad Elbom knows what makes his reader uncomfortable and he's going to poke at it for all its worth until you're laughing with tears rolling.

Sure this book loses some steam towards the end and some of the characters get lost in the shuffle, but it's worth it alone for the Israeli astronaut musings. Read it. Buy it. Realize that there's more to literature than Dan Brown.

Perhaps the only ones entitled to an understanding of the politics of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict are madmen. Gilad Elbom has managed to create the best analogy for the middle east from the most unlikely building blocks: an insane asylum in Jerusalem, a very literary obsession with Z-movie porn actresses, a passion for heavy metal and linguistics and a deep sense of emotional detachment from everything else. Elbom's fictional self, just wants to relax in his new job as a male nurse, as he tries to repress the complexities of his affair with a married woman awaiting her husbands death, his conflicted attitude towards Israel's Arab population and his mother's nagging him to do something with his life. But as the narrative unravels through serpentine dialogues between him and his patients, from Immanuel Sebastian who doesn't believe in anything (not even nihilism) to Hadassah Benedict, who is quite convinced she is dead, his grip on reality gets increasingly shakey. Scream Queens of the Dead Sea is a convoluted paradox in which split personalities take over the plot and plot to takeover, all without ever really escaping the stagnation that defines their existence as it reflects the regime that created it.

This book is one of the funniest things I've ever read. I laughed my ass off, but at the end it turned out to be a pretty serious book. I loved the heavy metal references. I loved the dirty sex scenes. I loved the smart take on the Middle East. And even though I don't know jack about linguistics, I thought that stuff was interesting too. Get it. You won't regret it.