See Under: LOVE: A Novel [Paperback]

David Grossman (Author), Betsy Rosenberg (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 12, 2002

In this powerful novel by one of Israel’s most prominent writers, Momik, the only child of Holocaust survivors, grows up in the shadow of his parents’ history. Determined to exorcise the Nazi “beast” from their shattered lives and prepare for a second holocaust he knows is coming, Momik increasingly shields himself from all feeling and attachment. But through the stories his great-uncle tells him—the same stories he told the commandant of a Nazi concentration camp—Momik, too, becomes “infected with humanity.” Grossman’s masterly fusing of vision, thought, and emotion make See Under: Love a luminously imaginative and profoundly affecting work.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This lengthy, highly ambitious, phantasmagoric treatment of the ineffable Holocaust is far less accessible than Grossman's critically acclaimed The Yellow Wind , nonfiction reportage that elucidated the West Bank imbroglio. What begins as a wrenching portrait of Momik, an emotionally scarred nine-year-old Israeli child of Holocaust survivors, and his warped fantasy world, soon metamorphoses into fiction penned by the adult Momik. Now a self-conscious, tortured writer, Momik the man believes he is the vessel for new prose by both Bruno Schulz, the legendary Polish-Jewish author murdered by the Nazis, and Momik's great-uncle, Anshel Wasserman, whose popular children's adventures are updated and distorted as Momik imagines him spinning tales for a Nazi commandant of a concentration camp. Although stylistically daring, the bulk of Grossman's novel never re-creates the pathos that introduced Momik the child. As Wasserman's story unfolds, "without any appreciable logic or trace of plot, without concern for the sacred unity of time and place," its appeal will elude many readers.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

The author of the nonfiction The Yellow Wind ( LJ 4/15/88), a work about the Israeli-Palestinian dilemma that received much acclaim last year, now turns his hand to fiction. The year is 1959, and nine-year-old protagonist and narrator Momik--the only child of survivors of the Holocaust--dutifully copies all the exhortations of his parents and neighbors into a notebook. Grappling with such ominous terms as "over there," "the nasty beast," and "children of the heart," Momik learns to hide all his feelings and shield himself from all attachments. But eventually he is touched by humanity, learning that loving kindness exists alongside the horrors of history. An incredibly original and imaginative novel by one of Israel's truly gifted young writers. The Yellow Wind was one of LJ 's "Best Books of 1988." See the article in the January issue, p.40.
- Ed. -- Molly Abramowitz, Silver Spring, Md.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 464 pages
• Publisher: Picador (January 12, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312420692
• ISBN-13: 978-0312420697
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #63,161 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

45 of 48 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not just a book, but an experience, October 8, 1999

By 

Ryan O'Hallorean (Mobile, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: See Under: LOVE: A Novel (Paperback)

Ever since I have read Avraham B. Yehoshua's "The Lover" I have been a keen reader of Israeli literature, among great Hebrew writers such as Yehoshua, Oz and Shabtai, who wisely construct a fascinating description of a fragmented country, quilted of religions, faiths, ideology and culture and scarred by war and trauma, Grossman still stands out as an amazing craftsmen of words, plot and memories. This book does not deal merely with the Holocaust, but with the inability to deal with this unbelievable atrocity by those who survived it, their children, and the world. Never have I read a such a sophisticated book, such a genius and original use of genres and plotlines, and yet readable and sweeping. It would have been described as a page turner, but it is impossible to read it without pausing to breathe deeply and ponder. However you feel about this book, one thing is for sure - You wont be the same person. In my opinion, reading this book has made me a better person.

Shocking, thrilling, amazing. A must.

50 of 55 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars See Under: Masterpiece, July 12, 2002

By 

Larry Dilg (Van Nuys, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: See Under: LOVE: A Novel (Paperback)

It was hard to read this novel. Grossman presents us with mysteries and references that require both faith and patience -- they are amply rewarded. Part of what delays the intrepid reader is the time required just to absorb, to make connections, to take deep breaths, to sob. The horror and disgust that one expects in a holocaust novel are there, but what pulls us up short are the compassion and, yes, love that emerge in the most unlikely places. It would be no help to read a synopsis of this book or to have a guide to its mysteries, because you read it in your heart and in the aqueous subconscious. Reading is always an act of love, a tryst of imagination with the writer. When it really goes well, when the miracle occurs, a child, a book is produced between them. It hovers luminously in the aether - real, profound, fleeting. See Under: Love invites us to into that relationship, helps us visualize it, and transforms our sense of what this world really is. There is plenty to study, learn, and analyze in Mr. Grossman's incredible work, but my first reading was a sacred experience. This book sat on my shelf for about eleven years. I gave a first edition of it to a young man obsessed with the holocaust who died a year later of a mysterious disease. I thought picking it up would mean acknowledging his absence - instead it reassured me of his presence. Prepare to be surprised.

26 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Truly one of the best books I have ever read!, March 3, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: See Under: LOVE: A Novel (Paperback)

I am not much on book reviews, but I feel moved to tell everyone willing to listen how marvelous and seductively compelling this novel is. Every moment in the narrative is captured perfectly by Grossman's mixture of the esthetic and literary with the painful reality of the Holocaust. Please read it! I have no idea why this novel is not more widely known and more lavishly praised.