Customer Reviews

A Tale of Love and Darkness

5 star:		(27)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The child of Ashkenazi Jews who escaped to Jerusalem just before the outbreak of World War II, Amos Klausner (the author's original name) grew up in a scholarly family which encouraged his precocity. His great uncle Joseph was Chair of Jewish History at Hebrew University of Jerusalem and wrote his magnum opus about Jesus of Nazareth. His father read sixteen or seventeen languages, wrote poetry, and had an enormous library, while his mother spoke four or five languages, could read seven or eight, and told elaborate stories.

Amos grew up a solitary child, encouraged to entertain himself while his parents worked. Always a writer at heart, he believed that "it was not enough for me to be intelligent, rational, good, sensitive, creative." He often felt he was a "one-child show...a non-stop performance," always on display to the relatives, his accomplishments never seeming to be enough.

In this elaborate, non-linear autobiography, Oz and his family are seen as archetypal immigrants to Jerusalem, people who arrived when the land was still under British rule and who helped create a new homeland, arguing ferociously about the direction the country should take and the leaders who should lead it. The history of Jerusalem combines with the author's own genealogical records and his memories about his early family life to create a broad picture of the society in which he grew up and in which his writing talent took root.

Detailed, highly descriptive, and filled with introspection about his unusual life, the book shows the tensions within the society and within his family. After his mother's suicide when he was twelve, he broke with his father, joined a kibbutz, and, at fifteen changed his name. His observations about himself in relation to his peers and in relation to the outside world, even at that young age, show his inner turmoil and determination to discover a personal identity.

As the book moves back and forth in time, the author comments about his writing, the people who influenced him, and his "pickpocketing," his "stealing" of the lives of real people in order to invent stories about them. His observations about Israel, its leaders, its never-ending wars with the Arabs, and his experience as a resident of a kibbutz for more than thirty years broaden the scope and provide insight into one man's life in this developing country. Obviously a huge achievement for Oz personally, this is also a huge contribution to the understanding of the growth of a Jewish homeland and to an understanding of how Oz became the writer he is. Much more detailed and leisurely than Oz's novels, this is slow but satisfying reading for those who admire his novels. Mary Whipple

As I wrote yesterday, but deleted because I don't use my real name, this book is everything the news and customers have posted. I will only add this WARNING. Those of you, who, like myself, read about this book as the story of his mother's suicide, have been given a slanted idea about " A Tale of Love and Darkness." Yes, his mother's suicide is here, but far more than that.

As others have said better than I: It's a history of Palestine (pre-Israel), the autobiography of a writer, the way that European Jews experienced lower class/lower middle class life Palestine in the late 30's, early 40's, and all the myriad influences and people that created the great Amos Oz, who is surprisingly modest throughout. REALLY modest.

Yes, as others have said, Oz is my favorite author. BUT, no one should imagine that this will be an easy read, because it is not. It isn't written to excite;is not plot-driven but meditative and far-ranging, as well as non-linear. It differs from Oz' other work, both novels and non-fiction, in that way. It is a long march and the reader must do some hard work to keep up with chronology and mostly to keep one's interest going.

Do not buy this because of a few sensationalist views. Buy this, and yes, I too believe it is a MASTERPIECE, truly AMAZING-- if you are interested in: writing, Israel, Kibbutz life, in exile and hope, in situational despair, in character portraits, and in Oz himself.

His mother's death IS utterly wrenching but hardly the main story and his father comes to life through Oz' genius, as well as his unhappy O how unhappy mom. Also, beware that because he meanders hither and yon, when her death happens it hurts, man o does it! During the second section and esp on the last pages I was sobbing, as her life's end is overwhelmingly sad. But whoever I first read claiming this is the story of his mother, I believe was wrong. It is a HUGE travel and the reader needs energy to keep going, to keep interested until at some point, one is simply hooked.

I recommend this book highly but for experienced readers only, not looking for a quick fix, nor a page turner. For those who want a panoramtic and highly detailed tale, yes buy this and work it. I'm so glad Amos Oz dared to write a book so different from his other ones as he is a private man, a great one, and he got so much right here. Dig in and don't expect to love it all, not at the beginning. I remember almost every vignette now but it took three tries to get 'in'.

Others have written what this book is about, so I will not try to describe the content of this book. Like the way he presented his mother, Amos Oz is a born story teller and a great painter with words. There is not a place, a person or an activity but that he presents it in such detail that you can actually SEE them. But I must say that often I found the detail excessive. He seems to have total recall, which is often rewarding but can at other times be a bit of a bore. He tells you the number of steps leading up into a house; he describes the smallest objects in a room without asking himself whether they are truly necessary to establish the room's atmosphere; he is inordinately fond of lists. Here, for instance, is a sentence describing his mother working silently and efficiently in the house: "She cooked, baked, did the washing, put the shopping away, ironed, cleaned, tidied, washed the dishes, sliced vegetables, kneaded dough." His aunts, who tell him about the family's life in Poland, also seem to have had total recall: that life is richly reconstructed, but again for my taste the pudding is often over-egged. Then he describes in minute detail and several times exactly which streets he or his mother would take from one location in Jerusalem to another. That might possibly be evocative for Jerusalemites who know the city; but if they know the city, do they need such a guide? These tiresome excesses are most in evidence when he describes his earliest years, until he is about eight years old; but those chapters take up about 2/3rds of this massive book (though his tale is never entirely chronological). Then, when he is eight, the War of Independence happens (excellent description of Jerusalem under siege), to be followed by the establishment of the State of Israel, and now the narrative becomes rather more concentrated and with fewer of the mannerisms of the earlier part. There is a magnificent description how, at the age of 15, this pale, immensely precocious cerebral but romantic youth escapes from the stifling intellectual world represented by his father and his father's friends, to live among the bronzed young gods on a kibbutz. He will stay on that kibbutz for the next 31 years, but his story ends with his adolescent admiration of the goddess who will become his wife five or six years later. And that is where, chronologically, his story ends (though throughout the book there are brief references to events in his later life).

This is a totally inadequate account of the book, and does not even touch on the thread that runs throughout: his relationship with his parents and their relationship with each other. Despite the irritations I sometimes felt, I was never tempted to put the book aside: it is far too interesting and well-written well-written for that.

This memoir is a triumph on multiple levels. First, it is the story of a young man's growing up in a period of history fraught with tragedy and hope -- the time just after the Holocaust and before the State of Israel was founded and took root. Oz blends the personal and the political in a seamless manner. His account of his adolescent sexual fumblings and his eventual initiation into sexual activity by an older woman is both psychologically convincing and utterly hilarious. Second, this is the account of a new nation, Israel, struggling to be born and to forge its identity. Oz grew up as an acolyte of the political Zionist Right; it is remarkable that he moved decisively to the Left and remained there. He is a Zionist who feels deep and genuine empathy with the Arab populace. Third, many reviewers have not pointed out that this is a literary memoir. From almost the day that he learned to read, Oz devoured the classic and not-so-classic works of world literature -- whatever had been translated into Hebrew. In some ways, this book is Oz's effort to acknowledge his literary ancestors and repay his literary debts. The language is lyrical and the sense of history is pervasive. Altogether an outstanding book.

A number of long- time readers of Amos Oz have said that this is by far his greatest work and a true masterpiece.
They say his evocation of the Jerusalem world of the thirties and forties is unmatched. That his description of his problematic and tremendously interesting intellectually overcharged family is done with dignity and distance which is nonetheless heartwarming.
They say that Oz born to the right and having lived his political life largely as champion of the left provides a balanced picture of the fundamental political argument which has divided the Israeli public for years.
They say that this story of a family is also one of the most convincing evocations of the early years of Israel .
They speak of it as a gripping, moving read from start to finish.





--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This is one of the best modern works, that I have picked up in a while. Well written (Oz writes with his soul), a true tale of love, growing up & developing. Oz is a real master. Do not hesitate, pick this one up and enjoy. This book flows like water, it is a great story told by a great man!

This book is intelligent, witty, heartfelt, appealing, and troubling. The author touches on many simple things of everyday life that make his life story unique and have affected his writing. With his superb prose, he puts readers in his own situation thereby giving a sense of what it must have felt like to live the life of Amos Oz. There are precious reminiscences, my favorite being his parents and himself on the one phone line from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv simply giving a weekly hello to relatives. He relates his deep shame at having inadvertently harmed a young Arab boy, what it was like to celebrate the night of Israel's Independence, his experience of being ushered out of an auditorium after laughing at Menachem Begin's use of the word "to arm", how in awe he felt in the presence of David Ben Gurion, how he became aware of his own political leanings, and the difficulty of carving out his own place in kibbutz life. He also opened his soul in revealing the anguish of his mother's illness and the pain of her death.

I love Oz's writing. It's very passionate, but often in an understated way. This is a truly special book. Enjoy it.

Amos Oz is one of Israel's best known novelists; some label him as Israel's "number one". Any new book by Oz gets the immediate attention of everyone, gets translated to several languages and hits the no. 1 spot in the bestsellers list almost immediately. Indeed, Oz has become an icon in Israel to whom many turn to, not only to discuss literary matters but also get his opinion on politics, society and life in general. As my wife says, he has become a "sacred cow", elevated to a status where it has become extremely difficult for any critic to harm sales of his books in any significant way.

I read A Tale of Love and Darkness (in Hebrew) during my trip in New Zealand and it accompanied me throughout the journey. It is an autobiography that Oz started writing shortly after he turned 60, at the end of the previous century. It tells mainly the story of his childhood in Jerusalem, growing up during the time Israel was being formed (Oz was 9 when Israel gained independence). Although the book covers many aspects of his life, the one overriding theme surfacing over and over again is the suicide of his mother when he was 12. This event shaped Oz's life and led to the abrupt change he embarked upon two years later: the move from the book-centric, scholarly life of his father in Jerusalem to the freedom and agricultural life of Kibbutz Hulda.

Oz's writing is at times long-winded and pompous. Even daily, mundane events are recounted in excruciating detail that sometimes make the reader wonder whether they indeed made such an impact on his life to deserve such attention. Despite this, Oz manages to combine tragedy and comedy in his family's saga and his occasional self-effacing manner make the reader forgive him for his long-windedness. Throughout the book, the leading figures of Israel as a young nation pop up: Bialik, Tchernikhowsky, Agnon, Ben-Gurion and Yadin all came and went in Oz's childhood.

The book is more of a memoir than an autobiography. The storyline is not linear and Oz repeats some events several times. If we ignore the fact that Oz wrote this book and thus remove the "sacred cow" factor, the book is an enjoyable read and contributes to the understanding of how Ashkenazi Jews coped with their new life in the Middle East.

As I read this book, I alternated between laughing out loud and weeping uncontrollably - not only for Amos Oz's private tragedy, but also for the larger tragedy of our joint history. This book provides an intimate personal description of some of the most dramatic periods in the history of Israel and Jerusalem. The writing is remarkable. I wish I could have read it in the original Hebrew, but de Langes translation is great.

Oz calls himself a 'word child' from the earliest of times. His love of language and his ability to use it in such lyrical and striking terms, is what sets Oz apart from many good writers today. A Tale of Love and Darkness is a magical book, one which recount's Oz's story from the eyes of a child growing up in Palestine, when was a young child of 8 or 9 years old. Oz moves backwards and forwards telling his story, which appears to be non-fiction, (about his own life and that of Israel,)but could very well have elements of a beautiful fairy tale and fiction as he discusses what life was like growing up in Palestine and then Israel of from the late 1940s. In his early life, he dealt with the suicide of his mother, and its impact on his relationship with his father, himself and his country.

My only regret is that I could not read this amazing book in its original language of Hebrew. Being a lover of words myself, there are probably even deeper and more mystical layers of meaning in the original language of this great writer.