Be My Knife - Hardcover

Grossman, David; Almog, Vered; Gurantz, Maya

3.53

4,815 ratings by Goodreads

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0374299773 ISBN 13: 9780374299774

Publisher: Farrar Straus & Giroux, 2002

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When Yair, an awkward, neurotic seller of rare books, encounters a gorgeous stranger named Miriam at a class reunion, he begins writing her letters, which ignites a powerful love affair of words between these two people who are dissatisfied with their lives and desperate to find that special connection that has eluded them. 17,500 first printing.

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Review:

Be My Knife is the fifth novel by the highly acclaimed Israel novelist David Grossman, in which he explores the perennial dilemma of unrequited love. However, Grossman is far too original a novelist not to give his story a twist. The book opens with a letter written by Yair Einhorn, a neurotic, compulsive rare-book dealer, to Miriam, a beautiful, mysterious woman he glimpses "at the class reunion a few days ago--but you didn't see me". Her offhand gesture and brief, enigmatic smile makes him send her a passionate letter, what he calls a "restrained suicide note". To his joy and amazement, she writes back to him, and so begins an extraordinary love affair by letter, recounted for the first 200 pages by Yair's impulsive, impassioned and angst-ridden letters to Miriam. When Miriam finally finds her own voice towards the end of the book, Yair has raised the reader's expectation so high that ultimately her character is rather disappointing. Be My Knife is a novelist's novel about obsession, compulsion and desire. The writing is dense, demanding, and full of moments of great poetry and inventiveness, but at times it can become difficult and obscure. Stylistically Grossman is experimenting with plot and character in the grand modernist tradition, and Yair is reminiscent of the tormented "little men" in Joyce and Beckett. However, at times Grossman's brilliant artfulness overwhelms a potentially fascinating story. --Jerry Brotton

Review:

'A head-spinning, breathtaking journey ... a celebration of the transformative power of language' -- Independent

'Irresistible ... the emotional intensity starts at maximum volume and continues at that pitch throughout' -- Sunday Telegraph

'Nothing is out of place and everything is surprising ... profoundly affecting' -- Ali Smith, Guardian

‘Grossman’s novels scrupulously weigh themes that matter to everybody ... beautifully intelligent and compassionate’ -- Independent on Sunday

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