The Seven Good Years - Softcover

Etgar Keret

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1783780479 ISBN 13: 9781783780471

Publisher: Granta Books, 2016

Synopsis

Over the last seven years Etgar Keret has had plenty of reasons to worry. His son, Lev, was born in the middle of a terrorist attack in Tel Aviv. His father became ill. And he has been constantly tormented by nightmarish visions of the Iranian president Ahmadinejad, anti-Semitic remarks both real and imagined, and, perhaps most worrisome of all, a dogged telemarketer who seems likely to chase him to the grave. Emerging from these darkly absurd circumstances is a series of funny, tender ruminations on everything from his three-year-old son's impending military service to the terrorist mindset behind Angry Birds. Moving deftly between the personal and the political, the playful and the profound, The Seven Good Years takes a life-affirming look at the human need to find good in the least likely places, and the stories we tell ourselves to make sense of our capricious world.

About this title

Review:

'Comic, surreal and disorientating... Close in spirit to Woody Allen, these 36 pin-sharp snapshots of life on the permanent knife-edge of what Israelis call hamatzav - 'the situation' - temper nervous comedy with aching tenderness.' -- Boyd Tonkin, Independent

'Keret is a master: bracing, compassionate, so absolutely himself' -- Observer

'Hilarious, hopeful, rueful, and wise, the essays together forms a moving exploration of identity: what it means to be a father, a son, a brother, a husband, a writer, a Jew, an Israeli. A warm-hearted delight in life's absurdities threaded through with acute sensitivity to its sorrows' -- Financial Times

'Keret is one of the outstanding writers of his generation...These short pieces about Keret's daily life in Tel Aviv capture the strangeness of living in a country constantly threatened by violence but they also allow the normality of ordinary life to shine through' --Jewish Chronicle

'The Seven Good Years feels very much like the work of a writer coming to maturity... Keret himself wrote his first short story while serving in the Israeli military, and the comic, self-deprecating style of The Seven Good Years is infused with the melancholy knowledge that conflict is likely to be a constant for Lev [his son], too. War in these essays isn't dramatic or heroic, but something akin to rain in the British summertime, just a miserable backdrop against which the rest of life is played out. The Seven Good Years brings the central conflict of our times - which can seem comfortingly remote - right into the living room. This is a vision of life everyone can relate to' --Guardian

'Contemplating his life against a backdrop of constant conflict, The Seven Good Years is quite simply a wonderful and beautifully-written observation of the monumental and the mundane...The Seven Good Years is so much more than an exposure of Israel's underbelly; both heartwarming and chilling, Keret's stories have an empathic curiosity and affection for other human beings which truly sets him apart...There really is a deep sense of warmth running through almost every page of The Seven Good Years. There is a universal sense of humour and poignant wisdom' -- ABC Brisbane

'The book [in which she is quoted] is a delight, but a melancholy one; for the approaching bad years - which appear inevitable - are man-made, and therefore redeemable.' - Clive Sinclair, TLS

'A pleasure to read' -- Bookseller

'I love Etgar Keret. I adore Etgar Keret. Indeed, if my Hebrew were up to scratch, I would happily translate Etgar Keret for the rest of my life, for free, for the benefit of mankind... Keret excels in tales of the unexpected and the absurd... He is one of the funniest, most exhilarating and delightfully surprising writers currently working in any language' --Ian Samson, New Statesman

About the Author:

ETGAR KERET is a leading voice in Israeli culture. He is the author of five bestselling story collections, which have been translated into thirty-seven languages. www.etgarkeret.com

About this edition

• Publisher: Granta Books
• Publication date: 2016
• ISBN 10: 1783780479
• ISBN 13: 9781783780471
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 192