- Paperback: 331 pages
- Publisher: Canongate Books Ltd (1 Jan 2000)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0862418623
- ISBN-13: 978-0862418625
- Product Dimensions: 21.1 x 13.2 x 2.8 cm
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,227,671 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
| |||||||||||||||
Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Plus, get an extra £5 Gift Certificate when you trade in books worth £10 or more before June 30, 2012. Visit the Books Trade-In Store for more details. |
Product details |
More About the Author
Product Description
Review
Over the course of four meals, Zayde slowly comes to understand why three men consider him their son and why all three participate in raising him. A virtuoso performance in storytelling, Shalev's novel is deeply satisfying-sensuous, hilarious, compassionate, and prfound. "Told in a euphonic voice and employing the magic conventions of a fairytale, this is a heart-warming narrative agleam with moments of plangent sadness, rueful humor, and compassionate insight."
--This text refers to an alternate
Paperback
edition.
Product Description
This is the story of Zayde, his beautiful and mystic mother Judith, and her three lovers: cunning Globerman, the cattle dealer; Jacob, owner of hundreds of birds and host to the four meals; and Moshe, raised as a girl by his mother and on a traumatic life-long quest for his lost golden braid.
Tag this product(What's this?)Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organise and find favourite items. |
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
16 of 16 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Four Meals is a fictional glimpse into the past of an illegimate Jewish boy growing up in 1930's Palestine with his mother and 4 "fathers", each telling their own version of events. The book is narrated in the first person by the boy. From the age of 12 and every 10 years thereafter he has a meal with one of his "fathers" and it is during the meal that his history is slowly revealed. The stories surrounding his "fathers" each contesting for the hand of his mother are told in such a sensitive manner that it is difficult to accept it is just a novel. I got completely involved with the boy's past which periodically evoked memories of my own childhood that I had long forgotton. The stories revealed through the decades, are tinged with a mixture of sadness, gaiety and a sensitivity that pierces the heart. It is this that makes the stories come to life. A very unusual book, beautifully written I would thoroughly recommend it.
Format:Paperback
A book that enveils itself slowly and elegant with lots of riddles and life tales. Trully amazing. Highly recommended.
It is a book like a friend of mine would say: "It is not chewed up for you" so you need to work on it and your work will be highly rewarded.
It is a book like a friend of mine would say: "It is not chewed up for you" so you need to work on it and your work will be highly rewarded.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
4 reviews
11 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Rich and whimsical
11 Dec 2005
Format:Paperback
A wonderfully written story , a masterpiece of contemporary Israeli literature , rich in imagery and deeply human.
It is the story of the boy Zayde and his enigmatic mother , Judith , as well as Judith's three lovers, all of which take the role of Zayde's fathers. We are kept guessing who Zayde's real father is , but we never find out.
Ther story takes us from the 1930's to the 1980's in Israel
Highly reccomended for a rich and whimsical read.
It is the story of the boy Zayde and his enigmatic mother , Judith , as well as Judith's three lovers, all of which take the role of Zayde's fathers. We are kept guessing who Zayde's real father is , but we never find out.
Ther story takes us from the 1930's to the 1980's in Israel
Highly reccomended for a rich and whimsical read.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
A good story, well told, with a melancholy tone and a touch of magic realism.
26 July 2009
Format:Paperback
This 1994 Israeli novel has something in common with all the other Israeli novels I have read lately. It has a melancholy tone and a touch of magic realism.
Originally written in Hebrew and set in what is now Israel, the story starts at the end of the First World War and gives the reader a picture of a small Jewish village which was not unlike stories I've read about villages in Europe around that time in history except that the weather, the foliage and the crops were all indigenous to Palestine (which was what the area was called at the time).
This is the story of a boy named Zayde and his three fathers. Yes, three fathers. Of course the story takes place years before DNA testing and each one of three men believes that he could have been Zayde's biological father. His mother, Judith, had come to the village after a tragedy of her own, and worked as a housekeeper for a widower named Moshe and his children. She refused to sleep in his house however, and lived in the cowshed with the cows. Moshe loved her and so did two other men - Globerman, the rough and unscrupulous cattle dealer and Jacob, the gentle dreamer who over the course of several decades, invited Zayde to his home for four memorable meals and, at the same time, gradually unveiled the secrets around Zayde's birth and Judith's death when Zayde was only ten years old.
This is a sad, beautiful and wistful story and I could almost hear the violins playing a minor-keyed rhapsody in the background as it unfolded. Soon, I was caught up in the characters, the concept of the story and the well-planned pacing and very anxious to understand all the mysteries that the author introduced.
This is a good book, and a story well told.
Originally written in Hebrew and set in what is now Israel, the story starts at the end of the First World War and gives the reader a picture of a small Jewish village which was not unlike stories I've read about villages in Europe around that time in history except that the weather, the foliage and the crops were all indigenous to Palestine (which was what the area was called at the time).
This is the story of a boy named Zayde and his three fathers. Yes, three fathers. Of course the story takes place years before DNA testing and each one of three men believes that he could have been Zayde's biological father. His mother, Judith, had come to the village after a tragedy of her own, and worked as a housekeeper for a widower named Moshe and his children. She refused to sleep in his house however, and lived in the cowshed with the cows. Moshe loved her and so did two other men - Globerman, the rough and unscrupulous cattle dealer and Jacob, the gentle dreamer who over the course of several decades, invited Zayde to his home for four memorable meals and, at the same time, gradually unveiled the secrets around Zayde's birth and Judith's death when Zayde was only ten years old.
This is a sad, beautiful and wistful story and I could almost hear the violins playing a minor-keyed rhapsody in the background as it unfolded. Soon, I was caught up in the characters, the concept of the story and the well-planned pacing and very anxious to understand all the mysteries that the author introduced.
This is a good book, and a story well told.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Devour this book
4 April 2010
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
The story of a young man and his experiences as he grows up in Israel is a cross between IB Singer and Amos Oz. Full of magic, pain, the wonder of a child, the redeeming of lost love, land and history. The descriptions are so fresh you can smell, taste and feel them. You will want to devour this book.
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
