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Review
`This is a very strange book. But apart from his memoir A Tale of Love and Darkness, it may be the best in Oz's long and brilliant career...Because these are truly great stories, they do have something to say about human life in general.'
--Literary Review
`a powerfully bleak portrait of loneliness, confusion and cracked bonds' --The Times
`Let us not beat about the bush, burning or otherwise. Amos Oz is one of the greatest writers at work in the world: wise, elegantly eloquent and unfailingly humane. For the past five decades he has given us beautiful and necessary literature not least his remarkable, ultimately heart-rending memoir A Tale of Love and Darkness...this is an exquisite work of art.' --Scotsman
`These stories, in their humanity, may do more for Israel than any of the decisions we have been led to expect of its leaders in the months to come.' --New Statesman
`These stories are written with a sparse clarity, and suffused with a sad empathy for the contradictions that confound us. They have both force and mystery, and they cast a quiet spell' --Scotland on Sunday
`The stories resemble an echo chamber of recurring themes, steeped in a strangeness and danger that lingers on like a dream'
--Metro
`Oz beautifully captures the interplay of tensions in each character.' --Daily Telegraph
`What is most arresting is the cumulative effect of his narratives and the relationships between three generations of Israelis in a territory that has too many ghosts' --Independent
`wonderfully compelling' --Daily Mail
--Literary Review
`a powerfully bleak portrait of loneliness, confusion and cracked bonds' --The Times
`Let us not beat about the bush, burning or otherwise. Amos Oz is one of the greatest writers at work in the world: wise, elegantly eloquent and unfailingly humane. For the past five decades he has given us beautiful and necessary literature not least his remarkable, ultimately heart-rending memoir A Tale of Love and Darkness...this is an exquisite work of art.' --Scotsman
`These stories, in their humanity, may do more for Israel than any of the decisions we have been led to expect of its leaders in the months to come.' --New Statesman
`These stories are written with a sparse clarity, and suffused with a sad empathy for the contradictions that confound us. They have both force and mystery, and they cast a quiet spell' --Scotland on Sunday
`The stories resemble an echo chamber of recurring themes, steeped in a strangeness and danger that lingers on like a dream'
--Metro
`Oz beautifully captures the interplay of tensions in each character.' --Daily Telegraph
`What is most arresting is the cumulative effect of his narratives and the relationships between three generations of Israelis in a territory that has too many ghosts' --Independent
`wonderfully compelling' --Daily Mail
Book Description
An unsettling portrait of a fictional village from the Israeli master storyteller
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
The international press hailed this book as a parable about what really goes on in Israeli society today.
Scenes from Village Life cannot be described as a novel nor as a short-story collection. It features a number of interconnected tales, which I would simply describe as short glimpses of everyday life.
The stories take place in the fictitious village of Tel Ilan, where lately a lot of strange things happen to some quite common people. Firstly, in Heirs, we have the story of a retired lawyer who lives in a house with his bedridden ninety year old mother and spends all his time doing absolutely nothing. Their every day is a copy of the one before and nothing much seems to happen, until a strange man arrives claiming that he's a relative and turns things upside down. In Relations we read about a woman that feels really disappointed when her beloved nephew does not arrive with the bus and does something way out of character. Digging is the story of a retired army officer that every night hears someone digging underneath his house. He suspects that behind all that is Abel, an Arab student and aspiring author who lives in a shed in the garden, but his daughter Rachel just thinks he's crazy. However soon enough she'll have to change her mind, since Abel will start hearing the strange sounds as well. The old man, despite his past, seems to understand the reasons why the Arabs do not like the Israelis, while he thinks that after everything that has come to pass the only thing that one is left to feel is melancholy. In Lost we follow in the footsteps of a real estate agent who's about to close the deal of his life, a fact that was supposed to, but fails to make him happy. So he starts wandering the streets in the night, thinking about his life, which leads him to the discovery of a suspicious package and the warmth of a woman's embrace. Yet another unexpected occurrence, the disappearance of his wife, leads the mayor of the village to wander the streets at night as well, with a dog following his every step and keeping him company, in Waiting. Strangers talks about a love affair that was never meant to be. A seventeen year old boy is in love with the village's postmistress, but when he finally manages to get close to her things take an unexpected turn. Singing, the last story, describes the meeting of some colorful characters in a house, where they spend their time singing and talking about politics. Their host, and narrator of the story, doesn't seem to stand them anymore, so she escapes the living room and rushes to the master bedroom, where she hides under the bed, wanting to feel that she was "in a faraway place at another time." The image she projects is bleak, just like the past.
If I'd have to describe these texts in simple words I'd just say that what we have right here is the stories of some more or less common people; weak people and somewhat strong people; sanguine people and sad people; people full of insecurities and doubts about the future and questions about the world that's destined to die. The author paints the picture of a micro-society where anything could happen at any given moment and it does. Just like in real life.
This is the first book by Amos Oz that I've read and so I can't really say whether it's his best or not. What I definitely can say though is that it's extremely well-written and it becomes lyrical at times, and thus can offer a lot of joy to the reader. Recommended.
Scenes from Village Life cannot be described as a novel nor as a short-story collection. It features a number of interconnected tales, which I would simply describe as short glimpses of everyday life.
The stories take place in the fictitious village of Tel Ilan, where lately a lot of strange things happen to some quite common people. Firstly, in Heirs, we have the story of a retired lawyer who lives in a house with his bedridden ninety year old mother and spends all his time doing absolutely nothing. Their every day is a copy of the one before and nothing much seems to happen, until a strange man arrives claiming that he's a relative and turns things upside down. In Relations we read about a woman that feels really disappointed when her beloved nephew does not arrive with the bus and does something way out of character. Digging is the story of a retired army officer that every night hears someone digging underneath his house. He suspects that behind all that is Abel, an Arab student and aspiring author who lives in a shed in the garden, but his daughter Rachel just thinks he's crazy. However soon enough she'll have to change her mind, since Abel will start hearing the strange sounds as well. The old man, despite his past, seems to understand the reasons why the Arabs do not like the Israelis, while he thinks that after everything that has come to pass the only thing that one is left to feel is melancholy. In Lost we follow in the footsteps of a real estate agent who's about to close the deal of his life, a fact that was supposed to, but fails to make him happy. So he starts wandering the streets in the night, thinking about his life, which leads him to the discovery of a suspicious package and the warmth of a woman's embrace. Yet another unexpected occurrence, the disappearance of his wife, leads the mayor of the village to wander the streets at night as well, with a dog following his every step and keeping him company, in Waiting. Strangers talks about a love affair that was never meant to be. A seventeen year old boy is in love with the village's postmistress, but when he finally manages to get close to her things take an unexpected turn. Singing, the last story, describes the meeting of some colorful characters in a house, where they spend their time singing and talking about politics. Their host, and narrator of the story, doesn't seem to stand them anymore, so she escapes the living room and rushes to the master bedroom, where she hides under the bed, wanting to feel that she was "in a faraway place at another time." The image she projects is bleak, just like the past.
If I'd have to describe these texts in simple words I'd just say that what we have right here is the stories of some more or less common people; weak people and somewhat strong people; sanguine people and sad people; people full of insecurities and doubts about the future and questions about the world that's destined to die. The author paints the picture of a micro-society where anything could happen at any given moment and it does. Just like in real life.
This is the first book by Amos Oz that I've read and so I can't really say whether it's his best or not. What I definitely can say though is that it's extremely well-written and it becomes lyrical at times, and thus can offer a lot of joy to the reader. Recommended.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
"Scenes from Village Life" is a new, slim - 182 pages-- volume of short stories from Amos Oz, an honored Israeli storyteller. It gives us an unsettling portrait of daily life in Oz's fictional small Israeli village of Tel Ilan, in the vicinity of Tel Aviv.
Tel Ilan, it appears is a village where things are not what they seem. Oz describes the village thusly:
"Tel Ilan, a pioneer village, already a century old, was surrounded by fields and orchards. Vineyards sprawled down the east-facing slopes. Almond trees lined the approach road. The roofs bathed in the thick greenery of ancient trees. Many of the inhabitants still farmed, with the help of foreign laborers who lived in huts in the farmyards. But some had leased out their land and made a living by letting rooms, by running art galleries or fashion boutiques or by working outside the village. Two gourmet restaurants had opened in the middle of the village, and there was also the winery and a shop selling tropical fish. One local entrepreneur had started manufacturing reproduction antique furniture. On weekends, of course, the village filled with visitors who came to eat or to hunt for a bargain. But every Friday afternoon its streets emptied as the residents rested behind closed shutters."
In one story, an elderly man complains to the daughter with whom he lives that he hears sounds of digging under the house at night, and accuses her young Arab tenant, who lives in a disused farm shack on the property, of being responsible for the noise. But the young Arab tenant complains of the same noise. And the daughter denies hearing it. In another story. the mayor of the village receives a note from his wife, "Don't worry about me," as she vanishes from the village.
Oz is the author of thirteen novels and collections of short fiction, and many works of nonfiction, including his highly-praised memoir A Tale Of Love And Darkness, which was an international bestseller and received the National Jewish Book Award. SCENES was awarded the Prix Mediterranee Etranger in 2010.I did indeed find it unsettling, sometimes didn't know quite what to make of it. But I learned a lot more about Israeli life than I ever have.
Tel Ilan, it appears is a village where things are not what they seem. Oz describes the village thusly:
"Tel Ilan, a pioneer village, already a century old, was surrounded by fields and orchards. Vineyards sprawled down the east-facing slopes. Almond trees lined the approach road. The roofs bathed in the thick greenery of ancient trees. Many of the inhabitants still farmed, with the help of foreign laborers who lived in huts in the farmyards. But some had leased out their land and made a living by letting rooms, by running art galleries or fashion boutiques or by working outside the village. Two gourmet restaurants had opened in the middle of the village, and there was also the winery and a shop selling tropical fish. One local entrepreneur had started manufacturing reproduction antique furniture. On weekends, of course, the village filled with visitors who came to eat or to hunt for a bargain. But every Friday afternoon its streets emptied as the residents rested behind closed shutters."
In one story, an elderly man complains to the daughter with whom he lives that he hears sounds of digging under the house at night, and accuses her young Arab tenant, who lives in a disused farm shack on the property, of being responsible for the noise. But the young Arab tenant complains of the same noise. And the daughter denies hearing it. In another story. the mayor of the village receives a note from his wife, "Don't worry about me," as she vanishes from the village.
Oz is the author of thirteen novels and collections of short fiction, and many works of nonfiction, including his highly-praised memoir A Tale Of Love And Darkness, which was an international bestseller and received the National Jewish Book Award. SCENES was awarded the Prix Mediterranee Etranger in 2010.I did indeed find it unsettling, sometimes didn't know quite what to make of it. But I learned a lot more about Israeli life than I ever have.
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I am not sure that I liked this book. What I am sure about is that it is a great book book full of striking metaphors. Translated from the Hebrew into beautiful English by Nicholas de Lange. However I did feel as though at the very least i had, by reading, intruded on the very private or been made witness to something that was vaguely obscene. Indeed after finishing some of the stories I felt slightly unclean. This if anything is testament to quality and power of Oz's story telling. I full believed in the characters and in the village of Tel Ilan (although it is a place I would wholeheartedly wish to flee from).
There are eight short stories in the book seven of which are set in the village and the eighth and final one is set 'In a faraway place at another time'.
Each of the seven village bound stories focuses on an individual (although all written in an external voice) and each is a stand alone story although we do get brief glimpses of characters as minor walk on parts in other stories.
Some of the stories remind me Graham Green and yet others of Roald Dahl but they are distinctively Amos Oz. They are also, at least in my opinion, more universalist than they are Israeli. To be sure there are images and touches that took me straight back to Israel. Especially the descriptions of the sounds of the village at night. There are also details that mark this as an Israeli set of short stories. (Street names, the choice of songs in the story 'Singing'), but apart from those this set of stories could almost be about anywhere. It confronts loneliness and the atomisation of society.
The most Israeli of all the stories is 'Digging' (this is also one of the longer ones and one that has received more attention in the media. It is also one of the least dreamlike. A dreamlike quality touches all of the stories. But often it is the type of unsettling dream, or wrong turns and unnamed if not terrors then dangers.
The final story is not set in the village but rather somewhere else, and unlike the other stories it is written the first person voice of the narrator.
All in all I would recommend this book. There are beautiful images and phases and each story is compelling (don't start one of the stories if you have something pressing to do you won't stop reading it until you have finished it). It is not however a light or nice book. But one that will draw your thoughts back to it.
There are eight short stories in the book seven of which are set in the village and the eighth and final one is set 'In a faraway place at another time'.
Each of the seven village bound stories focuses on an individual (although all written in an external voice) and each is a stand alone story although we do get brief glimpses of characters as minor walk on parts in other stories.
Some of the stories remind me Graham Green and yet others of Roald Dahl but they are distinctively Amos Oz. They are also, at least in my opinion, more universalist than they are Israeli. To be sure there are images and touches that took me straight back to Israel. Especially the descriptions of the sounds of the village at night. There are also details that mark this as an Israeli set of short stories. (Street names, the choice of songs in the story 'Singing'), but apart from those this set of stories could almost be about anywhere. It confronts loneliness and the atomisation of society.
The most Israeli of all the stories is 'Digging' (this is also one of the longer ones and one that has received more attention in the media. It is also one of the least dreamlike. A dreamlike quality touches all of the stories. But often it is the type of unsettling dream, or wrong turns and unnamed if not terrors then dangers.
The final story is not set in the village but rather somewhere else, and unlike the other stories it is written the first person voice of the narrator.
All in all I would recommend this book. There are beautiful images and phases and each story is compelling (don't start one of the stories if you have something pressing to do you won't stop reading it until you have finished it). It is not however a light or nice book. But one that will draw your thoughts back to it.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
This is a book of fragments
This is a book of fragments, there are seven tales and a coda in this book, and what you get are glimpses into the lives of the inhabitants of the fictional village of Tel Ilan,... Read more
Published 24 days ago by PL
Loved it
This book isn't for everyone, but I thought it was fantastic. I'm a fan of short stories and very much enjoyed how this book involved the reader from the off. Read more
Published 7 months ago by Dicksonshire
Nostalgia
Knew Amos 41 years ago, and also met Nick (translator) on Kibbubtz Hulda. Read several of the books in the 70s/80s and, thanks to Radio 4 heard of this recent offer. Read more
Published 10 months ago by Janet R. Heath
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