Fima

by Amos Oz

Paperback, 2002

Status

Available

Call number

F OZ

Collection

Publication

London : Vintage, 1994.

Description

"Astonishing . . . galvanic and intoxicating." --The New Yorker Fima lives in Jerusalem, but feels he ought to be somewhere else. In his life he has had secret love affairs, good ideas, and written a book of poems that aroused expectations. He has thought about the purpose of the universe and where the country lost its way. He has felt longings of all sorts, and the constant desire to pen a new chapter. And here he is now, in his early fifties in a shabby apartment on a gloomy wet morning, engaged in a humiliating struggle to release his shirt from the zipper of his fly. With wit and insight, Amos Oz portrays a man--and a generation--dreaming noble dreams but doing nothing. "One of Oz's most memorable fictional creations . . . Fima is a cross between Chekhov's Uncle Vanya and Joyce's Leopold Bloom." -- Washington Post… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member flydodofly
Fima seems to symbolize everything in life that is irritating - he is like a wasp, busily and pointlessly moving about one's plate on a summer day, seemingly uninterested in the food on it, but reluctant to fly away. Everyone around Fima seems to feel this and they generally want to get rid of his
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company, but they also give in to his constant chatter which seems to hypnotise them after a while. They even start worrying about him and his ways. The reading was rather slow, because I strongly disliked the Fima character, and because of the constant detailed reference to political goings on in Israel. The latter was difficult to follow at times. At the same time there was something about the writing I enjoyed, so I kept going. I do not know whether I am altogether happy with my decision.
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Language

Original language

English

Original publication date

1991

Physical description

298 p.; 7.8 inches

ISBN

0099933608 / 9780099933601

Local notes

Donated by Sally Markham, April, 2022.
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