Publication
Amsterdam De Bezige Bij 2007
ISBN
9789023426349
Language
Collections
Description
An ingenious, witty, behind-the-scenes novel about eight hours in the life of an author. A literary celebrity is in Tel Aviv on a stifling hot night to give a reading from his new book. While the obligatory inane questions ("Why do you write? What is it like to be famous? Do you write with a pen or on a computer?) are being asked and answered, his attention wanders and he begins to invent lives for the strangers he sees around him. Among them are Yakir Bar-Orian Zhitomirski, a self-styled literary guru; Tsefania Beit-Halachmi, a poet (whose work provides the novel's title); and Rochele Reznik, a professional reader, with whom the Author has a brief but steamy sexual skirmish; to say nothing of Ricky the waitress, the real object of his desire. One life story builds on another--and the author finds himself unexpectedly involved with his creations.… (more)
Genres
Subjects
User reviews
LibraryThing member Polaris-
To read this book is to transport yourself temporarily to another place. It is warm and humid, and the air-conditioning is unreliable. Filled with playfulness, 'the Author' is to give a talk at a cultural centre where many have gathered to hear him. Before, during, and after the engagement the
Arriving early he detours to a nearby cafe, and it becomes clear that this Author is preoccupied with the lives of the others he observes. Amos Oz teases us with the possibilities of those lives - where they live, who they live with, who they loved, what they lost, and even what may slowly be killing them. Later in the night, once the event is over, the Author escorts the professional reader for a walk before saying goodnight to her. What happens beyond that is uncertain. Oz playfully suggests one possibility while ruling out another. Just as things fall neatly into place, he goes back and shows a parallel reality.
I've read a few Oz books now and would say that this one has some passages I'd describe as 'classic Oz'. In places he is definitely in top gear as he supplies depth and intrigue to each and every character's life. At other times though it can feel that he has switched on the cruise control and taken his foot off the gas...
A short book, Oz manages to pack so much in to the story that it feels like much more than has actually been read. The cast is long, and it is wonderful how much substance he manages to convey in so short a time. There are stories within stories here, and the possibilities are endless. All in all a very enjoyable read, and one that will probably reveal more to the reader each time it is rediscovered. An intriguing glimpse inside the mind of an author and how they may see the world around them in all its triviality and beauty.
Show More
Author tells us his thoughts and observations of the people he encounters and imagines, and how the evening transpires.Arriving early he detours to a nearby cafe, and it becomes clear that this Author is preoccupied with the lives of the others he observes. Amos Oz teases us with the possibilities of those lives - where they live, who they live with, who they loved, what they lost, and even what may slowly be killing them. Later in the night, once the event is over, the Author escorts the professional reader for a walk before saying goodnight to her. What happens beyond that is uncertain. Oz playfully suggests one possibility while ruling out another. Just as things fall neatly into place, he goes back and shows a parallel reality.
I've read a few Oz books now and would say that this one has some passages I'd describe as 'classic Oz'. In places he is definitely in top gear as he supplies depth and intrigue to each and every character's life. At other times though it can feel that he has switched on the cruise control and taken his foot off the gas...
A short book, Oz manages to pack so much in to the story that it feels like much more than has actually been read. The cast is long, and it is wonderful how much substance he manages to convey in so short a time. There are stories within stories here, and the possibilities are endless. All in all a very enjoyable read, and one that will probably reveal more to the reader each time it is rediscovered. An intriguing glimpse inside the mind of an author and how they may see the world around them in all its triviality and beauty.
Show Less
LibraryThing member Lunarreader
A first book of this author for me. The book is kind of a circular story about an author and a book presentation and all his unstoppable imagination.
For me there are 2 major themes in this book. The first is clearly about writing and being an author, the imagination, building up a story,
The second level or second theme "getting old" and the fragility of life. On top of all the characters (author or author's imagination) the difference between an older person (or character) and the younger is that they have a completely different viewpoint on the same situation, and thus another interpretation. Getting older is clearly fearsome for a lot of people amongst us and the author is no exception. In one of the key scenes the difference between young and older people is described and, in my humble opinion, it's no coincidence how this scene ends.
Hard to say if some of the story is autobiographic. I don't know Oz good enough.
Well written book, the circular effect of the story, the limited timeframe, the search for characters who are the author (all ?) or who are not ... Clearly Oz has no problems with inserting style patterns in his writing. But too me, after a good start there are some 20 - 30 pages where one is waiting for something to happen instead of just following the curious ways of the author's imagination. Then, happily, some action comes in and after this turnpoint it's easier to stay focused.
For me there are 2 major themes in this book. The first is clearly about writing and being an author, the imagination, building up a story,
Show More
suggestions, minimal changes in circumstances that can lead a story a complete other way .... Other reviews here on LT tell that all characters are the author himself, but for me some are just "extra characters" in his imagination to create interaction with the author.The second level or second theme "getting old" and the fragility of life. On top of all the characters (author or author's imagination) the difference between an older person (or character) and the younger is that they have a completely different viewpoint on the same situation, and thus another interpretation. Getting older is clearly fearsome for a lot of people amongst us and the author is no exception. In one of the key scenes the difference between young and older people is described and, in my humble opinion, it's no coincidence how this scene ends.
Hard to say if some of the story is autobiographic. I don't know Oz good enough.
Well written book, the circular effect of the story, the limited timeframe, the search for characters who are the author (all ?) or who are not ... Clearly Oz has no problems with inserting style patterns in his writing. But too me, after a good start there are some 20 - 30 pages where one is waiting for something to happen instead of just following the curious ways of the author's imagination. Then, happily, some action comes in and after this turnpoint it's easier to stay focused.
Show Less
LibraryThing member kidzdoc
Rhyming Life and Death is the latest novel by the acclaimed Israeli novelist, public intellectual and peace activist Amos Oz. This was a short novel, and I thought it would be a good introduction to Oz's work.
The events take place on one evening, in which the Author attends a public reading of his
The events take place on one evening, in which the Author attends a public reading of his
Show More
latest book. While a literary critic discusses his work and a woman reads from his book, he gazes out onto the audience, and creates stories about several people he see, along with a waitress at a cafe, that appear throughout the book. He also appears to have a relationship with the reader of his book, but there are several distinct episodes, and one is never sure where reality ends and fantasy/fiction begins. It was a moderately interesting and amusing exercise, but it wasn't exactly what I was looking for or expecting. Show Less
LibraryThing member gwendolyndawson
This slim, inventive novel covers an 8-hour period in which a well-known author (referred to, simply, as the Author) participates in a reading from his recently published book. All the while, the Author concocts fictional personalities and stories about the real people he encounters during the
During the reading and afterwards, as the Author walks the city until 4 a.m., his stories spin out into ever greater layers of complexity and interrelatedness, and it becomes increasingly difficult to distinguish fact from fiction. Through it all, the Author questions why he writes and discovers his art has become his only connection to the world:
"[H]e continues to watch them and write about them so as to touch them without touching, and so that they touch him without really touching him. … He is covered in shame and confusion because he observes them all from a distance, from the wings, as if they all exist only for him to make use of in his books. And with the shame comes a profound sadness that he is always an outsider, unable to touch or to be touched …."
Rhyming Life & Death is an interesting conceptual novel. Oz’s deconstruction of the creative process is unsettling because it reveals just how quickly we, the readers, will adopt a story line as a kind of “reality,” at least with respect to the protagonist. While this book’s cerebral pleasures are many, its emotional resonance falls flat. It’s difficult to care much about the Author’s roughly-drawn characters and sketchy stories, making Rhyming Life & Death more of an engaging philosophical exercise than a novel.
Show More
course of the evening. Two men in a café, observed as the Author eats a pre-reading omelet, become “a gangster’s henchman” and his “agent of sorts, or perhaps a hairdryer salesman.” The waitress is cast in a week-long romance with “the reserve goalkeeper of Bnei-Yehuda football team.” During the reading and afterwards, as the Author walks the city until 4 a.m., his stories spin out into ever greater layers of complexity and interrelatedness, and it becomes increasingly difficult to distinguish fact from fiction. Through it all, the Author questions why he writes and discovers his art has become his only connection to the world:
"[H]e continues to watch them and write about them so as to touch them without touching, and so that they touch him without really touching him. … He is covered in shame and confusion because he observes them all from a distance, from the wings, as if they all exist only for him to make use of in his books. And with the shame comes a profound sadness that he is always an outsider, unable to touch or to be touched …."
Rhyming Life & Death is an interesting conceptual novel. Oz’s deconstruction of the creative process is unsettling because it reveals just how quickly we, the readers, will adopt a story line as a kind of “reality,” at least with respect to the protagonist. While this book’s cerebral pleasures are many, its emotional resonance falls flat. It’s difficult to care much about the Author’s roughly-drawn characters and sketchy stories, making Rhyming Life & Death more of an engaging philosophical exercise than a novel.
Show Less
LibraryThing member karenmerguerian
A short poem of a book. It has it's wry funny moments and is beautifully empathetic about human frailty and the human condition, also the writing and translation are beautiful. One of those literary explorations into what writing is, what reading is, what the possibilities and pitfalls of both are.
Show More
If you want to turn on the light and find out what is going on, this book is for you. Show Less
LibraryThing member whitewavedarling
In a dramatic telling of a single night, Rhyming Life & Death is something of a story, and something of a demonstration of a story's genesis, exploring the wonders and twists of an imagination.
Working from the mind of an author, our narrator for the duration, Oz wanders through his imaginings about
Absolutely recommended.
Working from the mind of an author, our narrator for the duration, Oz wanders through his imaginings about
Show More
an assortment of characters, bringing them together into a world that is hardpressed to be called either imaginary or real. In the end, it doesn't matter. Oz has explored the process and wonder of creation, and given us a story and a show in the process.Absolutely recommended.
Show Less
LibraryThing member mmoj
This was a difficult book for me. There were parts that I enjoyed but there were also parts that I had a hard time with because of the Israeli/Jewish words, history and names.
This is a book about 8 hours of the Author/Narrator's life including time at a speaking engagement. What I believe is that
I'll have to read this book again to see if I come up with the same opinion.
This is a book about 8 hours of the Author/Narrator's life including time at a speaking engagement. What I believe is that
Show More
the entire book is part of the Author trying to answer, "How do you write & why do you write". I think this book tries to answer these two questions by telling us stories hoping we will relate to his life (why) and connecting names, faces, people (how).I'll have to read this book again to see if I come up with the same opinion.
Show Less
LibraryThing member jonfaith
This was nice detour after the navigation of Ulysses. It was bitter cold outdoors and eight hours of an Author's life in Tel Aviv was a fitting escape.
Awards
Dublin Literary Award (Longlist — 2011)
Bad Sex in Fiction Award (Shortlist — 2009)
Original publication date
2009 (UK)
2007 (Israel)