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驻专驻专讬诐 讘讙砖诐
Dr Uriah Adam, a family doctor from Jerusalem, was abandoned by his mother when he was ten. He grew up in the home of his grandmother, Mamma Ruth, a warm and loving woman who tried to give him a normal childhood. His mother Eva was a free spirit, giving no thought to anyone but herself. She went with many men but was not attached to any, and had Uriah with one of her lovers when she was nineteen. She told young Uriah that his father had been run over by a garbage truck and died. "But you," she added, "you will be whatever you want." Until the age of ten, Uriah wandered with her from one squalid apartment to another, went with her to work cleaning staircases and selling glass beads on the street, and defended her honor when children called her names. Then, one day, she disappeared without a trace. Twenty-five years later, she leaves a message on Uriah`s answering machine: she will be returning to Israel from abroad in three days time and wants to meet him.
The plot of this poignant novel takes place during the four days leading up to and including his mother`s arrival, weaving pictures from Uriah`s difficult childhood with scenes of his life as a grown man who has become the opposite of his mother. Uriah deals with memories of the past and the enigma of his father on the one hand, with present relationships as well as his involvement with his patients on the other. At 35 he is still single, and is exploring his feelings toward Eliana who is about to start her career as a neurologist. He himself gave up on the idea of a high-profile career and has chosen instead to help people as a family doctor in a run-down neighborhood. After work, he visits Mamma Ruth in a nursing home and Jonathan, a patient who is in hospital with a brain tumor. Will Uriah forgive the mother who abandoned him? Will he listen to her explanations and lies? Can there be any doubt how such a sensitive man to will act?
The plot of this poignant novel takes place during the four days leading up to and including his mother`s arrival, weaving pictures from Uriah`s difficult childhood with scenes of his life as a grown man who has become the opposite of his mother. Uriah deals with memories of the past and the enigma of his father on the one hand, with present relationships as well as his involvement with his patients on the other. At 35 he is still single, and is exploring his feelings toward Eliana who is about to start her career as a neurologist. He himself gave up on the idea of a high-profile career and has chosen instead to help people as a family doctor in a run-down neighborhood. After work, he visits Mamma Ruth in a nursing home and Jonathan, a patient who is in hospital with a brain tumor. Will Uriah forgive the mother who abandoned him? Will he listen to her explanations and lies? Can there be any doubt how such a sensitive man to will act?
294 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2005
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
March 27, 2010
Amazing how Mira Magen could take such an interesting premise and turn it into something so incredibly boring. The book opens with an answering machine message left for Dr. Uriah Adam. His mother, Eva, who abandoned Uriah 25 years ago when he was 10 and disappeared without a trace, is arriving at the airport in three days and would like to see him.
Well, here鈥檚 a story with potential. Alas, the potential is largely unrealized because instead of focusing on the actual meeting, Mira Magen spends 250 out of 290 pages trying unsuccessfully to build up to this meeting. This might have worked in the hands of a better author, but Mira鈥檚 attempts at raising the tension are sorely misguided. We are treated to a variety of scenes from Uriah鈥檚 life, past and present, none of which are particularly interesting or enhance the story in any way.
Uriah remembers Eva鈥檚 inconsistency and self-centeredness as a mother. Big surprise. How many anecdotes from Uriah鈥檚 childhood do we need to tell us she鈥檚 unreliable? Doesn鈥檛 her abandoning her ten-year-old tell us that, loudly and clearly? Yeah, and she promised him a 鈥渒rembo鈥� (like an Israeli 茅clair) and she forgot. Yeah, and she left him unsupervised in the street to be beaten up by some older boys as she went to sleep with her guy of the moment. Yeah, and she gave him a broken glass butterfly and told him that if he wanted it badly enough, it would fix itself. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We got the picture. Actually, we already had the picture and didn鈥檛 need pages upon pages of these tales.
In the present, Uriah is dating Eliana, a successful neurosurgeon, but is having difficulty committing to her and finds himself oddly attracted to Iris, a would-be singer who works at her father鈥檚 hardware store. Iris is clearly Betty to Eliana鈥檚 Veronica, and that鈥檚 about all I can say. Neither woman appears to have much personality outside of fulfilling her stereotypical role. But that doesn鈥檛 stop Mira from having Uriah interact repeatedly with each woman (amazing how he managed to have all these interactions with them in the course of three working days). And more than the interactions themselves, we are treated to Uriah鈥檚 stream-of-consciousness musings about his feelings toward Eliana and his reluctance to give her the commitment she wants. Enough thinking 鈥� do something already!
More of the 250 pages before the actual meeting are taken up with Uriah鈥檚 past and present interactions with Mama Ruth, the grandmother who raised him and is now ailing in a nursing home, unable to speak. There鈥檚 also Uriah鈥檚 first cousin Dafi, a woman two years his junior, married with kids, who appears to have some kind of sexual tension with Uriah but nothing really happens. And finally, there鈥檚 Uriah鈥檚 patient, Yonatan, a teenage boy with a brain tumor, in case we needed more pathos.
Once again, this is a situation 鈥� not a story. Way too much banal detail, way too much backstory, way too much exposition, not nearly enough dialogue or movement or actual delivery on the promise of the first page. The story finally began on page 250, when he met his mother, and ended on p. 294, but even that section didn鈥檛 offer much in the way of surprises or action. Not worth reading, in my opinion, and definitely not worth reading in a foreign language.
Well, here鈥檚 a story with potential. Alas, the potential is largely unrealized because instead of focusing on the actual meeting, Mira Magen spends 250 out of 290 pages trying unsuccessfully to build up to this meeting. This might have worked in the hands of a better author, but Mira鈥檚 attempts at raising the tension are sorely misguided. We are treated to a variety of scenes from Uriah鈥檚 life, past and present, none of which are particularly interesting or enhance the story in any way.
Uriah remembers Eva鈥檚 inconsistency and self-centeredness as a mother. Big surprise. How many anecdotes from Uriah鈥檚 childhood do we need to tell us she鈥檚 unreliable? Doesn鈥檛 her abandoning her ten-year-old tell us that, loudly and clearly? Yeah, and she promised him a 鈥渒rembo鈥� (like an Israeli 茅clair) and she forgot. Yeah, and she left him unsupervised in the street to be beaten up by some older boys as she went to sleep with her guy of the moment. Yeah, and she gave him a broken glass butterfly and told him that if he wanted it badly enough, it would fix itself. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We got the picture. Actually, we already had the picture and didn鈥檛 need pages upon pages of these tales.
In the present, Uriah is dating Eliana, a successful neurosurgeon, but is having difficulty committing to her and finds himself oddly attracted to Iris, a would-be singer who works at her father鈥檚 hardware store. Iris is clearly Betty to Eliana鈥檚 Veronica, and that鈥檚 about all I can say. Neither woman appears to have much personality outside of fulfilling her stereotypical role. But that doesn鈥檛 stop Mira from having Uriah interact repeatedly with each woman (amazing how he managed to have all these interactions with them in the course of three working days). And more than the interactions themselves, we are treated to Uriah鈥檚 stream-of-consciousness musings about his feelings toward Eliana and his reluctance to give her the commitment she wants. Enough thinking 鈥� do something already!
More of the 250 pages before the actual meeting are taken up with Uriah鈥檚 past and present interactions with Mama Ruth, the grandmother who raised him and is now ailing in a nursing home, unable to speak. There鈥檚 also Uriah鈥檚 first cousin Dafi, a woman two years his junior, married with kids, who appears to have some kind of sexual tension with Uriah but nothing really happens. And finally, there鈥檚 Uriah鈥檚 patient, Yonatan, a teenage boy with a brain tumor, in case we needed more pathos.
Once again, this is a situation 鈥� not a story. Way too much banal detail, way too much backstory, way too much exposition, not nearly enough dialogue or movement or actual delivery on the promise of the first page. The story finally began on page 250, when he met his mother, and ended on p. 294, but even that section didn鈥檛 offer much in the way of surprises or action. Not worth reading, in my opinion, and definitely not worth reading in a foreign language.
December 5, 2024
Having spent part of my life in Jerusalem during the time period in which this book is set, I approached *驻专驻专讬诐 讘讙砖诐* with a sense of curiosity and nostalgia. Unfortunately, while the setting did spark some personal memories, the story itself failed to leave a lasting impression.
This book offers prose that is reasonably well-written, with occasional glimpses of Magen's skill as a storyteller. However, the narrative and characters lack depth and complexity. The people who inhabit this story are neither witty nor particularly insightful; they come across as underwhelming and unremarkable. From an interest standpoint, they feel like everyday, average individuals with little to set them apart.
The plot moves along without much to truly grip the reader. While Jerusalem鈥檚 atmosphere is evoked in a way that feels familiar to someone who lived there, it鈥檚 not enough to make the story stand out. The city almost serves as a backdrop rather than an integral part of the narrative, missing an opportunity to add layers of richness and emotional connection.
Ultimately, I feel this book will appeal most to readers who are already fans of Mira Magen and her style (this is the first book of hers that I read).
For me, it lacked the spark needed to elevate it from a passable read to something memorable. While there were moments that resonated due to my own connection with the setting, they weren鈥檛 enough to make the book particularly special.
July 4, 2011
it's actually "vodka and bread" i read, but it's not to be found in the search engine in English...
a nice read, semi-modern Hebrew literature, however not too trashy, still lacks the depth of older / better authors.
why is it these new novelists always feel they have to desecrate the language for example with weird and Grammar-insulting sentences in order to feel they're renovating?
i was so upset i actually marked all the instances of bad, annoying grammar and planned sending a letter to the author, however i then realized how OCD-like it might be...
a nice read, semi-modern Hebrew literature, however not too trashy, still lacks the depth of older / better authors.
why is it these new novelists always feel they have to desecrate the language for example with weird and Grammar-insulting sentences in order to feel they're renovating?
i was so upset i actually marked all the instances of bad, annoying grammar and planned sending a letter to the author, however i then realized how OCD-like it might be...
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