Suddenly, a Knock on the Door: Stories

People who need all the answers served on a platter, - who have no sense for the absurd, - who don't enjoy short stories with open ends, - who do not care to see realistic interpersonal relations even if they don't look pretty, - who have no sense of dark humor, - who are dogmatic and self righteous, will most likely not enjoy this book. I loved it for all the above reasons and more. I loved it because it is weird, sad, cruel, humorous like life, because some stories begin and end abruptly like glimpses into someone elses life through a keyhole. Because it does have a lot to do with our reality in Israel but not just. But most of all because I sense a deep compassion of the author for his fellow beings and the absurd relations and situations they navigate themselves into and how they really don't have much choice. And last but not least, because it is really well translated, as I myself am not able to read the Hebrew original. My first book by Etgar Keret which was given to me by my teenage son who adores Keret and read everything by him. And now I adore Keret too. Having said this not everything my bibliophile kids are excited about resonates with me.

Etgar skillfully plucks a story from the usual and sometimes unusual contexts of everyday living. Clever with enough comedic punch to carry each story without giving too much away always leaving the reader with something to ponder at the end. Good stories, wish there were more.

Etgar Keret can do more in three or four pages than many short story writers can in stories that border on novellas. There are nearly three dozen stories that span just 188 pages, yet many are simply brilliant. The eponymous and first story starts with a directive: "Tell me a story." Under gunpoint, the narrator - Etgar - is ordered to make up a story. He is interrupted early on: "That's not a story...That's an eyewitness report. It's exactly what's happening here and now. Exactly what we're trying to run away from. Don't you go and dump reality on us like a garbage truck. Use your imagination, man, create, invent, take it all the way." I quoted that passage at length because it's really the raison d'etre of the collection. Etgar, an Israeli writer, leaves the politics and the moral quandaries to others such as David Grossman, Amos Oz and Nathan Englander. His stories focus on the escape from reality through stories that stretch and define us. Some - as would be the case with any collection - are better than others. I'll call out a few: Lieland, where the subjects of lies become real, is one of my favorites. The protagonist, Robbie, learns that his lies live and thrive in another dimension and he meets his "lies come alive" simply by turning a handle. Teamwork, another fine story, starts like this: "My son wants me to kill her. He's still young and doesn't express this perfectly yet, but I know exactly what he's after." The "her" refers to his maternal grandmother; he is the product of divorce and a brutal plan is soon imagined by his obsequious father. Or take another story: Unzipping; in it, the narrator finds a small zipper under her lover's tongue; when she pulls it, he opens up "like an oyster" with a second man revealed. One more: Mourner's Meal. a very recent widow opens up her failing restaurant the morning after his funeral, and gains connection with a group of strangers. Not all the stories succeed as well; it makes me wish there were a way I could rate this a 4.5. But the ones that DO shine are so luminous that it is hard for me not to rate upward.

"Suddenly A Knock At The Door" is a delight. Etgar Keret is the real thing. He's a master. Sometimes, though, the point of his stories are hidden and at times buried. But, do not get discouraged. Great stories... great writers - it is their job to make you think. Keret has been compared to the likes of Kafka, Vonnegut, and Woody Allen. I agree. His style is both whimsical & serious. His style is also lean and reminiscent of Hemingway. But he writes with a spontaneity and freeness that is both Whitmanesque and Kerouacian in my opinion. His stories are fantasy but they're not any less real. If you enjoy this book, which I believe you absolutely will, and you appreciate short stories and poetry, I recommend reading "Leaves of Grass" (the 1892 edition) again as well as "On The Road" (1957) and the new but impressive "Seven At The Sevens" (2012). If you appreciate different styles & many different ideas, you can't go wrong with any of these volumes. Trust me.

Suddenly, a Knock at the Door, Etgar Keret's first new collection in ten years, offers a masterful selection of short stories. Like those in his previous collections, the stories in Suddenly... are delightful little tales of the drama and absurdity of everyday life. These are extraordinary stories of seemingly average folks and the strange and surreal circumstances in which they find themselves. While Suddenly... is full of so many great stories that it is hard to pick favourites, there are a number of tales that particularly stand out. In `Simyon' a young woman confronts the death of her forgotten husband, while in `Unzipping' the truth about a boyfriend's character is revealed. Both of these stories offer surprisingly insights into the nature of humanity and the quality of relationships. Many of Keret's stories are woven around the mundane spectres of daily life but some of them are quite delightfully, magically odd. In `What, of this Goldfish, Would You Ask' a documentary filmmaker stumbles into a lonely Russian's contemporary Aladdin-style dilemma, while `Haemorrhoid' presents a surprising take on the nature of power and affliction. These are just four favourites from the collection but there are many more sublime stories to be enjoyed. It's hard to spot Keret himself among the disparate characters who people this collection, although several of the stories are about writers. In `Suddenly, a Knock on the Door', the title story and first in the collection, a writer has to ward off increasingly aggressive demands that he produces a new story. Hopefully there were fewer pistols involved in the writing of this book. In `Creative Writing' Aviad's girlfriend experiences unexpected success with her story writing while Aviad himself can't seem to master the ending. In `What Animal Are You?' a writer has to satisfy the demands of fame while still preserving the innocent imagination of his son. Perhaps these stories shed some light on Keret's creative process; certainly they're very entertaining. Keret's stories have always been on the particularly short side of short stories but they are most often finely crafted gems that tell their tales perfectly. While his stories are frequently so good that you might wish they could go on longer, the actual tales tend to reach satisfying, if often surprising, conclusions. It's rare that Keret misses the mark with his story construction and, in fact, there is only one story in this collection that doesn't seem to offer the full picture. `Snot', the one about the visit to the acupuncturist, stubbornly remains a snippet that could go on to greatness but actually just trails off. Still, that is a very minor issue when you consider just how good the other thirty-six stories in Suddenly... are. Suddenly, a Knock on the Door is an amazing collection of fantastical stories. Keret's stories are by turn poignant and funny, brutal and humane, and always supremely entertaining. These stories are bite-sized treats and the end of the book leaves you yearning for more. I hope the wait for Keret's next collection will be significantly less than ten years.

Nouvelles pleine d'humour par un des auteurs israëliens les plus vendus au monde. Certaines avaient été publiées auparavant dans le New-York Times. Beaucoup de second degré, cet auteur est dingue!

READ IN A DAY...JUST AMAZING....HE IS STILL AT HIS BEST!!

Apesar de bem recomendado , o livro não cativa pela inconsistência das histórias. Perde-se o interesse pelo livro conforme avança .

Deçue par le livre. J'aime bien Etgar Keret mais les recits sont tirés par les cheveux et n'arrivent as à m'intéresser... .. Dommage...