Rhyming Life & Death

Fiction and reality merge inside the mind of a famous Israeli author in this “hilarious and profound . . . slyly philosophical novel” (Booklist). In this novel, Amos Oz offers a prismatic portrait of the storytelling impulse, with an extended glimpse inside the mind of a celebrated, unnamed Author.   On a stiflingly hot night, the Author is in Tel Aviv to give a reading from his new book. As his attention wanders, he begins to invent lives for the strangers he sees around him: here, a self-styled cultural guru, Yakir Bar-Orian Zhitomirski; there, a love-starved professional reader, Rochele Reznik; to say nothing of Ricky the waitress, the real object of his desires. Reality and fiction blend in this ingenious, poignant work by the author of A Tale of Love and Darkness, a winner of the Koret Jewish Book Award.   “A fable on themes of sex, death and writing pitched somewhere between the fictional universes of JM Coetzee and Milan Kundera.” — The Guardian   “The witty and melancholy recorder of his country’s brilliant sufficiencies. . . . Now Oz takes an equally witty, equally melancholy look at his role as a writer.” —Los Angeles Times   “From the prodigious Oz comes a delightfully elusive . . . story of imagination, talent and the transitory nature of fame. . . . Stamped with Oz’s charm and graceful skill in creating rich characters.” —Publishers Weekly