This book has been a real challenge for me to read. I bought it in January and finally finished it a few days back in July! Before you start judging the book too badly, it won the ‘The Man Booker International Award’ in 2017.

STORY: Dovaleh Greenstein is an ageing comedian who is performing a show in Netanya, Israel. The story is the narration of this show by his childhood bestfriend, a retired judge, Avishai. Avishai recieves a call from Dovaleh out of the blue, requesting him to attend his show. At this show, Avishai watches as Dovaleh starts off with a bang but slowly unravels in front of the audience. The audience which is excited at the beginning grows agitated as the show progresses. Avishai realises that the purpose of the show isn’t to entertain the audience but to tell his story to the people in the audience who were once closest to him.

VERDICT: I don’t enjoy books with a slow moving storyline. I prefer stories which are fast paced. I don’t mind slow books but they’ve got to have a really well written story. Since the entire story is just about that one show, I found it to be very slow and boring. It took me 6 months to finish this novel with a lot of stops on the way. The story of Dovaleh’s past is painful, told in fragments through the show. It’s also the only part of the story that gripped my attention. But it wasn’t used well enough in the story to keep me engaged. Overall I think it wasn’t my cup of tea but it could definitely be someone else’s. It has really great reviews on Goodreads. So read the reviews and decide for yourself.

YAY or NAY: Okay! (5/10)

Do share your book recommendations!