Foto dell'autore
2 opere 30 membri 2 recensioni

Opere di Gilad Elbom

Etichette

Informazioni generali

Utenti

Recensioni

The basic storyline of [[Gilad Elbom]]’s [Scream Queens of the Dead Sea] is a brilliant deadpan, but hilarious, look at the author’s own life mirrored within his novel. We accompany the author in his job as assistant nurse in a mental institute, wonder at his love for heavy metal bands, puzzle over his sexual escapades (are all these real?), and admire his love for learning (linguistics is his forte). Within the story, he’s forever throwing little darts at those political and religious issues within contemporary Israeli culture which make no sense to him. Unfortunately, some of these barbs might go over the heads of those not more familiar with modern Israel.

At work on the evening shift, Gilad has seven patients under his care. Each patient has his own issues, but, at the same time, each individual’s issues seem to be indicative of further problems within Israel’s greater society.

The story was fun to read except for some tangents that for me became excruciating. I kept wanting to return to the main storyline. Perhaps the author had a bit too much to say, some of which didn’t interest me at all.

Nevertheless, this is an impressive work for a first novel and an interesting way to introduce Israeli culture to the world at large. The Boston Review says this book "reads like a version of Catch-22 written by Chuck Palahniuk." I think that's a very apt description of this novel. Like parts of Catch-22, some lines of Elbom’s novel were laugh out loud funny, and, like the works of Chuck Palahniuk, I did not complete the novel without finding something to gross me out.
… (altro)
5 vota
Segnalato
SqueakyChu | 1 altra recensione | Jun 22, 2009 |
Parts of this book were absolutely genius, but some parts were as bad as the good ones were good. The mental institution characters were fantastic and really intriguing - not to mention believable - but the narrator's relationship with his married ex-girlfriend is just over the top and I don't believe in either character when they talk to each other. The whole meta-novel thing is just too old. Having the narrator point out that he knows that it's old doesn't really help the case - that's been done ad nauseam too... If the whole novel had taken place in the mental institution, with those characters carrying the whole plot, I would have absolutely loved it. Now, I'll rate it humdrum with an extra little point for the title.… (altro)
½
 
Segnalato
-Eva- | 1 altra recensione | Sep 27, 2008 |

Liste

Statistiche

Opere
2
Utenti
30
Popolarità
#449,942
Voto
2.9
Recensioni
2
ISBN
4