Crawl Space (purchased hardcover)

Average Customer Review 5.0 out of 5 stars (5 customer reviews)

5.0 out of 5 stars An Enduring Achievement, December 8, 2005
By Michael Ravitch (New York, NY) The enduring accomplishment of this novel is the creation of Emile Poulquet, a fascinating character like no other in contemporary literature. Meidav boldly brings us into the mind of a functionary of the French occupation who coolly sent hundreds to their death during World War II. Poulquet is repulsive at times, sly and funny at others, but he is never banal. She does not shrink from showing the extent of his ugliness, but she also makes her fugitive from justice oddly sympathetic. He is vulnerable, imaginative, passionate and horribly self-deluded. His justifications for his actions are comically absurd, but the exploration of his self-loathing is so penetrating, he comes to seem one of us, a very human monster. This is a courageous book; Meidav insists on moral complexity, and forces us to confront our own capacity for betrayal & cowardice. Crawlspace is delightful as well as sobering.

By Randy Kasten (Oakland CA Ms. Meidav has convincingly told the story of a man of another generation, another culture and another moral system. Each thought, feeling and moment presented to the reader is supported by genuine evidence, including recollection of past events. Those past events are often selected with such a keen sense of their significance and with such vividness that reading the novel has a wonderfully eerie quality.

The novel ties into truths far beyond the words on the page and invites--almost compels--the reader to think. None of this is achieved at the expense of telling an interesting story that is unfolding in the present moment, and through this effective duality of past and present, the author achieves a meaningful exploration of morality, history, culture, the human mind, and most of all the human heart. It is a book worthy of reading more than once and its release in hardcover is an appropriate acknowledgement of its durability.

By Las Trampas "Suburban Trapper" (Berkeley, CA United States) If books were sold according to how good they were, you'd have to lay out at least a hundred bucks for this sucker. Fortunately that's not the case. Not a fast paced thriller, this book takes the time to do it right. The one big disadvantage you'll suffer from if you read it is that most everything else you've ever read (and probably ever will read)is going to seem like cheap junk. That's OK, that devilish little bargain is well worth it.