Saturday, January 29, 2011

The Bus Driver Who Wanted to Be God & Other Stories

Written by: Etgar Keret

First line: This is the story about a bus driver who would never open the door of the bus for people who were late.

Why you should read this book: Minor miracles, unremarkable afterlives, heroes who are less than heroic, and imperfect relationships fill the pages of this short story collection, creating a world like a disconcerting dream that never quite reaches the level of nightmare but leaves you scratching your head in the morning, wondering where the heck you've been. There are dashed hopes, strange confrontations between Jews and Arabs, and a fascination with death and near-death experiences: sometimes the world seems utterly bleak and hopeless, and other times, a thin ray of hope penetrates the dark shroud of characters' disappointments. These stories are short, fast reads, two of which were made into feature-length films, all of which force the reader to examine their own notions of morality and self-determination.

Why you shouldn't read this book: You just can't imagine what would drive another human being to take their own life.

2 comments:

gael lynch said...

Monica,
Just happened upon your blog today! I am a starving artist/teacher/sometimes daily writer-who hopes to live to see my fiction in print. So great to see someone celebrating words in print and spinning a few of her own!

Dragon said...

Thanks! Keep it up, then :) I keep forgetting to add the link, but I *finally* sold a short story: at long last, my fiction is in print.

You can see some of my microfiction at http://raincoatflashers.blogspot.com/