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freshkatsu's review
3.0
The main plot from Tatia Rosenthal's $9.99 (2008) is technically adapted from several of the short stories here. I said technical because the attraction of Etgar Keret's short stories (besides being ridiculously good looking for a writer) is his ability to construct a fantasy that seems so palpable and possible, and as a result the film differs from it by taking another route into pure abstraction. 'hmm, all the characters and props are the same, but somehow I feel like I'm reading something completely new.' Another reason for that is Keret's extremely laconic style which tends to welcome different interpretation. Mies van der Rohe's Less is More principle applies to the stories both linguistically and conceptually. In order to appreciate The Nimrod Flipout, you really need to finish every single story in order to grasp the overall 'point' of it, if there even is one.
Anyway, I guess I'm slightly biased because the film made such a big impression on me. It's ironic since I can see how the stories are meant to be looked at for a few seconds then completely forgotten until one afternoon, stuck in traffic after work, out of nowhere you have an epiphany about the meaning of life - then you remember how Keret has wrote about it already. They are something you would eventually relate to in the long term, but right now just read and don't expect too much.
Anyway, I guess I'm slightly biased because the film made such a big impression on me. It's ironic since I can see how the stories are meant to be looked at for a few seconds then completely forgotten until one afternoon, stuck in traffic after work, out of nowhere you have an epiphany about the meaning of life - then you remember how Keret has wrote about it already. They are something you would eventually relate to in the long term, but right now just read and don't expect too much.
tevreads's review
5.0
I don't think there's anyone else like Etgar Keret, this collection of short stories were weird and wonderful. His ability to write such stories in only three to four pages is incredible, so polished and succinct, like a friend telling a memorable story at the pub that you'll always remember. Some of these stories will offend, others will horrify, but I loved every single one, and would highly recommend.
bananabreadlover's review
4.0
I think I really liked most of this, but sometimes I would be reading and everything would just start to feel so man-ish that my skin would start to itch and I'd want to crawl out of myself, or maybe deeper inside.
I think besides those moments where I found myself hating that I was reading and listening and absorbing the words of a man I don't even know, don't even need to save face for, I realized that maybe this man is deeper than I give men credit for ever even having the ability to be. I disliked the way he spoke sometimes, or the conclusions he came to and how he justified them, but I felt myself applauding the thought and the process and the time it must've taken to analyze and compartmentalize his life into these stories.
I think maybe I liked that he made mundane things feel strange and unusual, even if it made me feel uncomfortable sometimes. Sometimes it was weird good, and sometimes it was weird bad. All very weird though.
And I really like that I didn't feel led. The stories would just end, and they would end without the need for any sort of conclusion - the next story just started and I moved on. I liked that, because if each story ended with a clearly spelled out bite-sized take-away lesson learned or revelation I'd have to shout AND WHO TF ARE YOU TO HAVE THE ANSWERS because I just can't seem to listen when someone else is telling me what to take as fact, especially not a man I've never even met.
Lines of note:
"Which is a pretty exceptional feeling for someone like you, who hardly knows what he wants most of the time." (8)
"But this time there was nothing to imagine anymore, so I tried to think about him as little as possible." (26)
"For three months, a person sits and looks at you, imagining a kiss." (31)
"You don't have to be a genius to figure that out. And me, I'm really no genius, and I did." (59)
"He didn't want to upset his dad. But the vise grip on his shoulder was tightening. Apparently, his dad had managed to get upset all on his own." (94)
"I pretend like I'm thinking, finding it hard to put my thoughts into words, and there's always someone who takes advantage of the silence to jump in with his two cents." (106)
"He blew on one of the dandelions, and the whole world disappeared." (167)
I think besides those moments where I found myself hating that I was reading and listening and absorbing the words of a man I don't even know, don't even need to save face for, I realized that maybe this man is deeper than I give men credit for ever even having the ability to be. I disliked the way he spoke sometimes, or the conclusions he came to and how he justified them, but I felt myself applauding the thought and the process and the time it must've taken to analyze and compartmentalize his life into these stories.
I think maybe I liked that he made mundane things feel strange and unusual, even if it made me feel uncomfortable sometimes. Sometimes it was weird good, and sometimes it was weird bad. All very weird though.
And I really like that I didn't feel led. The stories would just end, and they would end without the need for any sort of conclusion - the next story just started and I moved on. I liked that, because if each story ended with a clearly spelled out bite-sized take-away lesson learned or revelation I'd have to shout AND WHO TF ARE YOU TO HAVE THE ANSWERS because I just can't seem to listen when someone else is telling me what to take as fact, especially not a man I've never even met.
Lines of note:
"Which is a pretty exceptional feeling for someone like you, who hardly knows what he wants most of the time." (8)
"But this time there was nothing to imagine anymore, so I tried to think about him as little as possible." (26)
"For three months, a person sits and looks at you, imagining a kiss." (31)
"You don't have to be a genius to figure that out. And me, I'm really no genius, and I did." (59)
"He didn't want to upset his dad. But the vise grip on his shoulder was tightening. Apparently, his dad had managed to get upset all on his own." (94)
"I pretend like I'm thinking, finding it hard to put my thoughts into words, and there's always someone who takes advantage of the silence to jump in with his two cents." (106)
"He blew on one of the dandelions, and the whole world disappeared." (167)
smoreno92's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
amysutton's review
4.0
This is officially the last book I'll read in 2012. I finished it while on the bus home from Memphis on New Year's Eve.
I like Keret's quirky story telling. The stories are short vignettes into the characters' lives, and many are no longer than three pages in length. My enjoyment of each story is hit or miss, but overall I love his tone and strange unquestioned plots. People would probably categorize them as either unbearably pretentious or highly literary depending on their own taste. I'm on the literary side. I think that the way he writes allows the reader to draw deeper meaning.
--SPOILERS--
Some of my favorites included:
Surprise Egg (A victim of a suicide bomber has an autopsy that shows she had multiple tumors throughout her body and would only have had a few days to live anyway. The mortician struggles with whether he should share this information with her family.)
Glittery Eyes (A little girl obsessed with glitter is intrigued by a boy who has glittery eyes. After finding out that you can only have glittery eyes by drastically longing after something -- and finding out that the thing he longs for is her -- she rejects him and glares at him jealously for the rest of the school year.)
A Thought in the Shape of a Story (This reminded me of Ray Bradbury. A colony of explorers on the moon have thoughts that are in the shapes of very specific items. When one young man starts thinking thoughts in the shape of parts for a rocket, the community bands together to "correct" and help him. Then they all die.)
Ironclad Rules (A "surprise ending" of sorts. A man receives relationship advice from an older guy in a restaurant while he "wife" is in the bathroom. The older man says that it's nice seeing a couple who has been together so long being so affectionate. In the end, the man has to leave the restaurant to catch a flight to go home to his wife and kids.)
For Only 9.99 (Inc. Tax and Postage) (A man finds success in $10 self help pamphlets, but with that help comes the realization that he's not capable of anything on his own. He doesn't seem to mind.)
I like Keret's quirky story telling. The stories are short vignettes into the characters' lives, and many are no longer than three pages in length. My enjoyment of each story is hit or miss, but overall I love his tone and strange unquestioned plots. People would probably categorize them as either unbearably pretentious or highly literary depending on their own taste. I'm on the literary side. I think that the way he writes allows the reader to draw deeper meaning.
--SPOILERS--
Some of my favorites included:
Surprise Egg (A victim of a suicide bomber has an autopsy that shows she had multiple tumors throughout her body and would only have had a few days to live anyway. The mortician struggles with whether he should share this information with her family.)
Glittery Eyes (A little girl obsessed with glitter is intrigued by a boy who has glittery eyes. After finding out that you can only have glittery eyes by drastically longing after something -- and finding out that the thing he longs for is her -- she rejects him and glares at him jealously for the rest of the school year.)
A Thought in the Shape of a Story (This reminded me of Ray Bradbury. A colony of explorers on the moon have thoughts that are in the shapes of very specific items. When one young man starts thinking thoughts in the shape of parts for a rocket, the community bands together to "correct" and help him. Then they all die.)
Ironclad Rules (A "surprise ending" of sorts. A man receives relationship advice from an older guy in a restaurant while he "wife" is in the bathroom. The older man says that it's nice seeing a couple who has been together so long being so affectionate. In the end, the man has to leave the restaurant to catch a flight to go home to his wife and kids.)
For Only 9.99 (Inc. Tax and Postage) (A man finds success in $10 self help pamphlets, but with that help comes the realization that he's not capable of anything on his own. He doesn't seem to mind.)
straciehniezdo's review against another edition
4.0
Etgar Keret je pre mňa jeden z najväčších objavov tohoto roka. Jeho Porucha na kraji galaxie bola okamžitá láska a jedna z najlepších kníh, čo som kedy čítala. A to hovorím ako niekto, kto obvykle nie je veľkým fanúšikom poviedok.
Povedzme, že latka bola nastavená veľmi vysoko.
Osem percent ničoho je dobrá zbierka, ale neočarila ma zďaleka tak veľmi ako práve Porucha. V Poruche boli geniálne pointy, poviedky, ktoré si vybavím aj po polroku len na základe názvu, čo vo mne až tak veľmi zarezonovali a okúzlili ma. Tieto boli pomerne slabým odvarom.
Boli tu nejaké naozaj výborné poviedky - Myšlienka v tvare príbehu, Posledný príbeh a dosť, Exkluzivita, Jasomon, Železné pravidlá, Iba za 19,99 šekelov, Streľba na Tovjeho a nejaké ďalšie, ale boli v menšine. Väčšina bola pomerne priemerná. Zrejme sa tu autor ešte len rozpisoval a objavoval svoje silné stránky.
Som rada, že som ju čítala a som rada, že to nebola kniha, skrz ktorú som sa s autorovou tvorbou zoznámila. Chýbalo tam to niečo extra, tá genialita, ktorou mi predtým autor vyrazil dych v takmer každej poviedke. Sú to stále veľmi dobre napísané nadpriemerné poviedky, no keďže viem, že to vie aj omnoho lepšie, som z knihy skôr taká rozpačitá.
Povedzme, že latka bola nastavená veľmi vysoko.
Osem percent ničoho je dobrá zbierka, ale neočarila ma zďaleka tak veľmi ako práve Porucha. V Poruche boli geniálne pointy, poviedky, ktoré si vybavím aj po polroku len na základe názvu, čo vo mne až tak veľmi zarezonovali a okúzlili ma. Tieto boli pomerne slabým odvarom.
Boli tu nejaké naozaj výborné poviedky - Myšlienka v tvare príbehu, Posledný príbeh a dosť, Exkluzivita, Jasomon, Železné pravidlá, Iba za 19,99 šekelov, Streľba na Tovjeho a nejaké ďalšie, ale boli v menšine. Väčšina bola pomerne priemerná. Zrejme sa tu autor ešte len rozpisoval a objavoval svoje silné stránky.
Som rada, že som ju čítala a som rada, že to nebola kniha, skrz ktorú som sa s autorovou tvorbou zoznámila. Chýbalo tam to niečo extra, tá genialita, ktorou mi predtým autor vyrazil dych v takmer každej poviedke. Sú to stále veľmi dobre napísané nadpriemerné poviedky, no keďže viem, že to vie aj omnoho lepšie, som z knihy skôr taká rozpačitá.