See Under: LOVE : A Novel

Rating:
Summary: A monument of Israeli literature
Review: As an Israeli who have read it in Hebrew, I would like to add a few words. One thing: this book is entirely different if you read it in Hebrew. It losses a lot in the translation, and not because the translation is bad, rather that the combination of different layers of very special Hebrew combined with Yiddish, along with the cultural context, makes it a book that is an impossible mission for the translator. Of course, you can't ask someone to learn Hebrew just for this book (and this still won't be enough, because he has to be born again as an Israeli and grow up here to understand everything...), but the book has numerous universal aspects that can be translated, and it's still, even after the translation, a must-read.
And now, for the book itself (if there is such a thing the book itself...).
This is by-far the greatest Israeli book that I have ever read. I had one feeling that went along with me throughout the journey: I don't know how the hell he did. I just don't know. Like a magician that makes a trick you just can't figure. The scope. The depth. I cannot describe this book. It defies space and time. It is a masterpiece.

Rating:
Summary: Not just a book, but an experience
Review: Ever since I have read Avraham B. Yehoshua's "The Lover" I have been a keen reader of Israeli literature, among great Hebrew writers such as Yehoshua, Oz and Shabtai, who wisely construct a fascinating description of a fragmented country, quilted of religions, faiths, ideology and culture and scarred by war and trauma, Grossman still stands out as an amazing craftsmen of words, plot and memories. This book does not deal merely with the Holocaust, but with the inability to deal with this unbelievable atrocity by those who survived it, their children, and the world. Never have I read a such a sophisticated book, such a genius and original use of genres and plotlines, and yet readable and sweeping. It would have been described as a page turner, but it is impossible to read it without pausing to breathe deeply and ponder. However you feel about this book, one thing is for sure - You wont be the same person. In my opinion, reading this book has made me a better person.

Shocking, thrilling, amazing. A must.

Rating:
Summary: This is a life-changing book
Review: I found this book very disappointing. I had to force myself to finish it. I have no bias against holocaust-based fiction. I just found this story to be tedious. There are a few intertwining plotlines in the book. I found the most conventional and historical plot line quite interesting. It is a fantastical and thought-provoking story of survival in a death camp. Unfortunately it was the shorter of the plot lines. The rest of the very long book devolves into nonsensical silliness.

Rating:
Summary: See Under: Masterpiece
Review: It was hard to read this novel. Grossman presents us with mysteries and references that require both faith and patience -- they are amply rewarded. Part of what delays the intrepid reader is the time required just to absorb, to make connections, to take deep breaths, to sob. The horror and disgust that one expects in a holocaust novel are there, but what pulls us up short are the compassion and, yes, love that emerge in the most unlikely places. It would be no help to read a synopsis of this book or to have a guide to its mysteries, because you read it in your heart and in the aqueous subconscious. Reading is always an act of love, a tryst of imagination with the writer. When it really goes well, when the miracle occurs, a child, a book is produced between them. It hovers luminously in the aether - real, profound, fleeting. See Under: Love invites us to into that relationship, helps us visualize it, and transforms our sense of what this world really is. There is plenty to study, learn, and analyze in Mr. Grossman's incredible work, but my first reading was a sacred experience. This book sat on my shelf for about eleven years. I gave a first edition of it to a young man obsessed with the holocaust who died a year later of a mysterious disease. I thought picking it up would mean acknowledging his absence - instead it reassured me of his presence. Prepare to be surprised.

Rating:
Summary: Fantastic!!
Review: One of the best novels I have ever read. Don't miss it!