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Suddenly, a Knock on the Door: Stories

by Etgar Keret, Nathan Englander (Translator), Miriam Shlesinger (Translator), Sondra Silverston (Translator)

3.99 of 5 stars 3.99 · rating details · 1,264 ratings · 198 reviews

Bringing up a child, lying to the boss, placing an order in a fast-food restaurant: in Etgar Keret’s new collection, daily life is complicated, dangerous, and full of yearning. In his most playful and most mature work yet, the living and the dead, silent children and talking animals, dreams and waking life coexist in an uneasy world. Overflowing with absurdity, humor, sadn...more

Paperback, 189 pages

Published March 27th 2012 by FSG Originals (first published 2010)

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Dec 28, 2012 Tfitoby rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: lit, short-stories, translation, favourites

#7 Favourite Read of 2012

My only previous experience with Keret was the brilliant and beautiful movie Wristcutters: A Love Story based on his novella Kneller's Happy Campers so when this brand new collection of short stories was offered to me by a local bookseller I had no hesitation in buying it.

And I am so glad I did, as it was a revelation, completely unlike anything else I've read. His stories are often strange and slightly fantastical, funny, dark, impressive and affecting. This is a seriou...more

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Jan 09, 2013 Moises Sheinberg rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

El nuevo libro de cuentos del escritor israelí es, quizá, el más completo, mejor logrado y el más balanceado. Los 39 relatos que lo componen varían en longitud desde un párrafo hasta varias páginas, y en temática desde un cuento que se autojuzga como el mejor del mundo hasta un hombre que, como Alicia en el país de las maravillas, entra en un agujero para encontrarse en un mundo en el que viven todas sus mentiras.
Los cuentos de Keret, además de profundamente creativos, divertidos y simpáticos ti...more El nuevo libro de cuentos del escritor israelí es, quizá, el más completo, mejor logrado y el más balanceado. Los 39 relatos que lo componen varían en longitud desde un párrafo hasta varias páginas, y en temática desde un cuento que se autojuzga como el mejor del mundo hasta un hombre que, como Alicia en el país de las maravillas, entra en un agujero para encontrarse en un mundo en el que viven todas sus mentiras.
Los cuentos de Keret, además de profundamente creativos, divertidos y simpáticos tienen una sensibilidad que le mueve una fibra profunda al lector. Me parece que, subyacente a las historias, hay una falta de propósito que hace que estas nos sean más cercanas y reales y nos permite que las vivamos como propias. Keret no busca aleccionarnos, no quiere convencernos de nada y no se siente superior a sus lectores, es un simple mortal a quien le gusta contar historias y tiene una extraordinaria capacidad para hacerlo.
Es esta sencillez la que hace a sus cuentos tan atractivos, especialmente para los jóvenes, quienes abarrotaron todas las presentaciones que el autor hizo recientemente en México con motivo de la FIL Guadalajara.
Con un dejo de Raymond Carver y otro de Kurt Vonegut, Keret lleva a personajes comunes y corrientes, con problemas de lo más cotidiano (broncas con sus cónyuges, perros perdidos, aventuras sexuales que pierden su ardor, matrimonios por conveniencia, aburrimiento, soledad, falta de deseo, etcétera) a vivir aventuras, a veces insólitas, a veces completamente pedestres, pero siempre amenas y cálidas con personajes que nos hacen sentir profundamente.
Se ha dicho de los cuentos de Keret que son las expresiones más cortas que encierran todos los elementos de una novela. Independientemente de que esto sea cierto, sus cuentos son muy atractivos y cada día jalan a más seguidores jóvenes.
La extraordinaria traducción de este libro, al igual que los otros que ha editado Sexto piso de este autor israelí, merece una mención especial por su cercanía a los jóvenes de hoy en día y por hacer que las historias que suceden en el lejano Israel parezca que se están llevando a cabo a la vuelta de la esquina.
Tuve la fortuna de asistir a una de las presentaciones de Etgar Keret organizada por sus editores y me maravilló la sencillez de este afamado autor. Simpatiquísimo, contestaba todas las preguntas que sus interlocutores y el auditorio le hacían. Como si estuviera escribiendo ficción, contó varias escenas de su vida, muy conmovedoras y simpáticas y cautivo a cada uno de los presentes. A pesar de llevar muchísimas presentaciones, jamás mostró ni un dejo de aburrimiento y, al final, se abocó a escribir dedicatorias personalizadas y con un dibujo diferente a cada uno de sus cientos de “fans” que se acercaron a pedirle autógrafos. En pocas palabras, un tipazo.
Si no lo han leído, no saben de lo que se pierden.
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Apr 21, 2012 Cheryl rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: short-stories, israel, literature, literary, humour, 2012-favourite

Wow, what a ride! Loved it.
Wildly inventive. It's like literary Silly Putty that's been smushed up against color comics, peeled off and then stretched and pulled. It kind of looks the same as the real thing but is weirdly distorted. In a way that is more interesting and alive than the original.
And then it makes you smile.

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Jan 16, 2013 Mike Schwartz rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

An absolutely wonderful book of short stories by an Israeli writer who is already a major talent. These stories come off like a mix of Kafka, Miranda July, and Donald Barthelme with laugh out loud humor, pop surrealism and dozens of dream sequences. Keret is perhaps closest to the magical Yiddish writers of the early century, Asch or Aleichem or Singer. He also borrows a lot from the movies. Some of the stories verge on dark fantasy with trauma bubbling underneath. Others take a much lighter abs...more

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Nov 23, 2012 Aad rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: literary

Mari kita buat suasana dalam salah satu cerita itu menjadi nyata. Sebuah suasana, atau kita sebut saja sebuah dunia, di mana orang-orang di dunia itu hanya bisa melihat orang yang mereka cintai. Ya, kau dahulu melihatku, aku tahu karena aku bisa melihat diriku di matamu. Tapi sekarang, aku sudah tak terlihat lagi olehmu, bukan? Aku sudah menghilang dari pandanganmu, walaupun kau selalu berpura-pura bahwa kau masih bisa melihatku. Kau selalu melihat ke arah lain. Aku tahu ada seseorang yang kau l...more

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Jul 30, 2012 Matt rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: library, translated

Keret really only tells one story: Normal people react to the events of lives which are normal except for one uncanny circumstance. But sometimes the stories are more about the uncanny circumstance, in which case they're funnier and shorter and slighter, and sometimes they're more about the normal people, in which case they can be more tedious, even leaden, as leaden as a 4-page tale can be.

When they really work, though, they're about both, and we learn not only the entertaining details of the u...more Keret really only tells one story: Normal people react to the events of lives which are normal except for one uncanny circumstance. But sometimes the stories are more about the uncanny circumstance, in which case they're funnier and shorter and slighter, and sometimes they're more about the normal people, in which case they can be more tedious, even leaden, as leaden as a 4-page tale can be.

When they really work, though, they're about both, and we learn not only the entertaining details of the unusual circumstance but also insights, perhaps even profound, into the human heart. That's what we get in "Lieland" (which lends the cover illustration its image of a gumball machine—this one, though, opens the door to the realm where everyone's lies come true) and "What, of This Goldfish, Would You Wish?" (the source of the cover's goldfish, though this one talks and grants wishes), as well as a few others like "Healthy Start," "Creative Writing," and "Bad Karma."

Most of the time Keret's shortest pieces are closer to comedy shticks, all about timing, voice, and the punch line. They're good as comedy but they don't have the narrative structure or character development of a real story. They're short-shorts: they deal with types the reader already knows and rely on our assumptions as a shorthand for plot. They're well crafted according to the rules of that genre, but not really pushing the envelope either. A few of them, like "Joseph" and "Guava," hide their human meaning in the punch line, which must be deliberate and must take skill, but it seems perverse of a writer to bury the hook like that. I guess the point might be that real life buries the hook, too, and we often laugh when we should gasp or cry, or vice versa.

Keret's writing (as rendered by three different translators in this volume) is plain, direct, approachable. Most of the time we can't tell whether we're in Israel or New York, and it usually doesn't matter: these are stories about people in general, not about a specific culture. That above all makes the volume a very quick read, and lets you move through fast enough to laugh first and only later consider the implications of what you were laughing about. It also means, as I've (post–writers' conference) started reading short stories to get a better idea of how they work, that I'll hunt down Keret's other collections and gobble them up too.(less)

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Jun 18, 2012 M rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Etgar Keret cobbles together numerous glimpses of supposedly mundane worlds, infected with odd or whimsical events that transform these places into fictional gold. The numerous stories here, which can range from one sentence to twenty pages, are filled with metaphysical events that seem as if they could happen. The titular work deals with a storyteller's constant interruptions by weapon-toting characters seeking a good tale. The nifty "Lieland" gives our fake excuses and fibs a reality to call t...more

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May 13, 2012 Matt rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is the fourth book of Keret's stories I've read, and while I was excited when I saw this book scheduled for release, I gave a little sigh, too. While I really like Keret's stories individually and was often tickled and surprised by the way they developed and resolved themselves, I felt, too, that maybe what I didn't need was another book of similar stories, and so many of them-- Keret rights short, so every book will have more than 25, and often closer to 40 stories, which can be a lot, and...more

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May 07, 2012 Grant Reynolds rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Suddenly, A Knock On The Door by Etgar Keret was crazy, crazy good, complete game changer! I've read a few of these stories before in different publications or anthologies and have always been blown away by his work. His stories are typically short, funny & whimsical. The first story I ever read of Etgar's that's included in this book is What, Of This Goldfish, Would You Wish and it was so good & different that I stopped reading, put the book down just to let it linger with me a while lo...more

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Apr 17, 2012 Jill rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Etgar Keret can do more in three or four pages than many short story writers can in stories that border on novellas. There are nearly three dozen stories that span just 188 pages, yet many are simply brilliant.

The eponymous and first story starts with a directive: “Tell me a story.” Under gunpoint, the narrator – Etgar – is ordered to make up a story. He is interrupted early on: “That’s not a story…That’s an eyewitness report. It’s exactly what’s happening here and now. Exactly what we’re trying...more Etgar Keret can do more in three or four pages than many short story writers can in stories that border on novellas. There are nearly three dozen stories that span just 188 pages, yet many are simply brilliant.

The eponymous and first story starts with a directive: “Tell me a story.” Under gunpoint, the narrator – Etgar – is ordered to make up a story. He is interrupted early on: “That’s not a story…That’s an eyewitness report. It’s exactly what’s happening here and now. Exactly what we’re trying to run away from. Don’t you go and dump reality on us like a garbage truck. Use your imagination, man, create, invent, take it all the way.”

I quoted that passage at length because it’s really the raison d’etre of the collection. Etgar, an Israeli writer, leaves the politics and the moral quandaries to others such as David Grossman, Amos Oz and Nathan Englander. His stories focus on the escape from reality through stories that stretch and define us.

Some – as would be the case with any collection – are better than others. I’ll call out a few: Lieland, where the subjects of lies become real, is one of my favorites. The protagonist, Robbie, learns that his lies live and thrive in another dimension and he meets his “lies come alive” simply by turning a handle.

Teamwork, another fine story, starts like this: “My son wants me to kill her. He’s still young and doesn’t express this perfectly yet, but I know exactly what he’s after.” The “her” refers to his maternal grandmother; he is the product of divorce and a brutal plan is soon imagined by his obsequious father. Or take another story: Unzipping; in it, the narrator finds a small zipper under her lover’s tongue; when she pulls it, he opens up “like an oyster” with a second man revealed. One more: Mourner’s Meal. a very recent widow opens up her failing restaurant the morning after his funeral, and gains connection with a group of strangers.

Not all the stories succeed as well; it makes me wish there were a way I could rate this a 4.5. But the ones that DO shine are so luminous that it is hard for me not to rate upward.
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Feb 24, 2013 Prowisorio rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites

"Je hebt nog veertig seconden voor je er bent geweest,' bromde de engel. ?Als je die veertig seconden wilt doorbrengen met verwerking, ook goed. Mij best. Maar internaliseer wel dat je window of opportunity zich aan het sluiten is."

Ooit een engel zich zo horen uitdrukken? Al eens een leugen van jezelf in levende lijve tegengekomen? Of een hond die mensen gebruikt om via een belastingontduikingsconstructie zijn geld wit te wassen?
Het zijn zomaar drie hoofdrolspelers uit de verhalenbundel Verrassi...more "Je hebt nog veertig seconden voor je er bent geweest,' bromde de engel. ?Als je die veertig seconden wilt doorbrengen met verwerking, ook goed. Mij best. Maar internaliseer wel dat je window of opportunity zich aan het sluiten is."

Ooit een engel zich zo horen uitdrukken? Al eens een leugen van jezelf in levende lijve tegengekomen? Of een hond die mensen gebruikt om via een belastingontduikingsconstructie zijn geld wit te wassen?
Het zijn zomaar drie hoofdrolspelers uit de verhalenbundel Verrassing van Etgar Keret. Vrijwel alle verhalen in dit boek hebben een absurdistisch tintje en sommige zijn ronduit bizar. Tegelijkertijd zijn ze vaak juist daardoor uitermate realistisch en laten ze regelmatig een glimp zien van de soms krankzinnige werkelijkheid van Keret's geboorteland Isra��l. Een voorbeeld daarvan is het verhaal van de patholoog-anatoom die zich afvraagt of hij de familie van het slachtoffer van een bomaanslag troost als hij ze vertelt dat ze toch al tjokvol tumoren zat en zeer spoedig zou zijn overleden. Dat lijkt een misschien een onzinnige vraag, maar Keret laat je beseffen dat dat niet zo is.

Keret zet in zijn verhalen mensen neer die zich op de een of andere manier moeten zien te redden in een onbegrijpelijke, vaak angstaanjagende wereld. Door die wereld onder een vergrootglas te leggen en een tikje absurder te maken, maakt hij je aan het lachen maar legt tegelijkertijd de tragiek ervan genadeloos bloot. Of het nu een schrijver betreft die onder bedreiging van een pistool een verhaal moet vertellen of een priester die boos wordt op zijn zilverachtige, gehandicapte God of een eenzame Rus met tatoeages in Jaffa die verlangt naar een pratende goudvis, doet er niet toe. Elk woord van Keret is raak, elke zin klopt en met alle personages heb je iets gemeen. Zelfs met Maximilian, de moordenaar met mededogen, die nooit kinderen zou vermoorden en moeite heeft met het ombrengen van oude vrouwen. Want zeg nu zelf, d��t doe je toch niet?

Deze fantastische verhalenbundel bevat bovendien een Winnend verhaal. Het is het beste verhaal ter wereld en Keret legt uit waarom dat zo is: Anders dan aan het eind van de werken van Tsjechov en Kafka zal aan het eind van dit verhaal onder alle juiste interpreteerders een gloednieuwe metallic grijze Mazda Lantis worden verloot. Redenen genoeg dus om je te laten verrassen door Keret's Verrassing. Voor wie niet kan wachten tot morgen de boekwinkels open zijn, ishieralvast Welk dier ben je?, een van de verhalen uit deze fascinerende bundel te vinden.

De verhalen zijn uit de Amerikaans-Engelse vertaling vertaald door Adriaan Krabbendam onder supervisie van Ruben Verhasselt die de tekst vergeleek met de Hebreeuwse brontekst.(less)

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Jan 30, 2013 Soycazadoradesombrasylibros rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: finish

No se si sera un genio o no, pero que conoce al ser humano y su forma de pensar os lo puedo asegurar, son cuentos muy cortos de dos a cinco paginas como mucho, en los que nos hara pensar y mucho.

Me parece que en muchos relatos lo hace a proposito pero otras veces sin plantear preguntas al lector te deja dandole a la cabeza durante mucho rato, por lo que este libro se debe de leer tranquilamente y tomandose el tiempo necesario.

De estos 38 cuentos los del principio me parecieron mas dinamicos, mas...more

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Jul 12, 2012 Peter rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Very disappointing book - and I am a HUGE Keret fan.

These stories feel forced, the endings don't work, and just don't flow like his previous work. The sharp wit and humor that characterizes most of his stories is lacking as well.

There was not even one story in this book that I felt captivated me like most of the previous stories of his that I read. The stories simply lack the life, and fun, and creativity, of his other work. I kept reading story after story, hoping and waiting for the magical st...more

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May 05, 2013 Nicole Del sesto rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

4.5/5

Wow, this was a great find! I never heard of this book, but needed an audio and it was short and available from the library (and I liked the title) so I grabbed it. This is an Israeli author so most if not all the stories take place in Israel. The audio is read by an all star cast; mostly authors - and I'm guessing mostly Jewish. I got to hear Gary Schtyengart's cute voice!

The stories were funny and sad and weird. Dark (I really don't tire of the darkness.) For example, one story was a gu...more
4.5/5

Wow, this was a great find! I never heard of this book, but needed an audio and it was short and available from the library (and I liked the title) so I grabbed it. This is an Israeli author so most if not all the stories take place in Israel. The audio is read by an all star cast; mostly authors - and I'm guessing mostly Jewish. I got to hear Gary Schtyengart's cute voice!

The stories were funny and sad and weird. Dark (I really don't tire of the darkness.) For example, one story was a guy who met the lies he told. So if said, "I have to care for my sick uncle" he then met that uncle, who was naturally, sick. One was a guy who had breakfast with random people in a diner. He'd look for people looking around the room as if meeting someone, and wave them over, and just try to act like he was the person they were meeting.

Very good writing, great stories, and perfect for audio because most of the stories were so short if you drifted off, you could listen to it again. I'll be looking for more of this authors work. I'd recommend this for those who like: Dark, Jewish, or surreal stories, it's not for everyone.

I'm including the narrators in case anybody is interested:

Audio Track listing: "Suddenly, a Knock on the Door", read by Ira Glass; "Lieland", read by Adam Thirlwell; "Cheesus Christ", read by Dave Eggers; "Simyon", read by Nicole Krauss; "Shut", read by George Saunders; "Healthy Start"; read by Ben Foster; "Teamwork", read by Mathieu Amalric; "Pudding", read by Aimee Bender; "Unzipping", read by Miranda July; "The Polite Little Boy", read by Ben Marcus; "Mystique", read by Willem Dafoe; "Creative Writing", read by Stanley Tucci; "Snot", read by John Sayles; "Grab the Cuckoo by the Tail", read by Gary Shteyngart; "Pick a Color", read by Robert Wisdom; "Black and Blue", read by Stella Schnabel; "What Do We Have in Our Pockets?" read by Michael Chabon; "Bad Karma", read by Lorin Stein; "Ari", read by Rick Moody; "Bitch", read by Nathan Englander; "The Story, Victorious", read by Scott Shepherd; "A Good One", read by David Rakoff; "What, of This Goldfish, Would You Wish?" read by Gary Shteyngart; "Not Completely Alone", read by Michael Chernus; "One Step Beyond", read by Shea Wigham; "Big Blue Bus", read by Josh Charles; "Hemorrhoid", read by Michael Buscemi; "September All Year Long", read by Neal Stephenson; "Joseph", read by Mark Duplass; "Mourners Meal", read by Shalom Auslander; "Parallel Universes", read by Todd Hasak-Lowy; "Upgrade", read by Josh Radnor; "Guava", read by Ira Glass; "Surprise Party", read by Scott Shepherd; "What Animal Are You?" read by Jonathan Safran Foer; and "Asthma Attack", read by Etgar Keret.(less)

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Sep 27, 2012 Angel rated it 5 of 5 stars

on shotgun judgement (in lieu of a review) :: so, when i first added this book to my currently reading shelf, i compulsively gave it 3 stars. (why did i rate it? i had barely read 2 stories! our relationship was in its fictional infancy!) there was a gun in the first story and the next story i looked at seemed bleak and violent and depressing. well. i don't like those things. so i put my 3 stars with a little sniff. so there, stylish writer all the blurbs say is so great! ha.

then i laughed at my...more

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May 07, 2012 Melissa rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

So often I read a short story and feel like, you know, what was the point of that story? Like there's something to get that I'm just not getting, because maybe I'm a fool, or maybe I'm just not very deep, or, if I'm feeling confident at the time of the reading, maybe the author didn't actually know what he or she was doing.

Not this book of very, very short stories, though. These were funny, sad, interesting, and they wrapped up in a satisfying way. I'm sure different ones stick with different pe...more

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Jan 30, 2013 Javier Jiménez rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: short story lovers

Recommended to Javier by: Miguel Jiménez

Shelves: humor, magic-realism, relationships, short-stories

Esta es una fantástica colección de historias cortas. Realmente cortas, no recuerdo bien pero yo creo que por lo menos la mitad de ellas son de menos de 6 páginas. Sin embargo, no hay por qué relacionar la longitud con la calidad. De hecho, si existiera una relación yo creo que esta sería de manera inversa, ya que a menor longitud de un cuento se requiere mayor creatividad y talento para lograr una buena historia en tan pocas páginas. Y este autor israelí lo logra de manera fabulosa, es un maest...more

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Miguel Jiménez Me gustó tu reseña. Creo que no dejaste nada afuera: hablaste de la extensión de los cuentos, de los temas de los que habla —algo muy importante—, las...more
updated Feb 03, 2013 06:11pm

Javier Jiménez Miguel wrote: "Me gustó tu reseña. Creo que no dejaste nada afuera: hablaste de la extensión de los cuentos, de los temas de los que habla —algo muy i...more
Feb 05, 2013 07:43am

Apr 10, 2012 Emily rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I was so looking forward to this collection and it did not disappoint--not that I thought Etgar could. As always, Keret's stories make me feel something I can't exactly explain, but that I know is profound and true and important. Each piece has been brilliantly translated so that one forgets completely that it was originally conceived in another language. One of the best collections I've read.

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Jan 21, 2013 Miguel Jiménez rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Me ha gustado mucho este libro. Por lo que veo Etgar Keret tiene una imaginación increíble, y lo desmuestra con cuentos de lo más creativos y originales. Y también humor, del bueno, inteligente, gracioso. Aunque a veces algo negro, parecido a Woody Allen.

Como dice bien él mismo, no le interesa escribir con palabras "bonitas" o difíciles de comprender para que se vea que es un "verdadero escritor". No, él sabe que sin una historia no hay cuento, por más que escribas de forma maravillosa.

Si estás...more

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Apr 29, 2012 Kent Winward rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

These short, short stories left me feeling flat, as often as they moved me. The post-modern self-referential shtick is something I enjoy, but maybe something was lost in the translation. These stories felt a little bit more like Kafka-light. It could also be that the stories tended to carry a slight misanthropic view, so I never quite connected. When Keret was dealing with personal emotional impact, the stories were at their best.

Three highlights: The writer being filmed by a German film crew an...more

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May 04, 2013 Sarah rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is one of the best audiobook productions I have read in awhile. Each story is read by a different person, and most of these people are great authors in their own right who are paying homage to a master of the short form. I was really impressed with this collection. Maybe I should have heard of Etgar Keret before, but I haven't and that makes me sad because I could have been enjoying his work sooner. Some of the stories reminded me of Kafka in that the endings were totally unexpected.

I also...more

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Jan 25, 2013 Letizia Girolamo rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

E chi lo dice che gli autori israeliani scrivano solo volumi impegnativi?
Edgar Keret, con questo gioiellino di letteratura contemporanea, ci dimostra (nel caso non ne fossimo già convinti) che la sua identità religiosa e culturale non lo imprigiona in una corrente artistico-letteraria fatta di temi, situazioni e personaggi stabiliti. Al contrario, il mondo di questi racconti è declinato in numerose sfumature differenti in cui, a far da filo conduttore, non è un punto di vista ebraico ma un sempl...more E chi lo dice che gli autori israeliani scrivano solo volumi impegnativi?
Edgar Keret, con questo gioiellino di letteratura contemporanea, ci dimostra (nel caso non ne fossimo già convinti) che la sua identità religiosa e culturale non lo imprigiona in una corrente artistico-letteraria fatta di temi, situazioni e personaggi stabiliti. Al contrario, il mondo di questi racconti è declinato in numerose sfumature differenti in cui, a far da filo conduttore, non è un punto di vista ebraico ma un semplicissimo, banale "knock on the door".
Con uno squisito omaggio letterario all'antecedente per eccellenza, "Le mille e una notte", Keret dà il via al volume con una prova di meta-letteratura: mentre è comodamente seduto sul suo divano di casa, l'autore sente bussare alla porta. Nel suo salotto iniziano a radunarsi dubbi personaggi, entrati prepotentemente con una scusa ma tutti con lo stesso obiettivo: farsi raccontare una storia.
Infondo, le vicende narrate da Keret non sono che percorsi di vita - perlopiù - banali, impravvisamente interrotti da un avvenimento. Come reagisce all'irruzione dei tipi loschi in cerca di storie? Come reagisce Halina quando una comitiva rumorosa e invadente si siede ai suoi tavoli senza ordinare nulla? Come reaggisce la dolce Pnina quando suo marito non rientra a casa il giorno del suo compleanno?
Con la leggerezza e la delicatezza che lo contraddistinguono, Keret snocciola situazioni e personaggi di mondi semplici e conosciuti, in cui l'elemento ebraico sta essenzialmente nella cifra umoristica con la quale si guarda alla realtà. Seppur talvolta malinconici, con qualche puntata noir, i racconti ci lasciano una percezione positiva e ottimistica delle cose. Così come chiude il racconto Cosa abbiamo in tasca?, occorre portarsi dietro un bagaglio spesso pesante e fastidioso per essere pronti. Avere in tasca un imprecisato numero di oggetti senza alcuna (apparente) connessione tra loro può essere "una piccola occasione di non rovinare tutto".
Prepariamoci, dunque: presto qualcuno busserà alla porta.(less)

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Jan 18, 2013 Silvia rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: narrativa-ebraica

"Come mai mi ficco sempre in situazioni simili? Ad Amos Oz e a David Grossman non capiterebbe mai"

All’improvviso bussano alla porta raccoglie 38 racconti pieni di vita, in perfetto equilibro fra realtà e paradosso, arguti, tristi, esilaranti. Che ti fanno riflettere proprio come una favola.
Questi racconti sono frammenti di vita e racchiudono tutte le sfumature del sentire umano: amore, (in)felicità e (in)fedeltà, amicizia, paura, fede, tolleranza…
E speranza. Le tre pagine di “Cosa abbiamo in tas...more

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May 09, 2012 Matt rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Despite the sheer quantity of stories in this collection, it's a very fast read. Normally when I read short fiction I need to take a break between stories to let them digest, but these are SO short they don't even have time to settle, which renders digestion unnecessary.

With work of this type, character obviously falls by the wayside and it's more about ideas, innovation, cleverness, wordplay, and insight. There's a lot of each to be found in this collection (and apparently a lot more wordplay...more

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May 06, 2012 Marie rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Etgar Keret is the sort of writer that throws you into these stories, blindfolded and unsure. He doesn't pander, doesn't wait for the reader to get used to their surroundings. It gives the stories reality, even in moments of talking goldfish and zips on the inside of mouths. By the third or fourth page of each story, you're in it, in that strange universe he's invented.

Each story has it's own unique absurdities, and every twist is truly unexpected while still a perfect fit. So many ideas made me...more

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Sep 13, 2012 Julia rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: short-stories, favorites

"What, of This Goldfish, Would You Wish" was the first story by this author that I encountered (it was read on This American Life), and it's one of my favorite short stories. This collection has a wide variety of stories, with different tones, subjects, and lengths. Most could be called magical realism, and these stories illustrate how non-cloying and unprecious magical realism can be. Some of them are simply ordinary people doing slightly unusual things, as with one of my favorites from this bo...more

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Jun 21, 2012 amanda eve rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Etgar Keret's stories are a punch to the gut, in the very best way. They make me want to run up to perfect strangers, pull them next to me, and say "Listen to this!" as I read them aloud, so they know what it feels to be completely leveled by a story.

I skimmed through the book again the other night, trying to pick out my favourites, but ended up obsessively re-reading most of the stories again, furiously underlining and scribbling incredibly intelligent comments like "OMG" and "WHY IS THIS SO G...more

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Jun 22, 2012 Sarah rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Short stories are hard for me. I think because the stories are short that I should finish reading it more quickly. I have to admit to continually checking to see how much of thebook I had read and how much I had left. Now maybe that was because it was an express loan from the library, or because I had another good book to start right after finishing this one.

Even with all of that impatience at reading it I still readlly enjoyed it. It's the type of book you would want to buy though to refer bac...more

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Mar 25, 2013 Sarah rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: damn-good, short-stories, twisted, features-a-boat, made-me-lol

What a great collection of short stories from Israel. These stories are wildly imaginative, ingenious, funny and profound. Lieland, Creative Writing, Unzipping are twisted and brilliant. What if all the lies you told suddenly came alive? What if humans split in two instead of reproducing? What would happen if you found a small zipper under your lover's tongue that revealed a whole different person inside? Other stories were profound and serious such as Teamwork, Black and Blue, Bitch which I did...more

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Dec 29, 2012 Shannon rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: short-stories

As I read all of these glimmering reviews, I wonder how many have read his other work. Although this wasn't terrible, it definitely wasn't something to write home about, at least for Keret.

All the stories were so forced, like something you wrote in college when you had a paper due in 2 hours for English class, but couldn't think of a story so you wrote 2 pages of something kind of imaginative but made up a random, disconnected ending to make your paper long enough.

I am a huge Keret fan myself,...more

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About Etgar Keret

Etgar Keret is an Israeli writer known for his short stories, graphic novels, and scriptwriting for film and television.

Keret has received the Prime Minister's award for literature, as well as the Ministry of Culture's Cinema Prize. The short film Malka Lev Adom (Skin Deep, 1996), which Keret wrote and directed with Ran Tal, won an Israel Film Academy award and first place in the Munich Internatio...more

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The Bus Driver Who Wanted to Be God and Other Stories

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Quotes from Suddenly, a Knock on t...

“He misses the feeling of creating something out of something. That’s right — something out of something. Because something out of nothing is when you make something up out of thin air, in which case it has no value. Anybody can do that. But something out of something means it was really there the whole time, inside you, and you discover it as part of something new, that’s never happened before.” — 7 people liked it

“The fact is that everything I have in my pockets is carefully chosen so I’ll always be prepared. Everything is there so I can be at an advantage at the moment of truth. Actually, that’s not accurate. Everything’s there so I won’t be at a disadvantage at the moment of truth.” — 5 people liked it

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