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94th out of 149 books
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Panther in the Basement
From (Washington Post Book World), comes this story of Proffy, a twelve-year-old living in Palestine in 1947. When Proffy befriends a member of the occupying British forces who shares his love of language and the Bible, he is accused of treason by his friends and learns the true nature of loyalty and betrayal. Translated by Nicholas de Lange.
Paperback, 160 pages
Published
October 1st 1998
by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
(first published 1994)
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Attack in Jerusalem...Suicide bombings...Reoccupation of West bank...Bush proposal for Palestinian State...
Yes - the headlines are horrendous... and, as an American Jew, there are times when I find myself questioning my feelings toward the situation in Israel. ...That is until a book such as this, as told through the eyes of the 12-year-old son of 2 Holocaust survivors, comes along reminding me of the importance of Israel to Jews all over the world!
Panther in the Basement...more
Yes - the headlines are horrendous... and, as an American Jew, there are times when I find myself questioning my feelings toward the situation in Israel. ...That is until a book such as this, as told through the eyes of the 12-year-old son of 2 Holocaust survivors, comes along reminding me of the importance of Israel to Jews all over the world!
Panther in the Basement...more
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Oz’s novel is set in 1948 Palestine just before the birth of Israel. The Jews are agitating for their own country, the UN is stalling, and the British are trying to enforce peace between the Jews and the Arabs, even though the latter are expected to launch an attack the instant the UN sanctions the creation of a Jewish state. To the Jews, both the occupying British and the menacing Arabs are enemies. The book’s narrator is reminiscing about this volatile period, when at age twelve he and his...more
Oz’s novel is set in 1948 Palestine just before the birth of Israel and is narrated by a 12-year-old boy. He and his imaginative friends form an alliance to work together to defeat Britain, but "Proffy" is determined by his peers to be a traitor because of his friendship with an awkward British soldier.
Proffy's parents, both Holocaust survivors, respond differently to the tragedies around them. Now and then his mother has quiet words of wisdom,e.g., "To love is not ...more
Proffy's parents, both Holocaust survivors, respond differently to the tragedies around them. Now and then his mother has quiet words of wisdom,e.g., "To love is not ...more
This book is set in in 1947 British-occupied Palestine and narrated by 12 year-old boy. While getting used to Oz's style and the oft-time awkwardness with translations (Israeli to English) I grew into this book, enjoying it more and more with each turn of the page, and was most enamored with many of his descriptions, such as :
- of his father's book collection ( begins on p. 96). AMAZING!
- a sneeze (p.113)
- Yardena in the kitchen (begins on p. 122)
This...more
- of his father's book collection ( begins on p. 96). AMAZING!
- a sneeze (p.113)
- Yardena in the kitchen (begins on p. 122)
This...more
Carino, carino. Libercolo letto in un giorno, a letto con un virus che impedisce di fare molto altro. Mi è piaciuto, l'aggettivo che userei è "tenero." E' molto tenero, molto dolce, ti scalda il cuore seguire le gesta di questo undicenne intelligente e un po' nerd, che nel 1947 decide di imparare l'inglese da un soldato britannico, meritandosi l'appellativo di traditore da parte dei suoi amici nazionalisti. Bella anche la galleria di personaggi malinconici che popolano la futura Israel...more
This is a delightful, amusing,short coming of age story. After reading A Tale of Love and Darkness you clearly recognize that this too is about the author himself. Of the two I guess I prefer the memoir, but you get a quick glimpse of the author and his writing style in this shorter book. Such imagination! Such love of books! I also like how the author circles around and around a subject, going deeper and deeper into the core - the writing is never linear. His physical description of temptation ...more
Karen Herman
added it
This was one of those rare occasions that I picked up a book because I saw the movie based on it. The movie was wonderful and the book was quite similar - a moving story of the friendship between a young Israeli boy and a British soldier in the waning days of the British mandate over Palestine.
A 12 year old Jewish boy struggles with the concept of loyalty after he befriends an awkward British soldier during the British Mandate. Lovely look at a young boy's life from his precocious perspective. "Anyone who loves," says his mother, "isn't a traitor."
I love Amos Oz's writing: this is my favorite of his books. Set in Jerusalem in the years during British occupation in Palestine, the story speaks from a boy's perspective on the fight for statehood.
Clearly this novel is as much about Israel's present conflict with the Palestinians as it is about the wars of his youth. This small novel is a gem, Amos Oz is one of the greatest Israeli authors.
It has scenes that superficially seem unrelated but which, when combined, have real emotional force.
It has scenes that superficially seem unrelated but which, when combined, have real emotional force.
I enjoyed the book throughout, yet the final chapters are really captivating.
Note that the three women in the book have questionable relationships with the men in their lives, while the men are solid heroes.
Note that the three women in the book have questionable relationships with the men in their lives, while the men are solid heroes.
Interesting period piece. Adolescent stuck on cusp between baby and manhood. Decides to be a traitor and befriend a British Soldier, Pre- Israel statehood. Many symbolism that I did not get.
Story of the 1948 war from the point of view of a 12 year old boy. You have to love an author who can spend 10 pages of the boy describing his father's library collection!
Una hermosa novela sobre el final de la infancia y el descubrimiento del mundo adulto, con el telónd de fondo de la independencia de Israel
Beautiful memoir. What an incredible writer. Myriad of issues, ideas and questions are raised in this coming of age story.
Много хубава детска книга. Прияно разказана и доста кратка.
Have you read Elie Wiesel's Dawn? Is it the same story?
A charming young adult book suitable for adults too.
Un libro semplice, scritto (e tradotto) molto bene, con garbo con eleganza. Come non immedesimarsi nel piccolo Profi, come non provare per lui una simpatia e un affetto sconfinati. Sicuramente da leggere!!
bad writing boring and slow
Layer upon layer of deceptively simple prose. This is an amazingly written young adult novel.
poignant. about growing up in a militarized society.
A wonderful glimpse into the fictional world of a child growing up in occupied Palestine, on the eve of the birth of Israel.
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Amos Oz is an Israeli writer, novelist, and journalist. He is also a professor of literature at Ben-Gurion University in Be'er Sheva. Since 1967, he has been a prominent advocate of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In 2008 he received an Honorary Degree from the University of Antwerp. He also received the Dan David prize in 2008 for "Creative Rendering of the Past."...more
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