Review of Iddo Gefen’s ‘Mrs. Lilienblum’s Cloud Factory’

Justthree months ago, Israeli author Iddo Gefen won the $100,000 2023 Sami RohrPrize for Jewish Literature for his debut short story collection JerusalemBeach (Astra House, August 2021). Daniella Zamir was recognized for hertranslation, for which she received a quarter of the prize money.

Thistalented author has outdone himself with his debut novel, Mrs.Lilienblum's Cloud Factory (Kinneret Zmora-Bitan Dvir, July 2023). Thebook is due to be published by Astra House in 2024, but I couldn't wait for theEnglish edition and just finished reading it in its original Hebrew.

Thebook opens with Sarai Lilienblum sitting in the middle of the Big Crater inIsrael's south, wearing a Bordeaux bathrobe and drinking a martini. She hadbeen missing for days and no one in her family knew where she was, or how shegot to the crater. And Sarai isn't explaining anything.

Wesoon learn about Sarai's latest invention, a machine that can manufactureclouds and intense rainfall and possibly solve the climate crisis. Thatpossibility depends not only on the interactions between Sarai and her family,but on the very nature of Israel's startup culture.

Thenovel is very witty, with fully developed characters and an amazing plot.

"Whenyou read Gefen’s stories," I wrote in my review of Jerusalem Beach,"with their diverse characters, and cross-genre themes of memories anddreams, you never know what you’re going to get. But one thing you do know.Each story is going to be very enjoyable to read."

Thesame is true for Mrs. Lilienblum's Cloud Factory, a tour de forceby a very talented author whose mark on the Israeli literary scene is just gettingstarted. The book is a pleasure to read and highly recommended.

Iddo Gefen is anauthor and neurocognitive researcher at the Virtual and Augmented Reality Labat the Sagol Brain Institute. He leads an innovative study to diagnose aspectsof Parkinson’s disease using storytelling and augmented reality. JerusalemBeach, his first book, received the Israeli Minister of Culture’s Award in2017, and the 2023 Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature.

Originally posted on The Times of Israel.

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Review of ‘Jerusalem Beach’ by Iddo Gefen