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The Girl on the Fridge
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A birthday-party magician whose hat tricks end in horror and gore; a girl parented by a major household appliance; the possessor of the lowest IQ in Mossad -- such are the denizens of Etgar Keret's dark and fertile mind. The Girl on the Fridge contains the best of Keret's first collections, the ones that made him a household name in Israel and the major discovery of this l
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Paperback, 171 pages
Published
April 15th 2008
by Farrar Straus Giroux
(first published 2006)
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Short Short Stories
Etgar Keret was born in Tel Aviv in 1967.
This is the third book of his short stories that I’ve read and I’ve loved them all.
To give you one idea of why I like them, there are 46 stories in this collection, and the whole thing is only 171 pages long.
Most stories come in at 1½ to four pages, which means you can read two while you’re waiting for your bread to toast, or your partner to warm your side of the bed for you, or your children to finish in the bathroom (well, maybe I' ...more
Etgar Keret was born in Tel Aviv in 1967.
This is the third book of his short stories that I’ve read and I’ve loved them all.
To give you one idea of why I like them, there are 46 stories in this collection, and the whole thing is only 171 pages long.
Most stories come in at 1½ to four pages, which means you can read two while you’re waiting for your bread to toast, or your partner to warm your side of the bed for you, or your children to finish in the bathroom (well, maybe I' ...more
I bought this at Powell's in Chicago; my wife drove and I read a few stories aloud -- which isn't problematic as most of them were less than two pages and hilariously dry. I finished before we made it to Lafyette. I would read more of his work but have since grown immune to erratic impulses to flash effect.
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May 29, 2008
Terence
rated it
really liked it
Recommends it for:
Fans of Chekhov & similar writers
Shelves:
short-story-collections
I don't know how I discovered Etgar Keret but I've always been happy that I did. As I'm also in the midst of reading a couple of Chekhov collections, I think I can understand why I like Keret: He reminds me a great deal of Chekhov, and not just because most of their stories are very short. Both authors write in a style that, on the surface, is comedic, cynical and superficial but upon reflection reveals an insight and depth of empathy few writers can excel.
This is the weakest of the three Keret ...more
This is the weakest of the three Keret ...more
Jan 18, 2010
Lisa (not getting friends updates) Vegan
rated it
did not like it
Recommended to Lisa (not getting friends updates) by:
Rachel
Many readers seem to think this author is a genius and his stories are wonderful. Perhaps, but my opinion differs. They were not to my taste.
This book has 171 pages and there are 46 stories; they’re obviously very short. Thankfully, for me, they were short and the book was short.
As I read I had a sheet of paper handy with loved, liked a lot, and liked as categories, for writing down short stories that fit each one. The results?: none that I could wholeheartedly put on any of those lists, althoug ...more
This book has 171 pages and there are 46 stories; they’re obviously very short. Thankfully, for me, they were short and the book was short.
As I read I had a sheet of paper handy with loved, liked a lot, and liked as categories, for writing down short stories that fit each one. The results?: none that I could wholeheartedly put on any of those lists, althoug ...more
After hearing an interview with this author as well as excepts from some of his shorts on NPR I rushed to buy this book. Etgar Keret has written a collection of slightly dark and sometimes surreal short stories about the human condition. Individually these stories can be surprising and thought provoking, but as a whole I found the experience of reading this book to be exhausting. This 137 page novel features no less than 46 individual stories. Fourty-six. In case math is not your friend, each sh
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his short stories are super-short, only 3 until 4 pages long, yet they're unbeatably effective in delivering their goal. the stories are hilarious, and sometime surreal too. like when a wife glued her feet to the ceiling and hanging upside down like a bat because, according to the husband, maybe she knew something about his hidden affair with another woman. etgar keret has a unique sense of humour. his way of telling stories reminds me of junot díaz, a writer from dominican republic who wrote 't
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Salman Rushdie calls Keret “the voice of the next generation,” a boldly meaningless statement. Most of us will eventually recall the contentious convention of the next generation, to be so relentlessly covered in USA Tomorrow, in which Salman Rushdie will narrowly defeat Simon Cowell and Donald Trump for the office of Decider of the Voice of the Next Generation. We will recall it as soon as it occurs. But while we are waiting for the Next Generation to form, define itself or be defined, and Mr.
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This is the awesomest minimalistic weirdness I have ever read, both in terms of word scarcity and stories themselves, some as short as half a page, yet packed with so much juice and life and magic and absurdity of every day life and sorrow and hope and sexual fantasies and violence and poetry and…oh, I can’t continue, I have to catch my breath. Can you fix a relationship with super glue? Like, real super glue, really glueing two people together? Can you be parented by a fridge? Can you vacuum se
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This was an impulse grab at the library. Its rather interesting full of short stories that are kind of funny, kind of creepy to down right boring. It was an okay read.
It's always hard to rate a short story collection like this, where some are so good I want to give them all five stars, some mediocre and some completely shitty. So an average rating comes through, but that fails to provide a clear picture. Here translation plays another part
The stories I absolutely loved are : Asthma Attack, Crazy Glue, Yordan, Vacuum Seal, The Girl On The Fridge, Nothing, The Night The Buses Died, On The Nutritional Value Of Dreams. I would recommend checking them out, if you ...more
The stories I absolutely loved are : Asthma Attack, Crazy Glue, Yordan, Vacuum Seal, The Girl On The Fridge, Nothing, The Night The Buses Died, On The Nutritional Value Of Dreams. I would recommend checking them out, if you ...more
I'm so glad I randomly stumbled across this book at my local bookstore. Etgar Keret's style of storytelling feels fresh and new, playful and smart; and he's very perceptive when it comes to both the dark and lighter sides of human nature. Some of the stories were stronger than others, but I liked them all. And, for at least half of them, I finished the story, closed my eyes, and mentally shouted the equivalent of "BRAVO!" Which is to say, I really really liked the story. :) Also, the writing (in
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I'm a big fan of short stories. I didn't know what to expect with this one; the cover caught my eye (shame on me) and the description on the back pulled me in pretty quickly, so I thought I'd give it a whirl. Finished it in less than a week, and wow. I love stumbling across books like this one on accident. The stories come in bite-sized portions; I think the shortest one was 3/4 of a page and the longest was probably six pages. The story topics include: brain cancer, crazy glue, people pissing o
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May 31, 2008
Ethan Amarant
rated it
really liked it
Recommends it for:
Everyone who doesn't need a happy ending
Though not as good as The Nimrod Flipout there are many stories in this collection that still blow me away. This collection feels darker then his other collection I've read. The story, "The Bet", is a great example. It's short, powerful, and the last sentence will stay with you long after you've finished it, but where you could feel the hope resonating throughout most of the stories in The Nimrod Flipout, Keret seems much more cynical in this collection. Still a great read.
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Thank God it's over.
That is the first thought that pops into my head when I am finally finished with this sad excuse for a book. I must admit, I had no idea whatsoever as to what I was getting myself into when a classmate of mine handed it to me with the genuine promise that I was going to love it. I am never trusting him again.
Most of the reviews I read before digging into the book were praises, absolute, unquestionable praises, which undoubtedly raised the bar of my expectations. Alas, almos ...more
That is the first thought that pops into my head when I am finally finished with this sad excuse for a book. I must admit, I had no idea whatsoever as to what I was getting myself into when a classmate of mine handed it to me with the genuine promise that I was going to love it. I am never trusting him again.
Most of the reviews I read before digging into the book were praises, absolute, unquestionable praises, which undoubtedly raised the bar of my expectations. Alas, almos ...more
On the cover of this book, there is a quote by Salman Rushdie saying that the author, Etgar Keret, is "The voice of the next generation." I don't know which generation Rushdie had in mind, but my feeling is it must be the Twitter Generation...because these stories are short...really short...with the shortest being one smallish paragraph. Not being a Twitter person, I can't vouch for it's effectiveness, or lack thereof, to convey meaningful/moving ideas, but these stories, for the most part, don'
...more
Israeli writer Keret does a lot with a few words. This collection of short-story espresso shots (emphasis on short - each story was no more than a few pages long) is dark and fairly messed up - but distinctive and compelling.
Collection of odd, dark flash fiction. Not every one of the 30 plus stories work, but more than enough are brilliant little jolts. Surrealistic treatments of everyday violence.
These stories are flawless fucked up gems. I can't describe them any other way. Not EVERY story is solid, but with almost fifty stories, what can you expect?
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Ok, so I don't really know how to start this review. Maybe I should start by saying that this book has been a bit of a revelation. I'm used to read mostly classics, fiction and historical novels, so this contemporary book, apart from being a good friend gift, is something new to me. Firstly, I must say that I have mixed feelings about this book; it is divided in short stories, each of them very different but very similar at the same time. There are some of them which I have enjoyed very much, th
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"I needed something I could believe in. A great love that would never go away, that would never leave me. My therapist listened with interest and suggested that I buy a dog. I left my therapist."
Recently, I read something about the disappearance of the Dewy Decimal System. The author lamented its decline, and talked about the beauty and simplicity we're losing as a result. It was a compelling argument, until last week, when I found myself in an academic library and was reminded of my loathing fo ...more
Recently, I read something about the disappearance of the Dewy Decimal System. The author lamented its decline, and talked about the beauty and simplicity we're losing as a result. It was a compelling argument, until last week, when I found myself in an academic library and was reminded of my loathing fo ...more
Keret locates a gleeful/tragic world of absurdity in modern Israeli life, and while it's tempting to frame this as a reaction to the region's politics (a la Dada art), it's more apt to say he's encompassing all facets of his society.
There's the story about all of the city buses "dying" one night, their corpses lying in wrecks at the depot; the magician whose rabbit-in-the-hat trick takes an accidental, gruesome turn, making him all the more popular at birthday parties; and the cafe of regulars ...more
There's the story about all of the city buses "dying" one night, their corpses lying in wrecks at the depot; the magician whose rabbit-in-the-hat trick takes an accidental, gruesome turn, making him all the more popular at birthday parties; and the cafe of regulars ...more
Miranda July forced her boyfriend to read Keret so that they could "stay on the same plane of reality together." Perhaps it is bold of me to say it, but I feel Keret is the perfect voice of our generation. Simple, concise, sincere, and whimsical. A writer that can stay poignant, and relevant in the face of a twitter generation. We are a generation of short relationships, and we let people come and go so quickly from our lives that in order to let them affect us we have to acknowledge not only th
...more
Mr. Keret is definitely on my radar now. This book of very short stories ( is this flash fiction?) is a breeze to blaze through. I stopped reading after each short to briefly digest what I had read, formulating my idea of what the author was trying to say. What the message might be for each story. While some were obvious, others still leave me scratching my head, scratching and smiling. Etgar Keret might remind me of Chuck Palahniuk, if Palahniuk had short term memory loss. Again, that's a compl
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Other than the one about a magician pulling terrors from his hat instead of a rabbit, this collection really disappointed compared to "The Nimrod Flipout." Some of these stories are so thin they're almost nonexistent. Nowhere near as funny or evolved as his later stuff.
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I didn't like these earlier stories as much as his later ones. The really memorable ones from this collection are few and far between. Still, there are a few really memorable ones. I share "Crazy Glue" with students in my class, even though some of it is mildly inappropriate. One of my favorites.
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Etgar Keret is one of my favorite contemporary short story writers. I first heard a story on this american life and I've been hooked ever since. Israeli, weird, grotesque,beautiful. Flash fiction that flashes enlightenment. To read these stories is to have something happen to you.
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I have a thing for short stories and Keret does a really great job of taking you all over the place with one book. The shorts were short, quirky, eccentric and hilarious at times.
A short interesting read.
A short interesting read.
I've realized that I'm not the biggest fan of short story of poem anthologies. I much prefer reading them individually, rather than a collection. That being said, a lot of these stories really consumed me and I loved all of its strangeness.
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Minimalist, absurdist short shorts from Israel. Enough said.
Dear 16-year-olds of the world plus Etgar Keret: "obscure" doesn't necessarily mean "interesting". Sorry. Sincerely, Judith
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Readers also enjoyed
Etgar Keret is an Israeli writer known for his short stories, graphic novels, and scriptwriting for film and television. His books had been published in more than thirty languages.
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 ...more
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 ...more
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