What do you think?
Rate this book
A Man and a Woman and a Man
An international bestsellera novel of passion by one of Israel's finest writers. In the unlikely setting of a Tel Aviv nursing home, Hamutal, wife and mother, falls in love with a man in a green jacket. Like herself, he has come to visit a dying parent. As Hamutal's mother reveals unsettling truths about her Holocaust past, Hamutal's obsession with the man grows. With sensitivity and insight, Liebrecht captures the intensity of their sudden love affair and its aftermath.
256 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1998
2 people are currently reading
62 people want to read
About the author
Savyon Liebrecht
25 books15 followersSavyon Liebrecht was born in Munich, Germany, in 1948, to Holocaust survivor parents. She studied philosophy and literature at Tel Aviv University and started publishing in 1986. She has received awards for two of her TV scripts, the Alterman Prize (1987), the Amelia Rosselli Prize for Mail Order Women (Italy, 2002) and the Maior-Amalfi Award for A Good Place for the Night (Italy, 2005); as well as Playwright of the Year for her successful plays, It's All Greek to Me (2005), and Apples in the Desert (2006). In 2009, she received the WIZO Prize (France).
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
May 9, 2025
MELE DAL DESERTO
Lui, Shaul, è in ospedale per assistere il padre malato. Lei, Hamutal, la madre.
Sono entrambi sposati. Si conoscono durante i giorni dell’assistenza ospedaliera, i genitori son messi male, la morte aleggia nell’aria.
Si innamorano. Sembra.
Credo.
L’amore messo alla prova non è solo quello tra un uomo e una donna, ma anche quello tra un figlio, maschio o femmina che sia, e un genitore, maschio o femmina che sia.
Ma, una storia d’amore, o quella di una famiglia, o un rapporto madre-figlia, in Israele hanno uno spessore storico tutto particolare: dietro ogni vicenda privata c’è l’orrore della Shoah, l’incubo del conflitto con i palestinesi, il peso di una complicata storia millenaria.
Qui, i genitori rappresentano la memoria.
Soprattutto nel rapporto tra le due donne, la figlia Hamutal, e sua madre, sempre fredda e assente, ora invece dipendente dalle cura della figlia. L’anziana porta in scena la Shoah.
E sarà forse perché Hamutal lavora in una rivista di psicologia, per la quale si occupa di interpretazione dei sogni, che lo scambio di gesti, silenzi e parole tra madre e figlia assume il tono di una seduta psicanalitica fuori dai canoni.
Non è tanto a un matrimonio in crisi che Shaul e Hamutal reagiscono: si cercano, forse si trovano, fanno l’amore, credo soprattutto per fuggire a ben altro tipo di crisi, a un dolore troppo grande, a un rapporto d’affetto fondamentale che sta per concludersi per sempre. La paura di confrontarsi con la fine dello stato di figlio che arriva quando i genitori muoiono, il peso di sentirsi all’improvviso la generazione pilastro perché quella precedente che ci ha sostenuto finora si è estinta.
Un romanzo che sa farsi domande, e anche darsi risposte, scritto con l’eleganza, la sensibilità e la discrezione che ho imparato essere proprie di Savyon Liebrecht.
PS
Mele dal deserto è il titolo di una raccolta di racconti pubblicata anche in Italia. Savyon Liebrecht è soprattutto scrittrice di racconti, questo è il suo primo romanzo. Nata in Germania (a Monaco di Baviera), si trasferì insieme alla sua famiglia in Israele quando aveva solo due anni. È cresciuta a Tel Aviv, dove vive tuttora.
Tel Aviv in tutte le immagini.
Lui, Shaul, è in ospedale per assistere il padre malato. Lei, Hamutal, la madre.
Sono entrambi sposati. Si conoscono durante i giorni dell’assistenza ospedaliera, i genitori son messi male, la morte aleggia nell’aria.
Si innamorano. Sembra.
Credo.
L’amore messo alla prova non è solo quello tra un uomo e una donna, ma anche quello tra un figlio, maschio o femmina che sia, e un genitore, maschio o femmina che sia.
Ma, una storia d’amore, o quella di una famiglia, o un rapporto madre-figlia, in Israele hanno uno spessore storico tutto particolare: dietro ogni vicenda privata c’è l’orrore della Shoah, l’incubo del conflitto con i palestinesi, il peso di una complicata storia millenaria.
Qui, i genitori rappresentano la memoria.
Soprattutto nel rapporto tra le due donne, la figlia Hamutal, e sua madre, sempre fredda e assente, ora invece dipendente dalle cura della figlia. L’anziana porta in scena la Shoah.
E sarà forse perché Hamutal lavora in una rivista di psicologia, per la quale si occupa di interpretazione dei sogni, che lo scambio di gesti, silenzi e parole tra madre e figlia assume il tono di una seduta psicanalitica fuori dai canoni.
Non è tanto a un matrimonio in crisi che Shaul e Hamutal reagiscono: si cercano, forse si trovano, fanno l’amore, credo soprattutto per fuggire a ben altro tipo di crisi, a un dolore troppo grande, a un rapporto d’affetto fondamentale che sta per concludersi per sempre. La paura di confrontarsi con la fine dello stato di figlio che arriva quando i genitori muoiono, il peso di sentirsi all’improvviso la generazione pilastro perché quella precedente che ci ha sostenuto finora si è estinta.
Un romanzo che sa farsi domande, e anche darsi risposte, scritto con l’eleganza, la sensibilità e la discrezione che ho imparato essere proprie di Savyon Liebrecht.
PS
Mele dal deserto è il titolo di una raccolta di racconti pubblicata anche in Italia. Savyon Liebrecht è soprattutto scrittrice di racconti, questo è il suo primo romanzo. Nata in Germania (a Monaco di Baviera), si trasferì insieme alla sua famiglia in Israele quando aveva solo due anni. È cresciuta a Tel Aviv, dove vive tuttora.
Tel Aviv in tutte le immagini.
October 7, 2009
I had a bad taste in my mouth after finishing this full-length novel by Savyon Liebrecht. This is the third book I've read by this author (and this is the last attempt, by god!), and I am astounded that her work gets published at all. Her work is immature and undisciplined. Even her collections of short stories show an unwillingness to control her material. The novel is worse than this: it is a random and self-indulgent mess with everything thrown in but the kitchen sink. What is most infuriating is that her narrative darts off in random directions, always falling short of completing the thought. Where were her editors?
February 28, 2024
This is the second book I have read by this author. The first book I read was The Bridesman. I enjoyed reading this book. In my opinion, she depicted the loneliness in peoples' lives. The depiction of the elderly living in nursing room is realistic. The synopsis of the book on the back cover intimated the book was about the mother who was a resident at the nursing home was going to tell us about how she experienced the Holocaust. There was brief snippets of this in the book but not as much as I was led to believe. However, this did not deter me not to enjoy reading this book. The Holocaust was definitely a factor in all the lives of the characters of the story. The mother/daughter relationship was affected by this horrendous time in history. I believe you will learn about relationships and how time flies for all of us. This is a prophetic warning to all of these not to waste the precious time we have with one another.
May 22, 2018
Es una historia que tiene lugar en Tel Aviv. Hamuta es una mujer casada y con dos hijas que diario va al asilo a visitar a su madre quien padece Alzheimer. Se siente sola en esta dura situación pues, al parecer, ni su marido ni las hijas la apoyan. En el asilo conocerá a un hombre que va a visitar a su padre, quien también está acercándose al final de su vida. Me pareció una historia de encuentros y desencuentros, de enfrentarse a la vida y madurar.
A veces las cosas no son lo que parecen y nos toma tiempo darnos cuenta de lo que tenemos a nuestro alrededor.
No es una historia de amor como tal, me parece más bien una historia de vida. Me gustó mucho.
A veces las cosas no son lo que parecen y nos toma tiempo darnos cuenta de lo que tenemos a nuestro alrededor.
No es una historia de amor como tal, me parece más bien una historia de vida. Me gustó mucho.
December 1, 2023
This is the tale of, well, a man and a woman and a man...and the parents and children of them. There are occasional brilliant descriptions of thoughts or actions, but the remainder was less interesting, and I found several of the characters to be dull and lacking any real relevance to the tale. Overall, a good read, but only at the three stars level.
October 8, 2017
"Che senso ha un’esistenza vissuta solo dal corpo, trasformato in uno scheletro ambulante, privo di ogni ricordo? Qual è l’enigma di questo vuoto improvviso, come se la vita fosse un disegno inutile che viene cancellato portando con sé gli odori, i colori, i sapori di decine di anni, alcuni dei quali vissuti in tranquillità e allegria, con speranze, piacere e ottimismo, e altri in disperazione, colmi di tormenti, paure, disillusioni, rimpianti e nostalgie? Com’è possibile andarsene in questo modo, svuotati come una buccia di pisello, come se niente fosse esistito, niente fosse stato acquisito?" (pp. 67, 68)
August 31, 2021
לא אהבתי את הספר
הדמויות הרגישו לי שטחיות ופלקטיות מדי
הספר כמעט ולא הפתיע או גרם לי לחשוב
למי שהתנסה בטיפול בחולה סיעודי - התיאור של המחלקה היה מדוייק למדי, אם כי הורגש ניסיון להקצין את המצבים והדמויות
למי שלא התנסה במחלקה סיעודית תהיה חסרה הבנה לגבי המתב הנפשי של הדמויות
הדמויות הרגישו לי שטחיות ופלקטיות מדי
הספר כמעט ולא הפתיע או גרם לי לחשוב
למי שהתנסה בטיפול בחולה סיעודי - התיאור של המחלקה היה מדוייק למדי, אם כי הורגש ניסיון להקצין את המצבים והדמויות
למי שלא התנסה במחלקה סיעודית תהיה חסרה הבנה לגבי המתב הנפשי של הדמויות
August 29, 2021
Emotionally charged story of grief and mourning and how it disrupts the balance of life. Very well written.
August 22, 2011
A part of me wonders why our Jewish book club at Shir Hadash picked this book for our first "Returning to our Fall/Winter book club" I am looking forward to the group discussion with our Rabbi --
A Holocaust survivor is in nursing home with Alzheimer's. Her daughter who never had a great relationship with her growing up--visits daily. Her mother seems not to even remember her most days.
Back home with her husband and two daughters --things are not filled with peace-light-and laughter, either.
This little novel gets under your skin fast. It doesn't take long until the 'daughter/wife/mother' (Hamutal is her name)---I know of NOBODY with that name myself---is having an affair with another married man who is also visiting the nursing home caring for his father.
Is it sad that the affair is took place? --- Is it sad that the nursing home leads to death? Is it sad that people's lives feel so emotional broken? Is it just sad growing old?
Was there 'pleasure' in this book that a MAN and a WOMAN took care of each others needs at a time when nobody else seem to be stepping up to the plate for them? Or---was that *too* a painful road to nowhere? My guess many readers could draw many different conclusions about this book.
This is the type of book I don't understand how one is to really RATE it. Did I like how it made me feel? (NO--not always).. Might I have done things different? I like to think I would have. ---However--I feel this book is a great little discussion book on many levels. (maybe THAT's why our Rabbi picked it?/!)
A Holocaust survivor is in nursing home with Alzheimer's. Her daughter who never had a great relationship with her growing up--visits daily. Her mother seems not to even remember her most days.
Back home with her husband and two daughters --things are not filled with peace-light-and laughter, either.
This little novel gets under your skin fast. It doesn't take long until the 'daughter/wife/mother' (Hamutal is her name)---I know of NOBODY with that name myself---is having an affair with another married man who is also visiting the nursing home caring for his father.
Is it sad that the affair is took place? --- Is it sad that the nursing home leads to death? Is it sad that people's lives feel so emotional broken? Is it just sad growing old?
Was there 'pleasure' in this book that a MAN and a WOMAN took care of each others needs at a time when nobody else seem to be stepping up to the plate for them? Or---was that *too* a painful road to nowhere? My guess many readers could draw many different conclusions about this book.
This is the type of book I don't understand how one is to really RATE it. Did I like how it made me feel? (NO--not always).. Might I have done things different? I like to think I would have. ---However--I feel this book is a great little discussion book on many levels. (maybe THAT's why our Rabbi picked it?/!)
November 1, 2011
Nursing home--the perfect setting for a young love affair...
When Hamutal visits her mother, and Alzheimer's patient at an Israeli nursing home, she also feels isolated from her own family as her husband and her children continue their daily lives and make little accommodation to Hamutal's worries and her attempts to reconnect with the mother she still hopes exists behind the fog. At the time that Hamutal needs support and understanding the most, she finds it with Saul, a son similarly occupied with the caring for his father across the hall from Hamutal's mother.
Saul is visiting from the United States, where he's left his family in order to be with his father. The facts of Saul's temporary visit--and the late state of illness of their respective parents--put a yet-unknown time limit on the passionate affair that develops. But for the time being, theirs seems to be the only possible relationship in the constellation of the small world that makes up their life these days, a world that is also forever in the shadow of the Holocaust.
Savyon Liebrecht is an accomplished Israeli short-story and novels writer. A Man And A Women And A Man is a masterpiece.
When Hamutal visits her mother, and Alzheimer's patient at an Israeli nursing home, she also feels isolated from her own family as her husband and her children continue their daily lives and make little accommodation to Hamutal's worries and her attempts to reconnect with the mother she still hopes exists behind the fog. At the time that Hamutal needs support and understanding the most, she finds it with Saul, a son similarly occupied with the caring for his father across the hall from Hamutal's mother.
Saul is visiting from the United States, where he's left his family in order to be with his father. The facts of Saul's temporary visit--and the late state of illness of their respective parents--put a yet-unknown time limit on the passionate affair that develops. But for the time being, theirs seems to be the only possible relationship in the constellation of the small world that makes up their life these days, a world that is also forever in the shadow of the Holocaust.
Savyon Liebrecht is an accomplished Israeli short-story and novels writer. A Man And A Women And A Man is a masterpiece.
November 20, 2007
I was sort of fascinated by relationship between the grown daughter and her mother in a nursing home. It seems to me the closest relationship possible but this one was full of strain and resentment but also brief moments of tenderness. And of of course there was a love story, also brief and heartwrenching.
March 11, 2016
Un libro che non decolla. 100 pagine di pensieri, ricordi e delicati approcci verbali in una corsia d'ospedale. Un romanzo inconsistente e privo di qualsiasi attrattiva stilistica. L'ho abbandonato, e mi capita di rado, perché di solito mi sforzo di leggere fino all'ultima pagina. Stavolta mi è sembrato proprio uno sforzo inutile.
May 5, 2009
A short novel by an Israeli writer whose short stories I read earlier this spring. Two people meet at the nursing home where each has a parent and embark on an affair. Very powerful - sad and penetrating.
October 7, 2012
Weird book! I wish there were more memories of the holocaust from the mom!! It is sad that the mom and daughter had no relationship but Hermela was there for her! And it continued to her kids! But a good husband is hard to find and Arnon was there for her and the girls!
February 18, 2016
Ein fulminantes Beispiel für Bücher die man nicht lesen sollte, wenn man Streit mit seiner Mutter hat ...
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews