Returning Lost Loves

by Yehoshua Kenaz

'...a subtle, dark novel about loneliness and obsessions, but at the same time it is a wonderful comedy about the paradoxes of love and the fierceness of jealousy' - Amoz Oz Already a bestseller in... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1586420135
• ISBN13: 9781586420130
• Release Date: March 2001
• Publisher: Zoland Books
• Length: 263 Pages
• Weight: 0.74 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.4" x 8.4"

Customer Reviews

tense, taut, israeli fiction

Kenaz is a writer of great subtly, and as an Israeli writer, is very apt at presenting the sense of urgency in Israeli culture. A place of deep divisions within and existential dangers from without, Israeli writers create an interesting brand of fiction, both fraught and imperative. Kenaz is a master of this and he also subtly overlays each character in the novel, gradually and in increments, slowly revealing how their lives, so taut and tense, are intertwined. The one flaw in this otherwise great novel is that little groundwork is laid for the very violent end. It seems to be out of place with the gradual mounting of tension throughout the work and does a disservice to the story that Kenaz so painstakingly builds.

A gem of a book!

In a novel that's fresh, crisp, and entertaining, Kenaz brings his readers into a rather dark mosaic of contemporary Israeli life. Describing a number of residents in a Tel Aviv apartment complex, the author delves deeply into the psyches of such diverse individuals as an invalid who has been left in the care of an immigrant maid and is unable to clearly verbalize his thoughts, a couple distressed at discovering that their soldier son is being sought for going AWOL from the army, and a "kept woman" who debates the pros and cons of staying in her secret love relationship. There are five separate stories which,although each can stand on its own strength, are interwoven to produce a "neighborhood" of connected stories. It's like nosing into neighbors' lives and suddenly finding out too much. Often people are much more complex than they seem and their relationships to other people are not apparent in their their outward actions. These are stories that work well together and provide an entertaining and absorbing read through to the very last page.