The Carmel Shakedown and Other Tales from the Hebrew Bible

Literature & Fiction

Meir Shalev

Contemporary

HarperCollins, Publishers

ONE 
The Telephone Call\nThe cell phone rang. The tall, beefy guy peered at the screen and said to the woman across the table: “Gotta take this. Be right back.”\nHe went outside, trying to suck in his potbelly. He wasn’t accustomed to it, and it kept surprising him: images in the mirror, pressure on his belt, the reaction of his partner as he moved atop her body.\n“Hello?”\nThe familiar voice replied, “I counted nine rings. You made me wait.”\n“Sorry. I was in a restaurant and came outside.”\n“We have a problem.”\n“I hear you.”\n“I will explain it to you intelligently and carefully, and you will attempt to respond the same way.”\n“Okay.”\n“You remember the nature walk we took?”\n“This morning?”\n“What did I just say? Intelligently and carefully. No times, no dates, no hours.”\n“Sorry.”\n“It was a nice walk.”\nSilence.\n“You didn’t hear what I said? It was a nice walk.”\n“I heard you.”\n“You didn’t respond.”\n“You wanted intelligent and careful. Whaddya want?”\n“What kind of language is that? Say: ‘What sort of response?’ ”\n“Okay.”\n“ ‘Okay’ is not enough. Say what I said.”\nThe young man contracted his belly and released it at once. “What sort of response?”\n“You could have said whether you agree or disagree with what I said.”\n“About what?”\n“About our nature walk.”\n“I agree. It was a very nice nature walk.”\n“You should have answered immediately. Twice you made me wait. First the ringing and now the response.”\n“Sorry.”\n“Don’t you ever make me wait.”\n“Okay.”\n“Do you remember where we relaxed at the end of the walk?”\n“Sure do. In the wadi under the big carob tree.”\n“What did I say? Intelligently and carefully. No times, no places, no names.”\n“I didn’t say names.”\n“You said ‘carob,’ no?”\nThe young man gently made a fist with his right hand and studied it. It was wrapped in a white bandage, and only his fingertips protruded. His eyes, small and close together, shut for a moment and opened, as from pain that recurs when its origin is recalled.\nI visualize him in my mind. He stands outside the restaurant, considers his boots, lifts his left leg a little, rubs the shiny square boot tip on the right leg of his pants.\nAnd I hear his interlocutor continue: “If you had only said ‘carob’—-that’s one thing. Only ‘big’—-not so terrible. But ‘the big carob,’ noun and adjective and the definite article—-this is serving it up on a plate. Bon appétit, please eat. Not just any tree: a carob. Not just any carob, a big carob. And just not any big carob: the big carob in the wadi. This is a wording that limits the possibilities. This is why language was invented, so things will be clear. But for us, clear is very bad. Do you understand?”\n“Yes. I’m sorry.”\n“Enough apologizing. Just pay attention.”\n“Okay.”\n“Good. Now the point. The point is we forgot something there.”\n“The gas gizmo you made us tea on?”\n“More important.”\n“The sugar spoon?”\n“Would we be having a conversation like this about a spoon? Think back and remember. For once use your brain properly. Even a small brain can achieve results if operated correctly. And when you do remember what it is, don’t say it. Just say: ‘I know what you are talking about.’ ”\n“I’m thinking.”\nSilence.\n“Again you’re making me wait.”\nSilence.\n“I remember. I know what you are talking about.”\n“So go there, look for it, find it, and bring it to me.”\n“How urgent?”\n“If someone else finds it before us, it will be very bad.”\n“I’m outta here in half a minute. Go looking with the flashlight.”\n“A lost cause. That’s what you are. A lost cause. ‘I will go and look.’ Say it: ‘I will go and look.’ I want for once to hear you speak properly.”\n“I will go and look.”\n“And don’t make me mad anymore.”\n“Sorry.”\n“And don’t go there now with a flashlight. It’s dark now. Someone could see the light from far away. Go very early tomorrow.”\n“First thing in the morning.”\n“At dawn. And don’t park in the usual place. Find another spot, continue on foot, get there at first light, and start looking.”\n“Okay.

Two She-bears

Schocken Books

From the internationally acclaimed Israeli writer Meir Shalev comes a mesmerizing novel of two love stories, separated by half a century but connected by one enchanting act of devotion. During the 1948 War of Independence--a time when pigeons are still used to deliver battlefield messages--a gifted young pigeon handler is mortally wounded. In the moments before his death, he dispatches one last pigeon. The bird is carrying his extraordinary gift to the girl he has loved since adolescence. Intertwined with this story is the contemporary tale of Yair Mendelsohn, who has his own legacy from the 1948 war. Yair is a tour guide specializing in bird-watching trips who, in middle age, falls in love again with a childhood girlfriend. His growing passion for her, along with a gift from his mother on her deathbed, becomes the key to a life he thought no longer possible. Unforgettable in both its particulars and its sweep, A Pigeon and A Boy is a tale of lovers then and now--of how deeply we love, of what home is, and why we, like pigeons trained to fly in one direction only, must eventually return to it. In a voice that is at once playful, wise, and altogether beguiling, Meir Shalev tells a story as universal as war and as intimate as a winged declaration of love.

A Pigeon and a Boy: A Novel

Schocken

Two She-Bears: A Novel

Der Junge und die Taube

Diogenes Verlag AG

Meine russische Großmutter und ihr amerikanischer Staubsauger

Zwei Bärinnen

Diogenes

Im Haus der Großen Frau.

Ruth Achlama

Diogenes-Verlag

Vtorym izdaniem na russkom iazyke vykhodit samyi znamenityi roman veduschego izrail'skogo prozaika Meira Shaleva. Eta kniga o tom pokolenii evreev, kotoroe prishlo iz Rossii v Palestinu i prevratilo ee peski i bolota v tsvetuschuiu stranu, Erets-Israel'. V masterski vystroennom povestvovanii tragediia perepletena s ironiei, russkaia liubov' s gor'kim evreiskim iumorom, poeticheskii mif s gruboi pravdoi tiazhelogo truda. Istoriia obitatelei malen'koi doliny, otvoevannoi u prirody, vmeschaet ogromnyi mir strasti i toski, nadezhd i stradanii, vernosti i boli.... ..

Russkii roman (Proza evreiskoi zhizni)

Tekst

Russian Book. Publisher: Tekst : Knizhniki, M. 64 pages. Year 2012. Seria:

Obyknovennye udivitelnye istorii

Tekst : Knizhniki, M

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Meir Shalev. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Meir Shalev