The Same Sea (1999)

Como sempre ouvi falar de Amos Oz como um escritor político, achei curioso começar a lê-lo por um livro tão introspectivo e poético.
O Mesmo Mar conta as histórias de um homem, Albert Danon, que acaba de ficar viúvo; de seu filho, Rico, que viaja ao Tibet; de Dita, namorada de Rico, que vai viver com Albert após cair em um golpe, de várias pessoas cujas vidas se entrelaçam - o próprio narrador, que se confunde com o autor, aparece no livro mais de uma vez, para tomar chá com Albert ou ser repreendido por Dita.
A história do livro é a história dessas relações, contadas em curtos capítulos escritos em versos. Interessante e bem escrito. ( )

Amos returned to form with this one. Brilliantly rotating the narrative from one inter-connected protagonist to another, he brings these characters to life with an intensity. Tel-Avivis made real with depth. ( )

Un livre inclassable. Magnifique. Une maîtrise géniale de la langue. Si seulement je pouvais le lire en Hébreux. ( )

Here's a poignant story of one family, each member or acquaintance trying as hard as possible to establish control of his life. That's not always as easy to achieve as it seems. The novel describes, in both in prose and poetry, how several people try to achieve that end. The novel slips so easily from prose into poetry and vice versa, that even readers who are not particularly interested in poetry may not mind this writing technique. Although it's a melancholy story, it's also an intriguing look at how several people relate to one another and how their goals at some times in their lives tend to either attract or repel others close to them. At one point, the author himself shows up as a character! That is really an interesting occurrence and a situation not often encountered in most novels.

THE SAME SEA is not hard to read. However, because of the style in which it is written, it would lend itself to being read more than once. For sure, it deserves to be read at least a first time! ( )