Nava Semel (1954–2017)
Author of And The Rat Laughed
About the Author
Nava Semel was an acclaimed Israeli author who published more than twenty works of fiction, poetry, and memoir. She was the winner of the American National Jewish Book Award for Literature (1990), the Women Writers of the Mediterranean Award (1994), the Prime Minister's Prize (1996), and Tel Aviv's show more Literary Woman of the Year (2007). Her books were translated into many languages and published in Germany, France, Italy, China, Poland, and the US. show less
Works by Nava Semel
LA SPOSA DI CARTA N.E. 1 copy
Associated Works
Zion's Fiction: A Treasury of Israeli Speculative Literature (2018) — Contributor — 34 copies, 1 review
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Birthdate
- 1954
- Date of death
- 2017-12-02
- Gender
- female
- Nationality
- Israel
- Birthplace
- Tel Aviv, Israel
- Associated Place (for map)
- Tel Aviv, Israel
Members
Reviews
Gershona is a 12 year old girl living in 10 year old Israel in 1958. The horrors of the Holocaust and World War II are not the focus of the book, but only mentioned in passing a few times.
Gershona hates her name - a boy's name (Gershon) with an a tacked onto the end to make is sound feminine. Kids make fun of her for it. But as the story begins, two new people move into her neighborhood and her life. One is her Grandfather, who is blind, and has been living in the United States for the last show more 30 years - he never even knew his son, Gershona's father. The other is Nimrod, a boy who moves into a neighboring building, and doesn't make fun of Gershona at all - but seems to like her.
Some of the story is educational, in that it takes place in a culture a little different than that of the modern U.S., or indeed the U.S. at any time. But the main elements of young love, and finding a kindred spirit in a aging grandparent are universal themes that would ring true for readers from any culture.
As in life, some of the questions that the book brings up are never answered. And in the case of Becoming Gershona, that is as it should be. show less
Gershona hates her name - a boy's name (Gershon) with an a tacked onto the end to make is sound feminine. Kids make fun of her for it. But as the story begins, two new people move into her neighborhood and her life. One is her Grandfather, who is blind, and has been living in the United States for the last show more 30 years - he never even knew his son, Gershona's father. The other is Nimrod, a boy who moves into a neighboring building, and doesn't make fun of Gershona at all - but seems to like her.
Some of the story is educational, in that it takes place in a culture a little different than that of the modern U.S., or indeed the U.S. at any time. But the main elements of young love, and finding a kindred spirit in a aging grandparent are universal themes that would ring true for readers from any culture.
As in life, some of the questions that the book brings up are never answered. And in the case of Becoming Gershona, that is as it should be. show less
Messy. Laika, the Russian dog in space, is spelled wrong. The blurb on the back says that Israel was founded fourteen years ago, but actually it's only been ten years, which means it's younger than Gershona, not older, which is important because WWII history. The story is told all out of order, very confusing for a MG book that is not meant to be a mystery.
Well, except that it is kinda mysterious. Our girl doesn't figure out hardly any loose ends. Families keep too many secrets. So do show more friends. Unless she does figure things out, but the author doesn't let the reader in on the secret?
It's kinda [L]iterary. so I guess there's something going on that I don't get? Or maybe I don't get it because I'm not Jewish?
I imagine some people love it. Some teachers, especially. I won't rate it because I just don't know what to think. show less
Well, except that it is kinda mysterious. Our girl doesn't figure out hardly any loose ends. Families keep too many secrets. So do show more friends. Unless she does figure things out, but the author doesn't let the reader in on the secret?
It's kinda [L]iterary. so I guess there's something going on that I don't get? Or maybe I don't get it because I'm not Jewish?
I imagine some people love it. Some teachers, especially. I won't rate it because I just don't know what to think. show less
Trigger warning: this review refers to sexual violence during the Holocaust.
If anything in this review raises issues for you, help is available at Beyond Blue.
Although Michael Orthofer's Complete Review Guide to Contemporary World Fiction doesn't include a reference to Israeli author Nava Semel (1954-2017), the introduction to Israeli literature in translation has a useful summary that's relevant to a review of Semel's 2001 ground-breaking And the Rat Laughed.
Hebrew, he says, only became a medium for fiction in the 20th century, so this literature even with its frequent biblical references and echoes, often feels very young. Waves of immigration make it susceptible to more and quicker change than elsewhere over the decades.
As you can see from the book description at Goodreads, And the Rat Laughed is an example of this innovation. It uses modernist techniques including pastiche to explore the act of remembrance...
The representation of the grandmother's efforts to tell her story is very moving. Her granddaughter has been given a project to interview a Holocaust survivor, and despite her teacher's insistence that she ask her questions sensitively, she badgers her grandmother into telling a story that she's been suppressing for decades. As a five year old child, along with the horror of being hidden — hungry, afraid and neglected by farmers who betrayed their promise to her parents that they would care for her — she was raped by the farmer's son throughout her captivity. She has never spoken of this to anyone, and she cannot bring herself to speak of it now.
This first part of the text, written from the grandmother's point-of-view, reveals her painful, jangled thoughts along with the fractured scraps that she conveys to her granddaughter, which — as we see in part 2 — are misinterpreted. The granddaughter grasps the fact that the parents found people that enabled their child to survive, and — resentful that she's might fail her project because her grandmother was so incoherent — she thinks that her grandmother should be grateful to the farmers, she should remember their names so that they can be counted among the Righteous Among Nations.
She is shocked when it dawns on her that her grandmother doesn't even know when her birthday is.
To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2023/08/14/and-the-rat-laughed-2001-by-nava-semel-trans... show less
If anything in this review raises issues for you, help is available at Beyond Blue.
Although Michael Orthofer's Complete Review Guide to Contemporary World Fiction doesn't include a reference to Israeli author Nava Semel (1954-2017), the introduction to Israeli literature in translation has a useful summary that's relevant to a review of Semel's 2001 ground-breaking And the Rat Laughed.
While the nation has enjoyedshow more
relatively rapid economic growth and success, the horror of the Holocaust still weighs heavily here, as do concerns about national identity, geographic isolation, and threats from hostile regional regimes. The unresolved Palestinian situation, especially, has an uncertainty that pervades both daily life and the local literature. (The Complete Review Guide to Contemporary World Literature, by M A Orthofer, Columbia University Press, 2016, ISBN 9780231146753, p.271-2)
Hebrew, he says, only became a medium for fiction in the 20th century, so this literature even with its frequent biblical references and echoes, often feels very young. Waves of immigration make it susceptible to more and quicker change than elsewhere over the decades.
As you can see from the book description at Goodreads, And the Rat Laughed is an example of this innovation. It uses modernist techniques including pastiche to explore the act of remembrance...
The representation of the grandmother's efforts to tell her story is very moving. Her granddaughter has been given a project to interview a Holocaust survivor, and despite her teacher's insistence that she ask her questions sensitively, she badgers her grandmother into telling a story that she's been suppressing for decades. As a five year old child, along with the horror of being hidden — hungry, afraid and neglected by farmers who betrayed their promise to her parents that they would care for her — she was raped by the farmer's son throughout her captivity. She has never spoken of this to anyone, and she cannot bring herself to speak of it now.
This first part of the text, written from the grandmother's point-of-view, reveals her painful, jangled thoughts along with the fractured scraps that she conveys to her granddaughter, which — as we see in part 2 — are misinterpreted. The granddaughter grasps the fact that the parents found people that enabled their child to survive, and — resentful that she's might fail her project because her grandmother was so incoherent — she thinks that her grandmother should be grateful to the farmers, she should remember their names so that they can be counted among the Righteous Among Nations.
One name at least. That's all I wanted. Damn you, memory. Just give me a name! I was absolutely begging for it in my heart.
And suddenly I had an awful thought, the worst. Maybe she can't even remember her own name, the one her parents gave her. I'd rather not think about what if the name I know her by isn't even — (p.80)
She is shocked when it dawns on her that her grandmother doesn't even know when her birthday is.
To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2023/08/14/and-the-rat-laughed-2001-by-nava-semel-trans... show less
Es ist frühmorgens, und Judith muß ihren Sohn zum ersten Mal zur Schule bringen. Aber er ist kein gewöhnlicher Bub, denn er hat Down Syndrom. Judith erinnert sich an die Geburt ihres Sohnes, an die Reaktionen ihrer Familie und ihrer Freunde und die berührende Beziehung des Kindes zur Großmutter, die gerade verstorben ist ...
Das mehrfach ausgezeichnete Hörspiel wurde von den Hörerinnen und Hörern von Ö1 zum "Hörspiel des Jahres 1995" gewählt.
Das mehrfach ausgezeichnete Hörspiel wurde von den Hörerinnen und Hörern von Ö1 zum "Hörspiel des Jahres 1995" gewählt.
Feb 24, 2008German
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