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David Grossman (1) (1954–)

Author of To the End of the Land

For other authors named David Grossman, see the disambiguation page.

90+ Works 7,040 Members 234 Reviews 3 Favorited

About the Author

David Grossman was born in Jerusalem on January 25, 1954, is an Israeli author of fiction, nonfiction, and youth and children's literature. His books have been translated into many languages. He is most known for his non-fiction work, The Yellow Wind. This is his study of the Palestinians in the show more Israeli-occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip. He was awarded the Prime Minister's Prize for Hebrew literature (1984) and the Israeli Publishers Association Prize for best Hebrew novel (1985). Grossman lives in Mevasseret Zion on the outskirts of Jerusalem. He is married to Michal Grossman, a child psychologist and the mother of his three children. (Bowker Author Biography) show less

Series

Works by David Grossman

To the End of the Land (2008) 1,424 copies
A Horse Walks Into a Bar (2014) 715 copies
See Under: Love (1986) 665 copies
Someone to Run With (2000) 646 copies
Be My Knife (1998) 507 copies
The Yellow Wind (1988) 429 copies
The Zigzag Kid (1994) 380 copies
The Book of Intimate Grammar (1991) 319 copies
Falling Out of Time (2011) 260 copies
Her Body Knows: Two Novellas (2002) 176 copies
The Smile of the Lamb (1983) 161 copies
More Than I Love My Life (2019) 142 copies
Duel (1982) 109 copies
The Hug (2010) 65 copies
Gran Cabaret (2015) 28 copies
Was Nina wusste: Roman (2020) 21 copies
Delirio (2011) 16 copies
Buonanotte giraffa (1999) 9 copies
Die Sonnenprinzessin (2015) 7 copies
La memoria della Shoah (2000) 4 copies
אח חדש לגמרי (1986) 4 copies
Die Kraft zur Korrektur (2008) 4 copies
Momik (1986) 4 copies
יונתן בלש ממש (2012) 3 copies
Da Nina vidste (2019) 3 copies
Bir At Bara Girmis (2018) 3 copies
Un bambino e il suo papà (1999) 3 copies
Un milione di anni fa (1998) 3 copies
Les aventures d'Itamar (2013) 2 copies
Nesikhat ha-shemesh (2015) 2 copies
Le avventure di Itamar (2011) 2 copies
איתמר מכתב (1988) 2 copies
אל תדאגי רותי (1999) 2 copies
Quan éreu dos micos (2005) 2 copies
בבה תותי (2017) 1 copy
מומיק 1 copy
Hevonen meni baariin (2018) 1 copy
Noen å løpe med (2006) 1 copy
Duel à Jérusalem (2003) 1 copy

Associated Works

The Oxford Book of Jewish Stories (1998) — Contributor — 127 copies
Granta 36: Vargas Llosa for President (1991) — Contributor — 126 copies
La Bible (1990) — Preface — 25 copies

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Common Knowledge

Members

Reviews

Reason Read: reading Israeli authors, TIOLI challenge, Food in title
This is really a midrash or commentary on the story of Samson in Judges by David Grossman. The full title is Lion's Honey: the myth of Samson, so unlike myself, Grossman and maybe all Hebrew believe this is not a true story. I found it extremely interesting to read this story about a man who was born to a barren family for the purpose of freeing God's people from the Philistines. I've always viewed Samson as a spoiled only son but Grossman views him as a lonely man who never felt like he belonged.… (more)
 
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Kristelh | 21 other reviews | Nov 25, 2023 |
This is a heartbreaking book that brings us three generations of a family most living on a kibbutz, struggling every day, drowning in the tributaries that have broken off from an devastating huge original river of trauma. That original river flows from Vera (who is a fictionalized version of a real person with whom Grossman had a long friendship and who asked him to write the book of her story but make it fiction) who was held in Tito's camps under the most horrifying of conditions accused of being a Russian agent. There is a lot that needs to be said to explain why all this matters and how it impacts others, but that is the story so I am not going to discuss it here. All I will say is that Vera made many decisions which sprang from love but which destroyed her daughter Nina, which in turn led to a life of loss for the man who loved her daughter and a life of disaffection for their daughter, Gili. When Nina returns to the kibbutz (for reasons I won't reveal) after having abandoned her husband and daughter many years ago she asks that a film be made about the family's story (the abandoned husband had, in the past, been a filmmaker, and the daughter had, also in the past, worked in film.) Can the making of that film help all reconcile their traumas or maybe provide a path forward, or will it be the thing that finally destroys their tenuous hold on life? Read and see. The book is fascinating, beautifully crafted and told with great compassion (as one expects from David Grossman) and it illuminates a historical moment many people are unfamiliar with while telling us things both beautiful and not beautiful about love.

There are a couple clunky parts of this that kept it from being a 5-star read. I feel the author should have spent more time talking about what happened to Nina while her mother was in the camp, and it should have been addressed earlier. Gili's relationship with her husband is introduced, but it just kind of hangs there -- she never really seems to think much about her husband beyond big existential issues regarding their relationship, and that is weird. Gili's mental health struggles are dropped on the reader like a bomb, and the evolution of her life, her ups and downs are missing. Either these things should have been left out, or more provided. Overall, though these were frustrating issues, they did not blunt the books impact.
… (more)
½
 
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Narshkite | 8 other reviews | Aug 1, 2023 |
Said to be the most popular novel by prize-winning politically active Israeli author of The Yellow Wind and To the End of the Land. I thought it had a young adult/date movie quality and faded out during the direct discussions of the characters' emotional states. It has a dog in it, and I recommended it highly to my wife and daughter.
 
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markm2315 | 19 other reviews | Jul 1, 2023 |
La anécdota es simple: La esposa de Shaul se ausenta de casa cada tarde para ir a nadar, o eso es lo que ella dice. Deja el apartamento con una bolsa de gimnasia en bandolera y vuelve al cabo de una hora con el pelo mojado y el rostro relajado… A partir de ahí, Shaul imagina cosas bien distintas: ve a su esposa con otro hombre, nota sus caricias, oye sus palabras, sabe —como todos los seres celosos «saben»— que con ese hombre su mujer se atreverá a juegos que nunca ha experimentado con él. El delirio llega a tal punto que Shaul nos convence a todos de que el adulterio es real, y el lector sigue a ese marido despechado en un viaje nocturno que supuestamente le llevará al escondrijo donde se refugian los amantes. Puesto que Shaul no puede conducir porque tiene una pierna maltrecha, quien le acompaña y conduce el coche es su cuñada, una mujer de mediana edad que nunca tuvo mucho trato con él, y se embarca en esa aventura sin saber bien qué la espera. La mujer conduce de noche, el hombre está sentado en el asiento trasero, y así, sin mirarse, cada cual cuenta su historia con esa soltura con que a veces contamos nuestras intimidades a un viajero con quien compartimos un vagón de tren, sabiendo que nunca más volveremos a vernos. Al final de la novela, poco importa si de verdad Shaul encontrará a los amantes. La realidad pura y dura es lo de menos; lo que nos queda es la imagen de un hombre que necesita de lo «otro» para definirse a sí mismo y definir su mundo.… (more)
 
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AmicanaLibrary | 1 other review | Jul 1, 2023 |

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Works
90
Also by
5
Members
7,040
Popularity
#3,481
Rating
3.8
Reviews
234
ISBNs
583
Languages
26
Favorited
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Touchstones
358

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