Avner Mandelman

This collection seems to be a favorite of everyone who has reviewed it, but it didn't quite hit home for me. A couple of the stories (like "Pity" and "Terror") are straight gut-punches and one ("Mish-Mash") is very funny, but overall the writing was a smidgen too stark to evoke strong emotions in me, although the subject of each story had potential to do so. Many of the stories deal with the internal workings of Sayeret, Shin Bet, and Mossad, so if you have a special interest in those, this collection may prove quite interesting.… (more)

Although I don't usually read short stories (I used to say if it was less than 500 pages, it wasn't a book), I picked up this small collection primarily because of the cover, the prizes it has been awarded, and the price. Not very nuanced, I know. But instead of ending up on a shelf to get dusty, I was intrigued enough to crack open the book the next day.

The first story, Pity, follows the thoughts and actions of a Sayeret operative, an Israeli special forces commando, on an operation to capture and transport to Israel an elderly Nazi living in Paris. The operative has done abductions before, but never a Nazi, and after ten days of surveillance, he and his partner are on edge, ready to ignore orders and just take him out. When the order finally comes that the mission is a go, they are joined by an inexperienced female embassy katsa (intelligence officer) who throws their plans awry. The operation begins and nothing goes as planned.

Several other stories in the collection, notably Terror and Test follow the life of this same man. Each story is incredibly blunt in its depiction of the language and prejudices of a career soldier trained to hate anyone who threatens his people, especially Arabs. Yet he is also a sympathetic character. It's as though the author sets the reader up to dislike his protagonist, and then turns the lens back on the reader. I was impressed with the precision of Mandelman's language and the depth of emotion he can convey in a very unemotional way.

Two of the stories, Mish-Mash and Curse, are different from the others. They are very funny, and both include the character, Getzl, a yeshiva student who never manages to become a rabbi, will only speak Yiddish, and thinks he knows all. He could have fallen from the pages of a Sholem Aleichem tale. Mish-Mash, in particular, was laugh out loud funny.

The ninth and final story in the collection is Og, a dark tale of the Amarite king who was slain by Moses. He features in both the Hebrew Bible and the Qur'an, as well as in folktales throughout the region. In this version, Og is raised from the dead by two Sanhedrin Elders who need his services once again. Og knows that he has been repeatedly called up to fight in defense of the city of Bashan, and he knows that the only way to win is to break the rules of war. After every battle, he has been tried and executed for breaking the rules, despite its being the only way to save the people. Once again, Og is facing his Catch-22. The story's relevance is obvious, yet poignant.

Note: Avner Mandelman was born in Israel and served in the Israeli Air Force during the Six-Day War. For the past four decades he has bounced between Paris, California, and Canada, where he has also published a short story collection called Cuckoo (not in LT).… (more)