The Book of Intimate Grammar
by David Grossman
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Vowing to never grow up and enter the brutality of the adult world in Jerusalem, the imaginative Ahron, once the ringleader of his friends, ignores the growing regimentation that they call patriotism as Israel approaches the Six-Day War. Reprint.Tags
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Aharon Kleinfeld, un niño de doce años, es el cabecilla de su grupo de amigos en un barrio de Jerusalén. Con su portentosa imaginación, les inspira nuevos juegos y aventuras, pero, cuando sus amigos empiezan a madurar, el cuerpo de Aharon se niega a crecer durante tres largos años. En el Israel previo a la guerra de los Seis Días, Aharon se siente defraudado cuando Guidon, su mejor amigo, y Yaeli, la chica que le gusta, abandonan su imaginativo universo para comprometerse con los jóvenes del movimiento sionista.
I read this a second time because I will lead my book group discussion. I liked it a little better as a metaphor for Israel before 1967, but it is my least favorite David Grossman's books that I've read. I foumd tedious the details of the characters body functions and poor manners.
Compared to The Tin Drum and Call It Sleep by the New York Times, this book is at once a work of magical realism and post-Freudian psychology. Complex with multiple layers of meaning it draws you in to its depths and mesmerizes you with its language.
The Book of Intimate Grammar is a tale of troubled adolescence told from the point of view of Arun Klienfeld, a young Israeli boy who stopped growing. The book is written in a stream of conscious fashion--the reader gets caught up in his flights of fancy and his anxieties.
I found this book very difficult, and I did not enjoy reading it as I did other books of grossman's. I was actually bored and did not really care about the characters. this is an adolescent very much pained by his coming of age. I will read it again, as I know Grossman always has much to say.
There is a lot of Yiddish in the book - such as.....Im hayu samim et hamo'ach shelcha b'tarnegol, hu haya ratz yashar l'shochet tafsik lezyen = "If they had to put your brain in a chicken, it would run straight to the butcher". Quite a lot I am still trying to translate.
I was shocked at the ending, it takes you places mentally that you might not want to go.
I was shocked at the ending, it takes you places mentally that you might not want to go.
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91+ Works 8,019 Members
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 Israeli-occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip. He was show more 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
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Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- The Book of Intimate Grammar
- Original title
- ספר הדקדוק הפנימי; Sefer ha-dikduk ha-penimi
- Original publication date
- 1991; 1994 (French) (French)
- People/Characters*
- Aharon Kleinfeld; Gidon; Tsachi; Jochi Kleinfeld; Edna Bloem
- Important places*
- Jerusalem
- Related movies
- Intimate Grammar (2010 | IMDb)
- Epigraph*
- Und die das Geheimnis falsch und schlecht leben (und es sind sehr viele), verlieren es nur fur sich selbst und geben es doch weiter wie einen verschlossenen Brief, ohne es zu wissen.
RAINER MARIA RILKE, Brief an ei... (show all)nem jungen Dichter - First words*
- Aharon ging op zijn tenen staan om beter te kunnen zien wat er beneden gebeurde, zijn vader en moeder die naar buiten gingen om een luchtje te scheppen aan het eind van een snikhete dag.
- Last words*
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)Alle vijf de vingers van zijn linkerhand legde hij op zijn Houdini-gereedschap.
*Some information comes from Common Knowledge in other languages. Click "Edit" for more information.
Classifications
- Genres
- General Fiction, Fiction and Literature
- DDC/MDS
- 892.436 — Literature & rhetoric Asian Literature Afro-Asiatic literatures Jewish, Israeli, and Hebrew Hebrew fiction 1947–2000
- LCC
- PJ5054 .G728 .S413 — Language and Literature Oriental languages and literatures Oriental philology and literature Hebrew Literature Individual authors and works
- BISAC
Statistics
- Members
- 354
- Popularity
- 88,828
- Reviews
- 6
- Rating
- (3.76)
- Languages
- 13 — Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Hebrew, Italian, Norwegian (Bokmål), Norwegian, Portuguese (Portugal), Spanish, Swedish
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 35
- ASINs
- 6
