A Good Place for the Night: Stories

The only problem with starting this book from the beginning was that I liked the first two stories the best. That was rough because it made the remaining stories a bit less appealing. I only mean that in the smallest sense, though, as each of Liebrecht's stories is amazingly unique, complex for it length, and psychologically engaging. Each tells of a different Israeli character, with the exception of two non-adjacent stories describing the same person, in a different venue with the final one being an apocalyptic place of no name.

In "America", six-year-old Hadassah is left with her father after her mother meets a man in a sewing class and runs away with him and his infant daughter to America. Hadassah watches later as her dad receives show more letters from America, but sees him become increasingly depressed when his wife does not return. On a whim, Hadassah becomes friends with the man's deserted wife who remains alone in Israel.

My favorite story was the rather dark tale called "Kibbutz" This is the story of Melech (Hebrew word for "king"), a boy whose parents died when he was three years old. He is taken in by the kibbutz nurse Devorah who raises him along with her own two daughters. When grown and a soldier, Melech returns to the kibbutz to request that Devorah repeat one more time the story of his childhood and his parents.

All of the stories in this collection are of people who are seeking connection with others or experiencing the loss of that interpersonal connection. Sometimes what we see in other people isn't what's really there. How this plays out among the characters in this book makes for superb reading. show less

Most of the short stories were interesting character sketches about well-drawn people. I felt for them and was engrossed in the stories. The final, namesake story, was a disappointment.