Synopses & Reviews
“Anyone who has had experience of the sad and subtle ways in which human beings torment one another under license of family ties will appreciate the merits of A.B. Yehoshua’s A Late Divorce.” —
London Review of Books A powerful story about a family—and a country —in crisis.
The father of three grown children comes back to Israel to get a divorce from his wife of many years; another woman, newly pregnant, awaits him in America. Narrated in turn by each family member—husband and wife, sons and daughter, young grandson—the drama builds to a crescendo at the traditional family gathering on Passover Eve.
“Each character here is brilliantly realized . . . Thank goodness for a novel that is ambitious and humane and that is about things that really matter”—New Statesman
"A master storyteller whose tales reveal the inner life of a vital, conflicted nation.” — Wall Street Journal
Review
"A Late Divorce, the latest novel of Israeli writer A.B. Yehoshua, is reminiscent of Faulkner; each chapter is a monologue by a different family member or intimate. By exposing their souls through interpretations of their family, Yehoshua creates a portrait of a family where the divorce of the elderly parents is but a denouement to a chronicle of spiritual dissolution and regeneration. A Late Divorce, is the story of an Israeli family, the story of living with and evading both the Zionist ideal and the relentless trials that each day in Israel brings. It is between the increasing burden of building the Jewish state and the impossibility of escape that the Kaminkas, like all Israelis, must live." Reviewed by Daniel Weiss, Virginia Quarterly Review (Copyright 2006 Virginia Quarterly Review)
Synopsis
A father of three grown-up children comes back to Israel to get a divorce; another woman, pregnant, awaits him in America. Narrated in turn by each participant in the drama, events grow increasingly intense, coming to a head at the traditional family gathering on Passover. Translated by Hillel Halkin.
About the Author
A. B. YEHOSHUA is the author of numerous novels, including Mr. Mani, Five Seasons, The Liberated Bride, and A Woman in Jerusalem. His work has been translated into twenty-eight languages, and he has received many awards worldwide, including the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and the National Jewish Book Award. He lives in Tel Aviv, Israel.