Synopses & Reviews
The new novel from the Pulitzer-nominated, bestselling author of For the Relief of Unbearable Urges — a political thriller set against the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
In the Negev desert, a nameless prisoner languishes in a secret cell, his only companion the guard who has watched over him for a dozen years. Meanwhile, the prisoner’s arch nemesis — The General, Israel’s most controversial leader — lies dying in a hospital bed. From Israel and Gaza to Paris, Italy, and America, Englander provides a kaleidoscopic view of the prisoner’s unlikely journey to his cell. Dinner at the Center of the Earth is a tour de force — a powerful, wryly funny, intensely suspenseful portrait of a nation riven by insoluble conflict, and the man who improbably lands at the center of it all.
Review
“Dinner at the Center of the Earth illuminates the zealot’s blindness, the patriot’s struggle for clarity, and the enduring dream of a coming together.” O, The Oprah Magazine
Review
“It’s difficult to describe Englander’s novel without giving something away. There’s a delicious puzzle that becomes evident as it unfolds....As weighty and political as Dinner at the Center of the Earth seems, it’s also a plot-driven page-turner....We must now compare Englander to Graham Greene as well as Philip Roth. And he comes off well in the comparison.” Houston Chronicle
Review
“Dinner at the Center of the Earth blends elements of spy thriller and love story, magical realism, and an all-too-real history of one of the world’s most intractable problems: peace between Israel and its neighbors.” The Boston Globe
Review
“Superb: a work of psychological precision and moral force, with an immediacy that captures both timeless human truth and the perplexities of the present day.” Colson Whitehead
Review
“[A] bold, compassionate, genre-hopping novel.” The New York Times Book Review
Synopsis
A political thriller set against the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, from the Pulitzer-nominated, bestselling author of For the Relief of Unbearable Urges. A Los Angeles Times Best Book of the Year "Blends elements of spy thriller and love story, magical realism, and an all-too-real history of one of the world's most intractable problems: peace between Israel and its neighbors. --The Boston Globe
In the Negev desert, a nameless prisoner languishes in a secret cell, his only companion the guard who has watched over him for a dozen years. Meanwhile, the prisoner's arch nemesis--The General, Israel's most controversial leader--lies dying in a hospital bed. From Israel and Gaza to Paris, Italy, and America, Englander provides a kaleidoscopic view of the prisoner's unlikely journey to his cell. Dinner at the Center of the Earth is a tour de force--a powerful, wryly funny, intensely suspenseful portrait of a nation riven by insoluble conflict, and the man who improbably lands at the center of it all.
About the Author
NATHAN ENGLANDER is the author of the novels Dinner at the Center of the Earth and The Ministry of Special Cases, and the story collections For the Relief of Unbearable Urges and What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank, winner of the Frank O’Connor International Short Story Award and finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. His short fiction has been widely anthologized, most recently in 100 Years of the Best American Short Stories. His play The Twenty-Seventh Man premiered at The Public Theater in 2012. He also translated the New American Haggadah and co-translated Etgar Keret’s Suddenly a Knock on the Door. He is Distinguished Writer-in-Residence at New York University and lives in Brooklyn, New York, with his wife and daughter.