Fly Already
Stories
(Sprache: Englisch)
A new, subversive, hilarious, heart-breaking collection weaved together by our inability to communicate, to see so little of the world around us, and to understand each other even less. Yet somehow, in these pages a bright light shines through and our universal connection to each other sparks alive.
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Produktinformationen zu „Fly Already “
A new, subversive, hilarious, heart-breaking collection weaved together by our inability to communicate, to see so little of the world around us, and to understand each other even less. Yet somehow, in these pages a bright light shines through and our universal connection to each other sparks alive.
Klappentext zu „Fly Already “
From a "genius" (New York Times) storyteller: a new, subversive, hilarious, heart-breaking collection. "There is sweetheartedness and wisdom and eloquence and transcendence in his stories because these virtues exist in abundance in Etgar himself... I am very happy that Etgar and his work are in the world, making things better." --George Saunders
There's no one like Etgar Keret. His stories take place at the crossroads of the fantastical, searing, and hilarious. His characters grapple with parenthood and family, war and games, marijuana and cake, memory and love. These stories never go to the expected place, but always surprise, entertain, and move...
In "Arctic Lizard," a young boy narrates a post-apocalyptic version of the world where a youth army wages an unending war, rewarded by collecting prizes. A father tries to shield his son from the inevitable in "Fly Already." In "One Gram Short," a guy just wants to get a joint to impress a girl and ends up down a rabbit hole of chaos and heartache. And in the masterpiece "Pineapple Crush," two unlikely people connect through an evening smoke down by the beach, only to have one of them imagine a much deeper relationship.
The thread that weaves these pieces together is our inability to communicate, to see so little of the world around us and to understand each other even less. Yet somehow, in these pages, through Etgar's deep love for humanity and our hapless existence, a bright light shines through and our universal connection to each other sparks alive.
Lese-Probe zu „Fly Already “
fly alreadyP.T. sees him first. We're on our way to the park to play ball when he suddenly says, "Daddy, look!" His head is tilted back and he's squinting hard to see something far above me, and before I can even begin to imagine an alien spaceship or a piano about to fall on our heads, my gut tells me that something really bad is happening here. But when I turn to see what P.T. is looking at, all I notice is an ugly, four-story building covered in plaster and air conditioners, as if it has some kind of skin disease. The sun is sitting directly on it, slightly blinding me, and as I'm trying to get a better angle, I hear P.T. say, "He wants to fly." Now I can see a guy in a white button-down shirt standing on the roof railing looking straight at me, and behind me, P.T. whispers, "Is he a superhero?" But instead of answering him, I shout at the guy, "Don't do it!"
The guy stares at me and doesn't answer. I shout at him again, "Don't do it, please! Whatever brought you up there must seem like something you'll never get over, but believe me, you will. If you jump now, you'll leave this world with that dead-end feeling. That'll be your last memory of life. Not family, not love-only defeat. But if you stay, I swear to you by everything I hold dear that your pain will start to fade, and in a few years, the only thing left will be a weird story you tell people over a beer. A story about how you once wanted to jump off a roof and some guy standing below shouted at you . . ."
"What?" the guy on the roof yells back at me, pointing at his ear. He probably can't hear me because of the noise coming from the road. Or maybe it isn't the noise, because I heard his "What?" perfectly well. Maybe he's just hard of hearing. P.T., who's hugging my thighs without being able to encircle them completely, as if I were some kind of giant baobab tree, yells at the guy, "Do you have superpowers?" but the guy points
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at his ear again as if to say he can't hear, and shouts, "I'm sick of it! Enough! How much can I take?" P.T. shouts back at him, as if they were having the most ordinary conversation in the world, "Come on, fly already!" And I'm starting to feel that stress, the stress that comes with knowing that it's all on you.
I have it a lot at work. With the family too, but not as much. Like what happened on the way to Lake Kinneret, when I tried to brake and the tires locked. The car started to skid along the road and I said to myself, "Either you fix this or it's all over." That time, driving to the Dead Sea, I didn't fix it, and Liat, the only one not buckled in, died, and I was left alone with the kids. P.T. was two and barely knew how to speak, but Amit never stopped asking me, "When is Mommy coming back? When is Mommy coming back?" and I'm talking about after the funeral. He was eight then, an age when you're supposed to understand what it means when someone dies, but he kept asking. And even without the constant, annoying questions, I knew that everything was my fault and wanted to end it all. Just like the guy on the roof. But here I am today, walking without crutches, living with Simona, a good dad. I want to tell the guy on the roof all about it, I want to tell him that I know exactly how he feels right now, and that if he doesn't flatten himself like a pizza on the sidewalk, it'll pass. I know what I'm talking about, because no one on this blue planet was as miserable as I was. He just has to get down from there and give himself a week. A month. Even a year, if necessary.
But how can you say all that to a guy who's half deaf? Meanwhile, P.T. pulls my hand and says, "He's not going to fly today anyway, Daddy, let's go to the park before it gets dark." But I stay where I am and shout as loudly as I can, "People die like flies all the time, even without killing themselves. Don't do it! Please don't do it!" The guy on the roof nods-it looks li
I have it a lot at work. With the family too, but not as much. Like what happened on the way to Lake Kinneret, when I tried to brake and the tires locked. The car started to skid along the road and I said to myself, "Either you fix this or it's all over." That time, driving to the Dead Sea, I didn't fix it, and Liat, the only one not buckled in, died, and I was left alone with the kids. P.T. was two and barely knew how to speak, but Amit never stopped asking me, "When is Mommy coming back? When is Mommy coming back?" and I'm talking about after the funeral. He was eight then, an age when you're supposed to understand what it means when someone dies, but he kept asking. And even without the constant, annoying questions, I knew that everything was my fault and wanted to end it all. Just like the guy on the roof. But here I am today, walking without crutches, living with Simona, a good dad. I want to tell the guy on the roof all about it, I want to tell him that I know exactly how he feels right now, and that if he doesn't flatten himself like a pizza on the sidewalk, it'll pass. I know what I'm talking about, because no one on this blue planet was as miserable as I was. He just has to get down from there and give himself a week. A month. Even a year, if necessary.
But how can you say all that to a guy who's half deaf? Meanwhile, P.T. pulls my hand and says, "He's not going to fly today anyway, Daddy, let's go to the park before it gets dark." But I stay where I am and shout as loudly as I can, "People die like flies all the time, even without killing themselves. Don't do it! Please don't do it!" The guy on the roof nods-it looks li
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Autoren-Porträt von Etgar Keret
Etgar Keret was born in Ramat Gan and now lives in Tel Aviv. A recipient of the French Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres, the Charles Bronfman Prize, and the Caméra d Or at the Cannes Film Festival, he is the author of the memoir The Seven Good Years and story collections including The Bus Driver Who Wanted to Be God. His work has been translated into forty-five languages and has appeared in The New Yorker, The Wall Street Journal, Wired, The Paris Review, and The New York Times, among many other publications, and on This American Life, where he is a regular contributor.
Bibliographische Angaben
- Autor: Etgar Keret
- 2020, 224 Seiten, Maße: 12,8 x 20,1 cm, Kartoniert (TB), Englisch
- Verlag: Riverhead Books
- ISBN-10: 039957302X
- ISBN-13: 9780399573026
- Erscheinungsdatum: 31.08.2020
Sprache:
Englisch
Pressezitat
Praise for Fly AlreadyReading Fly Already is like settling down for a ride in a luxurious car with a world-class driver who has an extremely crazy worldview that doesn t interfere with his amazing driving. Is there any better way to see the world?
Elif Batuman
"Etgar Keret, the writer of absurd, sad, funny and very short stories, grows up.... These sardonic and very short fables are the next installment in the series of strange scenarios cooked up in Keret s brain.... They are absurd stories your stoned friend might unfold while giggling, but the best of them land at some insight into the human condition, all economy and charm. This new collection, though, plumbs darker depths." Gal Beckerman, The New York Times
"It s Keret s particular brand of brilliance that can simultaneously hold tragedy and comedy, and in such compact packages." Financial Times
An Israeli writer is making short stories fun again. Etgar Keret doesn t avoid a punch line. The fiction writer and This American Life regular tackles Big Important Subjects in his work death, family, war, etc. but he does so in a way that s not, well, a bummer . . . By embracing the comic and the absurd, Keret achieves something rare among modern short-story writers: He s actually worth reading. Men's Journal
These stories swervy, thrillingly funny, honest, and almost shockingly alert disarm a reader in abundant ways. Keret will look at any situation and any type of character with an open eye to all defenses, and slowly (or really quickly) peel these away.
Aimee Bender
"Read Etgar Keret s short stories in Fly Already, not only for their brilliant language and imagination, but the depth of Keret s craft." Elif Shafak, The Guardian
As a reader, you re so immersed in Keretworld, that the twist in the tale is particularly more outrageous and unexpected than usual. Fantastical, heart-breaking, laughter-inducing, fabulist, and
... mehr
sometimes just downright wacky, Keret s writing is palpably imbued with a distinct element of intimacy, as though the author has just invited you into his local café or pub to chat about the state of the world of our world over your drink of choice. Keret s stories shimmer with an energizing, evocative amalgam of comedy, both dark and light, and a high-level tolerance for the absurd. And always always even when it feels as though he s finessing his pages with a giant shrug about the ridiculous vagaries of the universe, inherent in Keret s writing is a resolute insistence on adhering to life, as well as to the ineluctable joys of wordplay.... If you re already familiar with Keret s work, this is a welcome addition to his canon; if you haven t read him yet, this collection is a terrific place to start. Daneet Steffens, Boston Globe
When you read an Etgar Keret story, it s hard not to go straight to genius. The stories in this collection are wide-ranging, and many have that fantastical, highly imaginative Keret element. There is dark humor, wry humor, really-fucking-funny humor. There s depth and sadness. And mostly there s life: people falling into and out of relationships with themselves and others. GOOP
I am in awe of Keret's ability to simultaneously make me laugh while crying, explore the joy and horror of every day life with precision, brevity and great psychological depth. His recognition of and engagement with the absurd is profound and he never loses his humanity, his heart long the way.
A. M. Homes
"[R]azor-sharp, satiric wit and genre-shifting style." BBC
"Keret at his best tender and inventive, not giving too much away.... Keret shines when he's gentle and when he gives himself room to explore his characters.... ['Pineapple Crush' is] a lovely, understated story about the human need for connection, and Keret approaches it subtly, portraying the narrator's loneliness without resorting to pity. He doesn't overplay his hand or feel the need to wax whimsical; he's content to consider the human condition in a compassionate, unshowy way. The story is nearly perfect. - Michael Schaub, NPR
Like Lydia Davis, Etgar Keret has written stories of such singular diminutive style it took the culture a few years to realize: this is not a novelty act. This is the work of a genius, and he can pack more comedy and heartache into a single tale than just about any writer alive. A new book is cause for celebration. John Freeman, LitHub
Keret continues his streak of writing short stories that are mordantly funny and bizarre in his latest collection . . . Threaded through his sense of humor, you feel a little less lonely, a little more light. Tomi Obaro, Buzzfeed
Sly and subversive collection . . . full of modern-day fables about family, angels, UFOs, cloning and other weirdness. Chicago Tribune
[O]nce again displays his knack for comic, absurd, occasionally dystopian observations... Saunders-esque speculative stories... Every piece demonstrates Keret's admirable effort to play with structure and gleefully refuse to be polite about family, faith, and country. An irreverent storyteller who has yet to run out of social norms to skewer. Kirkus
It s difficult to characterize the work of a writer as prodigiously talented as Keret... for whom nothing seems off limits.... [S]mart, strange, completely enthralling.... [R]eaders new to Keret will be dazzled. Booklist
[Q]uirky, funny, touching, immensely readable, pure pleasure and though most [stories] are very short, they are tightly scripted and satisfyingly complete. Originally written in Hebrew, the pieces in this fine collection lose nothing in translation; the wit and humanity of each tale survive intact. Ideal reading for short bursts of time or short attention spans. Library Journal
Praise for Etgar Keret
"If I could get you to read one writer, it would be Etgar Keret. His impossible blend of humor and tragedy, cynicism and empathy as well as big-hearted narratives that occupy the tiniest of page counts make him one of my favorites. Maybe one of yours." --Carolyn Kellogg, The Los Angeles Times
"A brilliant writer...completely unlike any writer I know. The voice of the next generation." --Salman Rushdie
"Read him, and the world will never look the same again." --Claire Messud
"One of my favorite Israeli writers." --John Green
"Etgar Keret's stories are funny, with tons of feeling, driving towards destinations you never see coming. They're written in the most unpretentious, chatty voice possible, but they're also weirdly poetic. They stick in your gut. You think about them for days." --Ira Glass, host and producer of This American Life
"Etgar Keret possesses an imagination not easily slotted into conventional literary categories. His very short stories might be described as Kafkaesque parables, magic-realist knock-knock jokes or sad kernels of cracked cosmic wisdom." --A.O. Scott, New York Times
"[Keret's writing] testifies to the power of the surreal, the concise and the fantastic... [O]blique, breezy, seriocomic fantasies that defy encapsulation, categorization and even summary." --Washington Post
"It's astonishing what he can do in just two pages: go from funny to bizarre to touching to satiric to meta to surprising and surreal... [A] master storyteller, creating deep, tragic, funny, painful tales with scarcely more words than you've read in this review." --Carolyn Kellogg, Los Angeles Times
When you read an Etgar Keret story, it s hard not to go straight to genius. The stories in this collection are wide-ranging, and many have that fantastical, highly imaginative Keret element. There is dark humor, wry humor, really-fucking-funny humor. There s depth and sadness. And mostly there s life: people falling into and out of relationships with themselves and others. GOOP
I am in awe of Keret's ability to simultaneously make me laugh while crying, explore the joy and horror of every day life with precision, brevity and great psychological depth. His recognition of and engagement with the absurd is profound and he never loses his humanity, his heart long the way.
A. M. Homes
"[R]azor-sharp, satiric wit and genre-shifting style." BBC
"Keret at his best tender and inventive, not giving too much away.... Keret shines when he's gentle and when he gives himself room to explore his characters.... ['Pineapple Crush' is] a lovely, understated story about the human need for connection, and Keret approaches it subtly, portraying the narrator's loneliness without resorting to pity. He doesn't overplay his hand or feel the need to wax whimsical; he's content to consider the human condition in a compassionate, unshowy way. The story is nearly perfect. - Michael Schaub, NPR
Like Lydia Davis, Etgar Keret has written stories of such singular diminutive style it took the culture a few years to realize: this is not a novelty act. This is the work of a genius, and he can pack more comedy and heartache into a single tale than just about any writer alive. A new book is cause for celebration. John Freeman, LitHub
Keret continues his streak of writing short stories that are mordantly funny and bizarre in his latest collection . . . Threaded through his sense of humor, you feel a little less lonely, a little more light. Tomi Obaro, Buzzfeed
Sly and subversive collection . . . full of modern-day fables about family, angels, UFOs, cloning and other weirdness. Chicago Tribune
[O]nce again displays his knack for comic, absurd, occasionally dystopian observations... Saunders-esque speculative stories... Every piece demonstrates Keret's admirable effort to play with structure and gleefully refuse to be polite about family, faith, and country. An irreverent storyteller who has yet to run out of social norms to skewer. Kirkus
It s difficult to characterize the work of a writer as prodigiously talented as Keret... for whom nothing seems off limits.... [S]mart, strange, completely enthralling.... [R]eaders new to Keret will be dazzled. Booklist
[Q]uirky, funny, touching, immensely readable, pure pleasure and though most [stories] are very short, they are tightly scripted and satisfyingly complete. Originally written in Hebrew, the pieces in this fine collection lose nothing in translation; the wit and humanity of each tale survive intact. Ideal reading for short bursts of time or short attention spans. Library Journal
Praise for Etgar Keret
"If I could get you to read one writer, it would be Etgar Keret. His impossible blend of humor and tragedy, cynicism and empathy as well as big-hearted narratives that occupy the tiniest of page counts make him one of my favorites. Maybe one of yours." --Carolyn Kellogg, The Los Angeles Times
"A brilliant writer...completely unlike any writer I know. The voice of the next generation." --Salman Rushdie
"Read him, and the world will never look the same again." --Claire Messud
"One of my favorite Israeli writers." --John Green
"Etgar Keret's stories are funny, with tons of feeling, driving towards destinations you never see coming. They're written in the most unpretentious, chatty voice possible, but they're also weirdly poetic. They stick in your gut. You think about them for days." --Ira Glass, host and producer of This American Life
"Etgar Keret possesses an imagination not easily slotted into conventional literary categories. His very short stories might be described as Kafkaesque parables, magic-realist knock-knock jokes or sad kernels of cracked cosmic wisdom." --A.O. Scott, New York Times
"[Keret's writing] testifies to the power of the surreal, the concise and the fantastic... [O]blique, breezy, seriocomic fantasies that defy encapsulation, categorization and even summary." --Washington Post
"It's astonishing what he can do in just two pages: go from funny to bizarre to touching to satiric to meta to surprising and surreal... [A] master storyteller, creating deep, tragic, funny, painful tales with scarcely more words than you've read in this review." --Carolyn Kellogg, Los Angeles Times
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