A LATE DIVORCE – A. B. YEHOSHUA
A LATE DIVORCE
A. B. Yehoshua
trans. by Hillel Halkin
New Paperback Edition, November 2005
£8.99, 360pp, 1 870015
95 9
A. B. Yehoshua was nominated for
Yehuda
Kaminka, a retired teacher, returns to Israel from the U.S. to divorce his
estranged wife who is in a mental asylum, having tried to kill him a few
years earlier. The impending divorce of their parents throws into turmoil
the lives of the couple’s three children and grandson, revealing the
complexity of their relationships.
Yehuda’s
nine days, leading up to Passover, are remembered by different members of
the family: A.B. Yehoshua’s brilliance reveals itself in these different
voices, each a minor masterpiece.
A picture slowly emerges of what happened as memories are revived, hopes
expressed and dreams articulated. The narrative gathers pace as Yehuda’s
visit draws to an end and he changes his mind about the divorce agreement.
Long out of print, A Late Divorce was A. B. Yehoshua’s second novel which fulfilled
all the promise of The Lover,
his first. A.B. Yehoshua has been shortlisted for the first Man Booker
International Prize in 2005 in recognition of his lifetime’s
achievement.
Born in Jerusalem in 1936, A. B. Yehoshua is the author of The Lover,
The Continuing Silence of a Poet, Mr Mani, Open Heart, A Journey to the
End of the Millennium and The Liberated Bride. He is one of Israel’s
pre-eminent novelists and has been awarded the prestigious Israel Prize
for his lifetime’s creative contribution to Israel, the National Jewish
Book Award in the US and the Jewish Quarterly–Wingate Prize in
the UK.
'In
his fiction, Mr Yehoshua is subtle, indirect and sometimes visionary, even
phantasmagoric'.
Harold Bloom, The New York
Times
'…
thank goodness for a novel that is ambitious and humane and that is about
things that really matter'.
New Statesman
'Anyone
who has had experience of the sad and subtle ways in which human beings
torment one another under licence of family ties will appreciate the
merits of A. B. Yehoshua’s A Late
Divorce'.
London Review of Books
'…there
is something Chekhovian about Yehoshua’s affectionate impartiality
toward his characters, who like Chekhov’s, combine hopeless, maddening
egotism with noble impulses and redeeming outbursts of affection'.
Gabriele Annan, The New York Review
of Books
'He
is a master storyteller whose tales reveal the inner life of a vital,
conflicted nation'.
Wall Street Journal
Read
an article about A. B. Yehoshua from The Guardian
Read
an article about A. B. Yehoshua from The Independent
Read
an article about Yehoshua's life and fiction from The Jewish Quarterly
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