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West Jerusalem Noir (Akashic Noir)

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1 of 1 copy available
1 of 1 copy available

In West Jerusalem Noir—published simultaneously with East Jerusalem Noir—the Akashic Noir Series visits one of the world's most complex locales, in this volume from the perspective of Israeli writers (translated from Hebrew by Yardenne Greenspan)

"Fifteen tales that capture the magic and mystery of everyday life in West Jerusalem, which has been the main area of Jewish population from the time of Israeli independence in 1948 . . . Whether these stories are peopled by soldiers, students, children, and parents, they keep asking, 'Who belongs in Jerusalem?' and its corollary, 'Who does Jerusalem belong to?'—the central questions of this volume, which handles them with heartfelt sensitivity. Pushes the boundaries of noir in a welcome new direction." —Kirkus Reviews

FROM THE EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION: "This anthology offers a fictional tour of Jerusalem, this time through the lens of the noir genre. Not all the stories in this book include a detective, a femme fatale, or a dead body. In fact, a significant number of the writers chose to avoid these genre staples. And yet the stories—each taking place in a different part of the city—sketch a dark, imagined map of the city, where religious mystery dwells alongside the quotidian, claustrophobic hubbub of the Central Bus Station . . . The stories included in West Jerusalem Noir could not have taken place anywhere else. They reflect national, religious, and socioeconomic tensions inherent to the city and sketch an image of a concrete, contemporary, and complicated Jerusalem."

Featuring brand-new stories by: Yiftach Ashkenazi, Ilana Bernstein, Emanuel Yitzhak Levi and Guli Dolev-Hashiloni, Liat Elkayam, Asaf Schurr, Yardenne Greenspan, Ilai Rowner, Zohar Elmakias, Ilan Rubin Fields, Nano Shabtai, Yaara Shehori, Tafat Hacohen-Bick, Nadav Lapid, Tehila Hakimi, and Oded Wolkstein.

West Jerusalem Noir is being published simultaneously with East Jerusalem Noir, edited by Rawya Jarjoura Burbara. The companion volume explores the city with brand-new stories by Palestinian authors.

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    • Library Journal

      September 1, 2023

      Edited by novelist and short story writer Eitan (Love), this new volume in Akashic's long-standing city-based noir series brings readers to West Jerusalem via newly minted stories by Israeli Jewish writers, all translated from the Hebrew. To be published simultaneously with East Jerusalem Noir. Prepub Alert.

      Copyright 2023 Library Journal

      Copyright 2023 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

    • Kirkus

      October 1, 2023
      Fifteen tales that capture the magic and mystery of everyday life in West Jerusalem, which has been the main area of Jewish population from the time of Israeli independence in 1948. No volume about Jerusalem could ignore the occupation. This one kicks off with Yiftach Ashkenazi's "A Great Bunch of Guys," set at a checkpoint at the northern border of the city, and Ilana Bernstein's ironically titled "You Can't See the Occupation From Here," which shows that even in the halls of a great university, you can't ignore political realities. But most of the stories showcase different kinds of tension. In Liat Elkayam's "Murder at Sam Spiegel," a Mizrahi Jewish woman tries to find her place at a largely Ashkenazi film school. In Asaf Schurr's "Chrysanthemums," a father tries to conceal his daughter's involvement in a perhaps-fatal traffic accident. Translator Greenspan chronicles an aging writer's mental decline in "Top of the Stairs." But in the volume's longest and most iconic story, "Dos Is Nisht a Khazir," Emanuel Yitzchak Levi and Guli Dolev-Hashiloni offer a double narrative with a single theme. Just as signs at the Biblical Zoo inform skeptical haredim in ungrammatical Yiddish that the peccary is not a pig and therefore can be included in the zoo's collection of animals named in scripture, young Be'eri struggles to explain to his hoped-for girlfriend just what kind of synagogue he attends, where the Torah is read on Shabbat but men and women sit together in prayer led by a female cantor. The point of Be'eri's struggle to define his congregation, like the point of the zoo's signs, is to determine who belongs here. Whether these stories are peopled by soldiers, students, children, and parents, they keep asking, "Who belongs in Jerusalem?" and its corollary, "Who does Jerusalem belong to?"--the central questions of this volume, which handles them with heartfelt sensitivity. Pushes the boundaries of noir in a welcome new direction.

      COPYRIGHT(2023) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

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