Scenes from Village Life
by Amos Oz
(Vintage , £8.99)
You might have heard Amos Oz talking about the crisis in the Middle East recently; he’s an expert with a nuanced, balanced view. He’s also a classy writer of fiction, and these short stories, set in rural Israel, are excellent. In one, a man called Maftsir arrives at the house of another man, Zelnick, who is divorced. He lives with his old mother.
His wife has run away from him. Maftsir is creepy and clingy; he makes Zelnick a weird proposition indeed.
In another, a teenager who is obsessed with a local librarian decides to act on his obsession. Reminds me a bit of Chekhov.
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