A brilliant, life-affirming, and hilarious memoir from a “genius” (The New York Times) and master storyteller. With illustrations by Jason Polan.
The seven years between the birth of Etgar Keret’s son and the death of his father were good years, though still full of reasons to worry. Lev is born in the midst of a terrorist attack. Etgar’s father gets cancer. The threat of constant war looms over their home and permeates daily life.
What emerges from this dark reality is a series of sublimely absurd ruminations on everything from Etgar’s three-year-old son’s impending military service to the terrorist mind-set behind Angry Birds. There’s Lev’s insistence that he is a cat, releasing him from any human responsibilities or rules. Etgar’s siblings, all very different people who have chosen radically divergent paths in life, come together after his father’s shivah to experience the grief and love that tie a family together forever. This wise, witty memoir—Etgar’s first nonfiction book published in America, and told in his inimitable style—is full of wonder and life and love, poignant insights, and irrepressible humor.
From the Hardcover edition.
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“Alex Karpovsky’s engaging narration captures all the bewilderment the author expresses about modern life…Karpovsky changes his tone, volume, and pacing to fit the material so effectively that you’d swear he’s performing a stand-up comedy routine rather than reading a book. He gives selected other speakers individual voices, which add to the richness of the narration.. Winner of the AudioFile Earphones Award.”
— AudioFile
“Being a father, having a father—Etgar Keret is the man in the middle and he captures the job just brilliantly.”
— Roddy Doyle, New York Times bestselling author“A bittersweet memoir…Captures the time between the birth of his son to the death of his Holocaust survivor father, years of contentment punctuated by air-raid sirens and jam ‘sour with memories.’”
— Vogue“The Seven Good Years examines the absurdity, fragility, and unpredictability of life…In true Keret style, it promises to be both poignant and uproariously funny.”
— Chicago TribuneBe the first to write a review about this audiobook!
Etgar Keret was born in Tel Aviv in 1967. Recipient of the French Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, he is a lecturer at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev and the author of the story collection Suddenly, a Knock on the Door. His work has appeared in the New Yorker, Wall Street Journal, Paris Review, and the New York Times, among many other publications.