I enjoyed Etgar Keret’s short story collection, Suddenly, A Knock on the Door, so it was disappointing to find out The Nimrod Flip-Out isn’t nearly as good.
I really like Keret’s casual use of magical realism in many of his stories. My favourite one here was Fatso where a man discovers his girlfriend literally turns into a fat slob of a man at night before turning back into the woman he loves by morning! Very amusing, imaginative stuff.
Unfortunately that’s basically the only story that was any good – and, to make it worse, Fatso is the first story of the collection so it’s all downhill from the start! That’s not to say all the stories are a bust as there are scenes dotted throughout that were interesting. The unkillable dog from Shooting Tuvia, the parents who shrank as their son grew in Pride and Joy and the sad cabbie in The Tits of An Eighteen-Year-Old all caught my attention.
On the whole though nearly all the stories in The Nimrod Flip-Out are forgettable and it’s a largely dull reading experience. Keret’s writing is as skilful as ever but his stories here aren’t as entertaining as I’d hoped. I recommend checking out Suddenly, A Knock on the Door instead to see what this writer can really do.
No comments:
Post a Comment