In David Grossman’s latest novel, A Horse Walks into a Bar (Vintage), now available in paperback, comedian Dov Greenstein tries to entertain a crowd in Netanya. He’s invited a childhood friend to attend and critique the performance. The old friend, a widowed former judge, is the book’s narrator. “Dovaleh” delivers his strange shtick as the crowd rebels and largely walks out. Dov’s stand-up bit is an extended, melancholy story about his being gathered up from a youth camp in the Negev and transported to his mother’s funeral in Jerusalem. The Israeli author is a master storyteller and prose stylist, and this sad tale of a comedian’s demise can be viewed in its personal pathetic details and as an allegory on Israeli society. A Horse Walks into a Bar won the prestigious 2017 Man Booker International Prize. — Mordecai Specktor
WINNER OF THE 2017 MAN BOOKER INTERNATIONAL PRIZE
