A Little Too Close to God : The Thrills and Panic of a Life in Israel

Rating:
Summary: Not the best of it's kind...
Review: A bit too politicized for my taste - why have value judgements of the settlers and the religious every other paragraph? Otherwise not too bad. [...]

Rating:
Summary: The most honest book I've read about Israel
Review: As someone who has visited Israel many times over the years, and studied there for a year at college, I am always interested in new books on Israel. This one brought back lots of memories--of experiences good and bad. And having read it, I understand even better the struggles and attractions my friends who live there have to deal with. It's not a whitewash of Israel, nor is it an attack on Israel. It's the reality--the warmth, the tension, the things mothers worry about and dads fight for. I read it in a single weekend.

Rating:
Summary: Quick, entertaining, informative...a must-read
Review: Count this latest entry in the "Living-In-Israel" literary sweepstakes as one of the best. Horowitz is honest and funny as he deals with some of the most compicated issues of modern life in the "Holy Land." You get the feeling that his views, while admittedly personal, reflect on the thoughts and motives of thousands of immigrants like himself, not to mention millions of natural-born Israelis. His handling of the various sides of numerous conflicts in Israel today is refreshingly opinionated but admirably even-handed. Impressivelly, for a journalist, Horowitz uses his considerable experience and access to further his narrative, rather than to impress his readers. This is a must read for anyone with a modicum of interest in the political and social fabric of modern-day Israel and its citizenry.

Rating:
Summary: Insightful and informative book about life in Israel now
Review: David Horovitz has produced a book which presents - like it or not - the raw realities of life in Israel today. Here is someone who is a believer in the state of Israel and what it means to the Jewish people who put his money where his mouth was and moved to Israel, where he is married and has 3 children (about whom his worry is - will they die defending this land?). What he has done in this book is to show the reader the manifold conflicts (religious, political, cultural) which characterize the state of Israel and which make life in America seem positively tepid by way of comparison. He is open about his political and religious viewpoints (left-wing, Reform) and yet shows an excellent insight into the right-wing, Orthodox elements he also confronts not just in Israel at large but - more directly - within his own family. I recommend this book highly to anyone who would like to gain some insight - from the inside, and well beyond the superficialities of the American media - into what it is like to live in Israel. The author has a breezy, conversational style which makes the book both an easy and a highly informative read.

Rating:
Summary: A Little Too Close to God
Review: David Horovitz presents an eyes-wide-open account of life in Israel - the good and the bad. A Little Too Close to God deals with the realities of life in this small country and the difficult daily decisions faced by its people and government. Horovitz's perspective and experiences (both the amusing and difficult) are similar to that faced by many Anglo immigrants - well worth the read.

Rating:
Summary: Good Chatty Book but....
Review: far too little here about the Palestinians directly. The intra-Israeli dialogue throughout "A Little Too Close to God" is important for Americans to understand. But where are the direct visits to Horovitz' neighbors? Not included and that makes the book lop-sided.

Rating:
Summary: Honest and soul-searching....
Review: For those of us who have had the pleasure and often, pain of living in Israel, this book speaks straight to our hearts. Many of us "pioneers" are basically in love with the Zionist idea and exasperated with the reality. David Horovitz does a great job of relating this ping-pong game in which many of us live.

Rating:
Summary: Optimistic, realistic, funny and a joy to read!
Review: Give yourself two days to read this book, and you'll understand more about Israel than any other source could tell you.

Rating:
Summary: A subtle, poignant and moving picture of Israel
Review: Heavens above! Have the sniping critics in your review section been reading the same book as I have? I doubt it! Of course Horovitz doesn't think or claim that he could have stopped the Rabin assassination. What he does is write, movingly and subtly, to express the frustration and sorrow felt by so many Israelis that they didn't do more before that tragedy to strengthen and protect the Israeli prime minister. His book, far from egotistical, is subtle, self-deprecating, laugh-out-loud funny in places, tear-inducing in others. It paints a much deeper, more realistic picture of Israel than any foreign correspondent could muster simply because he actually lives in the country and is raising his family here. He feels its traumas, revels in its achievements, in ways no outsider could possibly hope to emulate. Don't be misled by the crass comments of those who fail to appreciate this poignant, unputdownable read.

Rating:
Summary: Avoid at all costs
Review: Horovitz reveals, and revels in, his hatred for all things Jewish and Israeli. He should have stayed at home in England doing whatever it is he does best instead of travelling to Israel with his obvious prejudices.