Rating: 
Summary: Entertaining..but does it represent Israel???
Review: I found the book to be very entertaining..but does it represent Israel? I have lived in Israel for over a decade and I (and at least half the country) have a very different attitude towards current events... I think that the situation is extremly complicated here and this book oversimplifies everything. On the other hand, I'd say that the author has really opened himself up for us and allowed us a peek into his head. It really is a personal account. This is something that many authors would be hesitant to do and I respect him for it! If you are looking for a good read about stories in Israel, this is for you...If you are looking for an objective view about the political makeup of the country, look elsewhere!
Rating: 
Summary: Optimistic, realistic, funny and a joy to read!
Review: I FOUND THIS BOOK TO BE UNBELIEVABLY INSIGHTFUL. I MADE ALIYAH FROM N.Y. 12 YEARS AGO. THE AUTHOR PUT SO MANY OF MY FEELINGS AND THOUGHTS ABOUT LIVING IN A HECTIC, BUT AMAZING COUNTRY, INTO WORDS. THERE WERE CHAPTERS THAT I COULDN'T PUT DOWN, SOME THAT E MADE ME LAUGH AND CRY. I MAY NOT AGREE WITH EVERY WORD THE AUTHOR WROTE, BUT I COULD DEFINITELY EMPATHIZE. HE NOT ONLY SHARES HIS POLITICS WITH THE READER, BUT GIVES FAIR TIME TO OPPOSING VIEWS. I SUGGESTED THIS BOOK TO MY SIBLINGS IN THE U.S. AND THEY'VE ALREADY BOUGHT A FEW TO GIVE AS PRESENTS. I RECOMMEND THIS TO ANYONE WHO IS CURIOUS ABOUT DAILY LIFE HERE. MOST OF MY FRIENDS IN THE U.S. HAVE NEVER BEEN TO ISRAEL BUT BELIEVE THEY KNOW WHAT'S GOING ON BECAUSE OF THE MEDIA. THEY DON'T. THIS BOOK IS ABOUT ONE MAN'S (OR ONE FAMILY'S) TRUE ACCOUNT OF LIFE IN ISRAEL. READ THIS BOOK AND YOU WILL KNOW WHAT'S GOING ON.
Rating:
Summary: A TRUE ACCOUNT OF LIFE IN ISRAEL
Review: I FOUND THIS BOOK TO BE UNBELIEVABLY INSIGHTFUL. I MADE ALIYAH FROM N.Y. 12 YEARS AGO. THE AUTHOR PUT SO MANY OF MY FEELINGS AND THOUGHTS ABOUT LIVING IN A HECTIC, BUT AMAZING COUNTRY, INTO WORDS. THERE WERE CHAPTERS THAT I COULDN'T PUT DOWN, SOME THAT E MADE ME LAUGH AND CRY. I MAY NOT AGREE WITH EVERY WORD THE AUTHOR WROTE, BUT I COULD DEFINITELY EMPATHIZE. HE NOT ONLY SHARES HIS POLITICS WITH THE READER, BUT GIVES FAIR TIME TO OPPOSING VIEWS. I SUGGESTED THIS BOOK TO MY SIBLINGS IN THE U.S. AND THEY'VE ALREADY BOUGHT A FEW TO GIVE AS PRESENTS. I RECOMMEND THIS TO ANYONE WHO IS CURIOUS ABOUT DAILY LIFE HERE. MOST OF MY FRIENDS IN THE U.S. HAVE NEVER BEEN TO ISRAEL BUT BELIEVE THEY KNOW WHAT'S GOING ON BECAUSE OF THE MEDIA. THEY DON'T. THIS BOOK IS ABOUT ONE MAN'S (OR ONE FAMILY'S) TRUE ACCOUNT OF LIFE IN ISRAEL. READ THIS BOOK AND YOU WILL KNOW WHAT'S GOING ON.
Rating: 
Summary: Politically Biased, Author's diatribe
Review: I got this book with high hopes for a window into the life of an every day Israeli. I was sadly, sadly dissapointed. It is more than obvious that the author wrote this book only to expouse his own political view points, and to lash out at every aspect of Israeli society with which he has a bone to pick. * He places the entire blame of the Intifadah on the assassination of Rabin * As such, he places the majority of the problems of Israel on anyone wearing a kippah Despite this, he manages to maintain an air of I'm-better-than-everyone-else throughout the majority of the book. I suggest you avoid this book, as it is not what you are expecting. This isn't a window into Israeli life, it's a window into the authors mind (read: politics) I hate being so negative, I don't even write reviews much. This one needed writing.
Rating:
Summary: Thomas L. Friedman he is NOT!
Review: I just finished this book. While reading it I found it a little disjunctive, a little disturbing. But it wasn't until I slept that I woke knowing what is wrong with it. Unlike Thomas Friedman, Mr. Horovitz doesn't mingle, as he admits, with Palestinians nor does he go into the West Bank or East Jerusalem, except occasionally as a journalist. That would be okay; what is not okay is the writer's quite unbelievable arrogance. He believes he might have saved Prime Minister Rabin from his horrid fate--if only he had been at the peace rally in Tel Aviv the night he was shot! He believes, or strongly suggests, that his wife single-handedly threw the last Israeli election--to Mr. Barak. Arrogance isn't interesting and neither is most of this book. An attitude lies beneath it that is faux macho and lacking artistic value.
Rating: 
Summary: Good, not GREAT!
Review: I read this book in three days. It's an easy, informative read. But I do not understand why "A Little too Close" gets review after review. Everywhere I look, some Man is praising him to the skies. It's not THAT good. It is certainly not GREAT. It is a journalistic report from the front with no intention (and no success) in elevating politics into the realm of art. I much preferred "Coming Home to Jerusalem" which I consider to be great, not good. Yet I haven't read one review about that book, which does rises into "art." Mr. Horovitz is powerful; he is editor of a great magazine: "The Jerusalem Report." If you compare the two books, as I recommend anyone interested in Israel do, you too will see that Horovitz takes the "highway" trip while Orange, author of "Coming Home to Jerusalem" takes the slow, beautiful scenic route. This may be the book of the moment, but hers will be the evergreen! Can't for the life of me figure out what all the huge hoopla and fuss is about. Or maybe people like things simple and passionate if less reflective?!
Rating:
Summary: Good, not GREAT!
Review: I read this book in three days. It's an easy, informative read. But I do not understand why "A Little too Close" gets review after review. Everywhere I look, some Man is praising him to the skies. It's not THAT good. It is certainly not GREAT. It is a journalistic report from the front with no intention (and no success) in elevating politics into the realm of art. I much preferred "Coming Home to Jerusalem" which I consider to be great, not good. Yet I haven't read one review about that book, which does rises into "art." Mr. Horovitz is powerful; he is editor of a great magazine: "The Jerusalem Report." If you compare the two books, as I recommend anyone interested in Israel do, you too will see that Horovitz takes the "highway" trip while Orange, author of "Coming Home to Jerusalem" takes the slow, beautiful scenic route. This may be the book of the moment, but hers will be the evergreen! Can't for the life of me figure out what all the huge hoopla and fuss is about. Or maybe people like things simple and passionate if less reflective?!
Rating:
Summary: A Little To Close to His Ego
Review: If we are to believe the author, he alone could have saved Prime Minister Rabin from an assasin's bullet. And also that his own family is pivotal to Israeli's political life, their elections. Though the author can be credited with a certain immediacy, he was mostly writing in his journal for and about his family. The book is not well organized. It jumps around and assumes too much interest in his personal life and not enough about the great world all around him. And his self promotion runs throughout..
Rating:
Summary: Important to read regardless of your politics about Israel
Review: If you want to get an inside view of life and politics in Israel, read Horovitz' book [along with Daniel Gordis' If a Place Can Make You Cry/ Home to Stay]. As a British Jew married to an American Jew, Horovitz has chosen to raise his family in Israel though not without reservations. His focus is a little more political than personal, but there is a very thin line between the two. His commentary on the current political scene and his own ambivalence about keeping his family is Israel after Rabin brings the news we see on TV down to a very personal level. Well-written and an easy read. Highly recommended especially if you want to learn more about the political nuances in Israeli life.
Rating:
Summary: The inside view on aliyah & living in a schizophrenic Israel
Review: Isn't it fabulous to hold a dual citizenship? Readers of The Jerusalem Report, and listeners to the BBC and NPR will be familiar with David Horovitz. But don't expect a book by Thomas Friedman or David Shipler. This is the real thing. This is by a reporter who lives and is raising his family in Israel, a country where for every two Jews there are three cell phones. He shows Israel in all its hues, no matter how embarrassing or life-affirming to the author and reader. The book opens with London born Horovitz talking about his weekly lunches at a restaurant that gets blown up by a terrorist. He wonders whether the settlers are wrong to live in very safe enclaves, while he lives in a dangerous Jerusalem? Do priorities change when you have 3 kids? With British/US and Israeli citizenship, should his family just leave for the good of the kids? When David Horovitz emigrated from England to Israel in 1983, it was the fulfillment of a dream. But today, a husband and a father, he is torn between hope and despair, between the desire to make a difference and fear for his family's safety, between staying and going. But then again, Israel is like heroin to an addict. The people and the politics are so passionately bi-polar, where every decision is perceived to a matter of life or death. Another day in Lebanon can mean the death of a father, son, cousin, or neighbor. Even the most tabloid newspaper contains pages of political and military analyses. It is a candid book. He describes Israel as it enters the 21st Century, a post Zionist state that is highly politicized and fragmented, but yet a country in which everyone feels like one big dysfunctional family. A country where two PM's, the President, the spiritiual leader of Shas, and the Justice Minister are all under investigation. A country where you will be cursed at by other drivers, but they will go out of their way to help you if you have a problem, even stopping a bus to donate blood. A people who will freak out in paranoid fear upon touring Jordan, yet flirt over the top upon meeting some Jordanian guys when the bus breaks down. He provides a clear, balanced discussion between himself and his brother-in-law, an American-born Orthodox West Bank settler. Who is the naïve one, who is the cynic? The reader can decide. This is a unique personal story (through the eyes of a Western highly politicized immigrant) of his successes, failures, mistakes, prejudices, and life experiences, and as a reporter and editor for The Jerusalem Report.
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