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

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

List Price: $27.50
Your Price: $17.32
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Ghost Writer was probably Chris Rock
Review: This book was unbelievably hilarious. The paranoia and despair of the people of Israel over the suicide attacks cannot be reckoned with. You've just gotta read it to understand it!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Hurrah! I have a friend in Israel.
Review: This is one of the best books I read this year. I always admired those who have the courage to live in Israel. I also wonder what it's really like. David Horovitz's book answered a lot of questions. In fact, those are the very questions that I wanted asked: how do kids deal with bomb scares? How do you discuss politics with orthodox relatives? Those people in new settlements, WHAT were they thinking when they moved there?! What are the Palestinians really like? (Ever heard a normal sounding Palestinian in a news report? I haven't.) It turns out they are very reasonable people! In fact, I found the author's recount of a trip to Gaza absolutely incredible. I never believed in a possibility of peace before. Now I do! In short, it is a very engaging and insightful book. I enjoyed it very much. The author's opinions can be a bit sharp. But, hey, you get all the heat of Israeli political discussion without the cigarette smoke blown into your face. What a deal!!! I was delighted to see that so many Israelis gave this book a thumb up in their reviews!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A little too close to God
Review: This is the most refreshingly honest and therefore hard hitting books to come out of the complexities of the Middle East that I have seen. Tha author appears to be well placed and well skilled to make the observations in that he is a senior journalist with all of the advantages that this brings in terms of access to policy and opinion makers but who, along with his wife was raised in another country. Throw into the mix their three under ten year olds and we have a story worth listening to.

The funny episodes are brilliantly written and the cases for all sides in this divided country given the opportunity of expression. The insight into the various idealogical and political struggles from Jew vs Arab to Sephardi vs Ashkenasi to Religous vs Secular are uniquly well written and observed. I enjoyed it immensely and cannot commend it highly enough. You really will not know how you feel about the place when you are finished - but you will sure understand it a whole lot better.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: A flawed study
Review: While I genuinely enjoyed Mr. Horovitz's description of life in Israel, I was more than a little put off by his partisanship. He expertly describes the tensions between Ashkenazim and Sephardim, between secular and orthodox, between liberals and conservatives; what he failes to do is to include any sense of balance. There is scarcely any mention of the Likud party in general and Netanyahu in particular without a harsh modifier of some kind. Netanyahu is completely villified, as is any Israeli who has ever dared to utter a reservation about the peace process or the sincerity of terrorist-turned-statesman Arafat. The author fails to persuade, he simply takes it on faith that an intelligent reader will agree with him that Likud is irretrievably evil and Rabin must be revered. I purchased this book based on an NPR interview with the author wherein I got the impression that his book was a more academically rigorous study of modern Israeli life, not a virulent screed against political, religious, or social conservatives in that country.


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