Look back, Mrs Lot!

by Ephraim Kishon

Book by Kishon, Ephraim

Genres: Humor, Fiction, Satire, German Literature, Comedy, Jewish, Short Stories

256 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1960

About the author

Ephraim Kishon (Hebrew: אפרים קישון‎) was an Israeli writer, satirist, dramatist, screenwriter, and film director.

Born into a middle-class Jewish family in Budapest, Hungary, as Ferenc Hoffmann (Hungarian Hoffmann Ferenc), Kishon studied sculpture and painting, and then began publishing humorous essays and writing for the stage.

During World War II the Nazis imprisoned him in several concentration camps. At one camp his chess talent helped him survive as the camp commandant was looking for an opponent. In another camp the Germans lined up the inmates shooting every tenth person, passing him by. He later wrote in his book The Scapegoat, "They made a mistake—they left one satirist alive." He managed to escape while being transported to the Sobibor death camp in Poland, and hid the remainder of the war disguised as "Stanko Andras", a Slovakian laborer.

After 1945 he changed his surname from Hoffmann to Kishont to disguise his Jewish heritage and returned to Hungary to study art and publish humorous plays. He immigrated to Israel in 1949 to escape the Communist regime, and an immigration officer gave him the name Ephraim Kishon.

His first marriage, in 1946 to Eva (Chawa) Klamer, ended in divorce. In 1959, he married his second wife Sara (née Lipovitz), who died in 2002. In 2003, he married the Austrian writer Lisa Witasek. He had three children: Raphael (b. 1957), Amir (b. 1963), and Renana (b. 1968).

Bulgarian Profile.

Reviews

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was surprisingly, an unexpectedly wonderful read for me. I had spontaneously picked it up from some place a couple of months ago for free, to give it a try.
The book contains 38 satirical vignettes of various areas of social life in Israel of the 1950s. That itself was one of the wonder. Plus, it was humorous, which was so good. A lot of information from life in these times has been also mentioned in footers throughout the book, which was more interesting at times. The copy I read from was (it seemed well-) translated into English.
Recommended!

[Nina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice old-timey humor in the form of short, satirical columns. Gets a liiiiitle bit repetitive after about one half of the book because it's basically the same method of comical exaggeration over and over again, but it still amused me enough to read on. Besides, it offers very interesting perspectives on Jewish life and life in Israel during the Sixties and I learned many things I didn't know. Of course Kishon works a lot with cliches, and one should always keep that in mind while reading, but his satire probably wouldn't have been so popular if it didn't hold true in some ways.
Unfortunately, the book has left me with a certain sense of disappointment after having finished it minutes ago because of the very last text which is sorta racist to today's eyes, but I guess it both wasn't meant and wasn't taken that way when it was published.
Overall, the book is good, solid comedy that should be read with a relaxed attitude about entertainment and the middle east situation. 50 year old newspaper causeries are not a matter fit to be scrutinized for comedic inventiveness and solutions to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

[Gu Kun]

"Wir möchten deswegen unsere Ankündigung eines nichtzionistischen Buches dahin modifizieren, daß dem Leser die üblichen Lobeshymnen über Israel ausnahmsweise erspart bleiben sollen und daß er statt dessen den Vorzug genießen wird, nur das Beste über Israel zu hören."

= [my translation]

"We would therefore like to modify our announcement of a nonzionist book to the extent that, for a change, the reader will be spared the usual hvmns of praise about Israel and that instead he will enjoy the privilege of only hearing the best about Israel."

That's on the first page. Guess I'm going to enjoy this one.

P.S.: I just checked openlibrary.org/ archive.org: they have the English version. Recommended.

[Jan Seyb · Rating 5 out of 5]

Eine wunderschön geschriebene satirische, aber trotzdem sehr aufschlussreiche Darstellung der israelischen Gesellschaft um 1960. In 37 kurzen Geschichten aus seinem angeblichen Alltag erzählt Kishon mit der dem Genre entsprechenden humoristischen Verzerrung von den Eigenheiten des jungen jüdischen Staates und seiner Einwohner, von den kulturellen Unterschieden zwischen den Einwanderergruppen, von dem damals herrschenden Sprachenwirrwarr, von einer chaotischen Bürokratie und wie sie ausgenutzt werden konnte, von seinem eigenen Ehe- und Familienleben und von der jungen, bereits in Israel geborenen Generation, die laut Autor äußerlich ziemlich genau dem nationalsozialistischen Rassenideal entspricht – nur dass sie noch größer und blonder sind.
Mit solchen, und vielen weiteren mitunter fragwürdigen Einschätzungen des Autors fällt es beim Lesen schwer, nicht ununterbrochen zu grinsen.

[Liedzeit Liedzeit · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is only two years ago that I read this, but somehow I started again and could not stop. The highlight being of course, "Jüdisches Poker". Although this is one of these stories that just gets better and betten when you think about it. Actually re-reading is rather disappointing. In my mind I had played round after round with ever new "moves". In case you do not know the object of the game is to come up with a higher number than your opponent. The concept alone is hilarious. I read a German version and always found it funny that instead of "Zahl" what you are supposed to come up with is a "Ziffer" ("Digit"). That doesn’t make any sense as the very first ziffer is 11. I have a jiddisch version of the story and indeed it is tsifer. For some reason in this version "Bill Gates" is used instead of "Ben Gurion". I am really curious who came up with this crazy idea. If you know, please let me know in the comments. Anyway one of the best stories of mankind.

There are a couple of stories that are less than brilliant. But when at third reading I can’t stop laughing Kishon must have done something right. My new favourite being "Ich bin Zeuge".

Kishon was for some time one of the most popular writers in Germany. What is the reason? To make up for the crimes against Jews is an obvious answer. If that is true, I do not see anything wrong with it.

[Peter Fussmatte · Rating 3 out of 5]

2,5. Manche Geschichten sind wirklich lustig und sogar heute noch aktuell. Aber der Stil der Geschichten ist schon sehr ähnlich, war dazu führt dass der Verlauf vorhersehbar ist. Viele Geschichten trafen zudem meinen Humor nicht.

[Franziska · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh how I wish they had Kishon available in English. He's just funny, funny, funny. A classic of humor for anyone.

[Youdid · Rating 5 out of 5]

Die besten, augenzwinkerndsten Satiren die ich je gelesen habe, Kishon ist genial.

[Daniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favorite books ever!

[Perlie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some of the stories were very funny, others haven't weathered well, being from a certain time and worldview that doesn't really exist any more. But some witty zingers and laugh out loud lines made this an easy and enjoyable read.

[Peter Grundberg · Rating 5 out of 5]

A dissident Jewish Hungarian emigre to Israel shares his caustic and witty observations about his adoptive country through a series of anecdotes and skits. Surprising how few people (at the time of writing) have reviewed this absolute gem from the 60s!

[Skyhard · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good book. Very funny!

[Marceli.Szpak.]

Polecajka Awantury literackie i historyczne

[Christoph · Rating 5 out of 5]

Perfect!

[spongebobism · Rating 3 out of 5]

Vermittelt ein lebhaftes Bild von einer besonders faszinierenden Zeit in einer faszinierenden Gesellschaft. Allerdings hat es das klassische Problem von aus Kolumnen zusammengestellten Büchern: Wenn man es hintereinander weg liest, fängt es schnell an, sich zu wiederholen. Ganz so groß war Kischons humoristisches Repertoire dann halt doch nicht.

[esi | אסי]

znakomite poczucie humoru, świetnie bawiłam się w trakcie lektury. jednak ta książeczka nie tylko daje rozrywkę — równocześnie sprawiła, że zaczęłam zastanawiać się nad paradoksami naszej rzeczywistości. kishon skupił uwagę na izraelu, jednak jego spostrzeżenia wypadają całkiem uniwersalnie, w pewnych kwestiach. kilka fragmentów aż sobie zapisałam, są godne zapamiętania.

[Don Gubler · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hilarious

[Cin]

Ich habe ein Buch bei BookCrossing.com registriert!
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/14007703