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Dolly City
A fable of the comic-horror of modern urban existence seen through the eyes of Doctor Dolly, a woman alone in an alienating city. Dolly mounts a solitary, crazy and comic protest against warmongers and bureaucrats, adopting a son along the way.
208 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1992
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1393 people want to read
About the author
Orly Castel-Bloom
22 books36 followersOrly Castel-Bloom (Hebrew: אורלי קסטל-בלום) is an Israeli author.
Orly Castel-Bloom was born in north Tel Aviv in 1960, to a family of Egyptian Jews. Until the age of three, she had French nannies and spoke only French. She studied film at the Beit Zvi School for the Performing Arts in Ramat Gan.
Castel-Bloom lives in Tel Aviv and has two children.
Castel-Bloom's first collection of short stories, Not Far from the Center of Town, was published in 1987 by Am Oved. She is the author of 11 books, including collections of short fiction and novels. Her 1992 novel Dolly City, has been included in the UNESCO Collection of Representative Works, and in 1999 she was named one of the fifty most influential women in Israel. Dolly City has been performed as a play in Tel Aviv.
In Free Radicals, Castel-Bloom stopped writing in the first-person. In Human Parts (2002) she was the first Israeli novelist to address the subject of Palestinian suicide bombings. Her anthology of short stories You Don't Argue with Rice, was published in 2003. Castel-Bloom has won the Prime Minister's award twice, the Tel Aviv award for fiction and was nominated for the Sapir Prize for Literature.
Israeli literary critic Gershon Shaked called her a postmodern writer who "communicates the despair of a generation which no longer even dreams the dreams of Zionist history."
Orly Castel-Bloom was born in north Tel Aviv in 1960, to a family of Egyptian Jews. Until the age of three, she had French nannies and spoke only French. She studied film at the Beit Zvi School for the Performing Arts in Ramat Gan.
Castel-Bloom lives in Tel Aviv and has two children.
Castel-Bloom's first collection of short stories, Not Far from the Center of Town, was published in 1987 by Am Oved. She is the author of 11 books, including collections of short fiction and novels. Her 1992 novel Dolly City, has been included in the UNESCO Collection of Representative Works, and in 1999 she was named one of the fifty most influential women in Israel. Dolly City has been performed as a play in Tel Aviv.
In Free Radicals, Castel-Bloom stopped writing in the first-person. In Human Parts (2002) she was the first Israeli novelist to address the subject of Palestinian suicide bombings. Her anthology of short stories You Don't Argue with Rice, was published in 2003. Castel-Bloom has won the Prime Minister's award twice, the Tel Aviv award for fiction and was nominated for the Sapir Prize for Literature.
Israeli literary critic Gershon Shaked called her a postmodern writer who "communicates the despair of a generation which no longer even dreams the dreams of Zionist history."
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 79 reviews
September 23, 2021
Senryu Review:
Homicidal mum
runs riot round dystopia
in Ellmannesque romp
Homicidal mum
runs riot round dystopia
in Ellmannesque romp
June 15, 2016
Fucked up. At times brilliant, at times hilarious. I was not horrified because I immediately read it as an allegory of internal states. It is curious that unlike other unreliable narrators (closest comparison that comes to my mind is Beckett's narrators), Dolly knows she's crazy and reflects on her craziness, even within a state none of us would call normal. And everyone else is the same way. This frees up the conceit, somewhat, but also places the story outside of the mere surreal, and into one in which the horrors are more concrete. The levels of unreliability build on top of each other so that it is a range rather than a binary. There is no real analogue to the events that are happening except that they ring emotionally true. It's a book of brokenness from the start, and there is no real attempt to fix anything, but the impulse to fix is still there, is ever-present, like an echo of a pre-apocalyptic urge that seems oddly anachronistic and endearing.
I'm ill equipped to really understand this book because I don't understand the Israel it satirizes, but I still felt the urgency of its voice. These reviews may be more illuminating:
http://forward.com/culture/133213/a-w...
http://www.tabletmag.com/podcasts/205...
I'm ill equipped to really understand this book because I don't understand the Israel it satirizes, but I still felt the urgency of its voice. These reviews may be more illuminating:
http://forward.com/culture/133213/a-w...
http://www.tabletmag.com/podcasts/205...
March 22, 2011
I think I need a drink. I also think I'd have to re-read and study this book and miles of history around the middle-east, immigration, alienation, outsider culture, survivors of war, and Israeli authors to understand the breadth of the work. I am stunned. One hell of a way to express the chaos that is living with feelings bordering on exile in a country that is outside your birth.
As the afterword suggests I think I'd have to read it again and again to fully come to grips with what I just experienced. Uh. And the rating feels utterly arbitrary, I feel like I've assigned a grade to the quality of an assassination or campaign bombing, yea, that was pretty good. How do you even do that?
As the afterword suggests I think I'd have to read it again and again to fully come to grips with what I just experienced. Uh. And the rating feels utterly arbitrary, I feel like I've assigned a grade to the quality of an assassination or campaign bombing, yea, that was pretty good. How do you even do that?
April 16, 2015
Dolly City is an awful place where murderous citizens gobble buckets of anti-depressants and live in such sections of town as Wells of Despair, Lakes of Fear, and Swamps of Despair. And, there are two political parties: Bureaucracy and Procedure. At the heart of this city (well, actually there is no heart) is Dolly herself, a medical doctor who took her degree at the University of Katmandu (or maybe not). She sees sickness everywhere, particularly cancer, which even tires and roads seem to have contracted. She is eager to treat people, although she cares little whether they live or die and is quite willing to help them achieve the latter. Her main preoccupation is her son (actually an orphan she finds one day), whom she calls simply Son. She is a Jewish mother with a vengeance, performing a series of operations on Son to make sure he is normal (does he actually have two kidneys? Let’s operate and see). Finally, she has Son glued to her back so that “I would be able to incorporate him inside myself and forget all about him, and I wouldn’t have to worry so much anymore.” This is of course very, very broad satire from one of Israel’s most famous women writers. Does she go too far? Yes, of course. For the first one hundred pages I alternated between hilarity and horror . . . and, then, my emotion turned to boredom, and finally I just struggled to finish. This kind of thing will only take me so far, despite my admiration for Castel-Bloom’s imagination, and then I want a little something that enables my own imagination to poke its way into the narrative. None of that here.
April 15, 2011
The writing style and grotesque subject matter reminded me a lot of Mikhail Bulgakov's Heart of a Dog. Granted, I read that many years ago so the connection might be very, very loose.
I really enjoyed Dolly City. It's macabre, funny, and thought-provoking. I can't help but feel like I was missing a lot of the cultural commentary, although some of it became clearer after reading the "epilogue" type thing at the end.
While reading, it definitely comes across as one of those books in which EVERYTHING is metaphorical. Castel-Bloom's writing is very sharp and nothing is superfluous, down to the most absurd detail. The story progresses rapidly and years fly by in a matter of pages. Although the story is engrossing (I could barely put it down), I did kind of get the feeling that Dolly City wasn't really about the story, but rather more about what the story was trying to say. I don't quite know how to word it, but that's the one aspect of this book that was a little disappointing to me. Although I loved that it was very "in your face" and provoked you the whole way through to read between the lines, at times I wanted to enjoy the bizarre story as simply a story.
Definitely one of those books that I would like to read again (and in fact, probably SHOULD read again).
I really enjoyed Dolly City. It's macabre, funny, and thought-provoking. I can't help but feel like I was missing a lot of the cultural commentary, although some of it became clearer after reading the "epilogue" type thing at the end.
While reading, it definitely comes across as one of those books in which EVERYTHING is metaphorical. Castel-Bloom's writing is very sharp and nothing is superfluous, down to the most absurd detail. The story progresses rapidly and years fly by in a matter of pages. Although the story is engrossing (I could barely put it down), I did kind of get the feeling that Dolly City wasn't really about the story, but rather more about what the story was trying to say. I don't quite know how to word it, but that's the one aspect of this book that was a little disappointing to me. Although I loved that it was very "in your face" and provoked you the whole way through to read between the lines, at times I wanted to enjoy the bizarre story as simply a story.
Definitely one of those books that I would like to read again (and in fact, probably SHOULD read again).
March 7, 2016
דולי סיטי הוא ספר מוטרף על חרדת אימהות והדברים שהיא גורמת לנו הנשים לעשות. זה ספר מאוד הולם לקריאה לקראת יום האישה הבינלאומי. בתזזיתיות שבו הוא מדגים את הצפיות החברתיות מנשים ואת כשלונן הסדרתי למלא אותן.
בכל אופן הוא ספר די בוטה וכמו שהילדים שלי אומרים "לפנים" בבוטות שבה הוא מציג את המתח בין נשיות, אמהות וקריירה.
דולי היא רופאה, מנתחת, שלמדה בטיבט בעקבות השאיפות של אביה שרצה שהיא תנצל את כרטיס הטיסה שהחברה נתנ לה בחינם. כשהיא חוזרת לדולי סיטי היא נסחפת אחר נטיות ליבה ועוסקת בביולוגיה, בבעלי חיים ובמחקר.
אין כסף במחקר ודולי לאורך כל הספר נעה על גבול העוני, דבר שדוחף אות לבצע דברים מטורפים יותר ממה שהיא כבר מבצעת.
היא מוצאת ילד והופכת אותו לשלה אבל החרדות הקיומיות גורמות לה להעביר אותו מסעות יסורים, ניתוחים וטיפולים רפואיים אותם היא מבצעת בעצמה והאמת שאני מבינה אותה. החרדה הזו לילדים, לשלומם ולבריאותם מחרפנת.
בשלב מסויים מאשפזים אותה והיא בורחת מהאישפוז הפסיכיאטרי, היא מדביקה את הילד לגב שלה עד שהיא מרגישה שהיא לא יכולה יותר ורק רוצה להתנתק ממנו ובגיל 45 בנה מאשפז אותה בבית זקנים כי העולם שייך לצעירים.
זה ספר מטלטל, מחריד ומטריד. יש בו הומור שחור ובקריאה ניכר שקסטל בלום לא לוקחת את עצמה ברצינות מידי.
רק נותר לקוות שלא הותרתי משקעים כמו דולי בילדי.
בכל אופן הוא ספר די בוטה וכמו שהילדים שלי אומרים "לפנים" בבוטות שבה הוא מציג את המתח בין נשיות, אמהות וקריירה.
דולי היא רופאה, מנתחת, שלמדה בטיבט בעקבות השאיפות של אביה שרצה שהיא תנצל את כרטיס הטיסה שהחברה נתנ לה בחינם. כשהיא חוזרת לדולי סיטי היא נסחפת אחר נטיות ליבה ועוסקת בביולוגיה, בבעלי חיים ובמחקר.
אין כסף במחקר ודולי לאורך כל הספר נעה על גבול העוני, דבר שדוחף אות לבצע דברים מטורפים יותר ממה שהיא כבר מבצעת.
היא מוצאת ילד והופכת אותו לשלה אבל החרדות הקיומיות גורמות לה להעביר אותו מסעות יסורים, ניתוחים וטיפולים רפואיים אותם היא מבצעת בעצמה והאמת שאני מבינה אותה. החרדה הזו לילדים, לשלומם ולבריאותם מחרפנת.
בשלב מסויים מאשפזים אותה והיא בורחת מהאישפוז הפסיכיאטרי, היא מדביקה את הילד לגב שלה עד שהיא מרגישה שהיא לא יכולה יותר ורק רוצה להתנתק ממנו ובגיל 45 בנה מאשפז אותה בבית זקנים כי העולם שייך לצעירים.
זה ספר מטלטל, מחריד ומטריד. יש בו הומור שחור ובקריאה ניכר שקסטל בלום לא לוקחת את עצמה ברצינות מידי.
רק נותר לקוות שלא הותרתי משקעים כמו דולי בילדי.
March 4, 2011
I reread Dolly City for a book review that I am writing. When the review is published, I'll provide a link to it here. I will say that lately I've been enjoying a number of books with fantastic last sentences. There's quite a bit of literary criticism on "the poetics of closure," usually in relation to poetry, and it would be interesting to apply these observations to Castel-Bloom's novel. Dolly City has a remarkable finale. You have to go through a lot of gore for this moment but it's worth it (come to think of it, that's how I felt about giving birth to Lev).
April 7, 2023
Wow. I um, don’t know how to “review” this little novel. I’ll start by saying this was a tough sit. A little tough to read in the beginning. Towards the middle I started to think that Orly Castel-Bloom could be a genius. When I finished, after just a couple of hours, I’m certain she is. This book is easily one of the most original pieces of literature I’ve read. Yeah, it’s uncomfortable but it’s honest. It’s outlandish but remarkable. It’s rewarding and it’s eye-opening. It’s awesome. Another OCB is coming this month. Stay tuned.
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March 16, 2021Well, that was definitely something
September 6, 2022
essay coming soon maybe
UPDATE 4 days later: here's my essay but this is just me rambling to myself so keep scrolling and if not then be warned i punctuate based on vibes
as horror this is pretty decent, it's grotesque and twisted and "funny". the fast pace of the book adds to the ludicrousness and the humour although sometimes it's so fast-paced that you can't take in most of what's on the page.
dolly city presents "reality" but on x mode. it's a tale of many things, one of which is jewish motherhood. dolly is paranoid, she is so worried about her son possibly getting sick that she opens him up several times over the course of the book to make sure he's alright. her hysteria, her love and her hatred are one.
dolly city is also a tale of nationhood. dolly city shares dolly's own name, she is dolly city, she might even be israel (and some passages in the book support that: at one point, her sister tells her to "return to the '67 borders", will discuss that later though; on two occasions, the same sentence is present in different passages of the book: "And if a state like the State of Israel can't control the Arabs in the territories, how can anybody expect me, a private individual, to control the occupied territories inside myself?"). dolly city is diseased, it's both cancerous and carcinogenic, dolly sees cancer everywhere and goes out of her way to infect people with diseases of her own creation (in this futuristic setting, several diseases known to us today had been eradicated but dolly brings them back in her home lab). elements in the book also make reference to the holocaust (dolly claims she's entitled to butchering german babies to steal a kidney for her son because germans are "the worst pigs" you could think of), people whose families haven't been victims of the holocaust (non-european jews), and holocaust survivors are said to crucify random europeans on the streets of dolly city in the "anti-anti-semite" quarter. this is one aspect of israeli society the author mocks, along with israelis' fear of arabs or "arabophobia".
the book also seems to make a statement on israel's occupation of palestine. dolly acknowledges that dolly city is unliveable, it's an unhinged city with no roots, ruled by chaos and disease. at one point, she says "I want to go home—even though this is my home." and in fact one of the sentences used to officially describe and sell the book is "Dolly City—, a city without a base, without a past, without an infrastructure. The most demented city in the world.". dolly herself compares her own madness to israel's occupation of palestinian territory in 1967 when she says "Madness is a predator", "Its food is the soul. It takes over the soul as rapidly as our forces occupied Judea, Samaria, and the Gaza Strip in 1967". dolly in her madness carves the map of israel on her son's back, and later her sister tells her that she would not be able to see her son again until she returns "to the '67 borders". in 1967, hundreds of thousands of palestinians were displaced and made refugees as israel demolished and took control of multiple villages. after a few years away from her son, dolly returns to see him again, and the map she had carved on his back had changed, he had returned to the '67 borders. being away from his overbearing, murderous, and abusive mother and city who share the same name, his personality had changed and the scars on his back had regressed. what i have issues with here, is that while the occupation of palestine is acknowledged—and makes dolly city/israel a despicable place to live in, where there is no sense of belonging as an israeli citizen whose home is not really their home but a home that was violently stolen from someone else—the message is muddled. on one hand it's clear that the only way to "cure" dolly, who embodies both dolly city and israel is to end the occupation of palestine. on the other hand, the occupation is explicitly addressed and the book seems to criticize and reject zionism by expressing it through dolly's madness and violent ways but the message doesn't go beyond "returning to the '67 borders" and this in my opinion doesn't call for the end of occupied palestine considering the occupation began in 1948 and caused the displacement of about 700,000 of palestinians.
in this story and as explained in the afterword, motherhood and nationhood are one. while i enjoyed it as a horror book, and found value in its storytelling i don't fully agree with its ideology hence the 3 stars and SCENE
UPDATE 4 days later: here's my essay but this is just me rambling to myself so keep scrolling and if not then be warned i punctuate based on vibes
as horror this is pretty decent, it's grotesque and twisted and "funny". the fast pace of the book adds to the ludicrousness and the humour although sometimes it's so fast-paced that you can't take in most of what's on the page.
dolly city presents "reality" but on x mode. it's a tale of many things, one of which is jewish motherhood. dolly is paranoid, she is so worried about her son possibly getting sick that she opens him up several times over the course of the book to make sure he's alright. her hysteria, her love and her hatred are one.
dolly city is also a tale of nationhood. dolly city shares dolly's own name, she is dolly city, she might even be israel (and some passages in the book support that: at one point, her sister tells her to "return to the '67 borders", will discuss that later though; on two occasions, the same sentence is present in different passages of the book: "And if a state like the State of Israel can't control the Arabs in the territories, how can anybody expect me, a private individual, to control the occupied territories inside myself?"). dolly city is diseased, it's both cancerous and carcinogenic, dolly sees cancer everywhere and goes out of her way to infect people with diseases of her own creation (in this futuristic setting, several diseases known to us today had been eradicated but dolly brings them back in her home lab). elements in the book also make reference to the holocaust (dolly claims she's entitled to butchering german babies to steal a kidney for her son because germans are "the worst pigs" you could think of), people whose families haven't been victims of the holocaust (non-european jews), and holocaust survivors are said to crucify random europeans on the streets of dolly city in the "anti-anti-semite" quarter. this is one aspect of israeli society the author mocks, along with israelis' fear of arabs or "arabophobia".
the book also seems to make a statement on israel's occupation of palestine. dolly acknowledges that dolly city is unliveable, it's an unhinged city with no roots, ruled by chaos and disease. at one point, she says "I want to go home—even though this is my home." and in fact one of the sentences used to officially describe and sell the book is "Dolly City—, a city without a base, without a past, without an infrastructure. The most demented city in the world.". dolly herself compares her own madness to israel's occupation of palestinian territory in 1967 when she says "Madness is a predator", "Its food is the soul. It takes over the soul as rapidly as our forces occupied Judea, Samaria, and the Gaza Strip in 1967". dolly in her madness carves the map of israel on her son's back, and later her sister tells her that she would not be able to see her son again until she returns "to the '67 borders". in 1967, hundreds of thousands of palestinians were displaced and made refugees as israel demolished and took control of multiple villages. after a few years away from her son, dolly returns to see him again, and the map she had carved on his back had changed, he had returned to the '67 borders. being away from his overbearing, murderous, and abusive mother and city who share the same name, his personality had changed and the scars on his back had regressed. what i have issues with here, is that while the occupation of palestine is acknowledged—and makes dolly city/israel a despicable place to live in, where there is no sense of belonging as an israeli citizen whose home is not really their home but a home that was violently stolen from someone else—the message is muddled. on one hand it's clear that the only way to "cure" dolly, who embodies both dolly city and israel is to end the occupation of palestine. on the other hand, the occupation is explicitly addressed and the book seems to criticize and reject zionism by expressing it through dolly's madness and violent ways but the message doesn't go beyond "returning to the '67 borders" and this in my opinion doesn't call for the end of occupied palestine considering the occupation began in 1948 and caused the displacement of about 700,000 of palestinians.
in this story and as explained in the afterword, motherhood and nationhood are one. while i enjoyed it as a horror book, and found value in its storytelling i don't fully agree with its ideology hence the 3 stars and SCENE
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 2, 2019
זאת פשוט הזיה לא קריאה, אבל לפחות קצרה
October 5, 2024
ספר על המזרח התיכון
January 19, 2015
I am stunned! Never have I read a book so intense that I had to step away to breath. I need a drink to calm my nerves! From the first paragraph Castel-Bloom pierces you with her needle and you are frozen in a trance until you break away from the prose. I feel like I need to study some history or geography to fully grasp certain details of this novel, but regardless of what I didn't know, I did connect with the intense urge to protect one's child and I realized how we, as parents, can f*** up our kids without truly realizing the extent of our actions. There are some points in the narrative that I felt disjointed from the story--maybe I missed certain details or there are pieces that were lost in translation. Overall, I would recommend that you be prepared before entering the realm of Dolly City. It's not for the faint of heart!
December 27, 2018
Paternity is legal fiction to James Joyce, what about maternity to this Jewish mother? Her account is so wild, it can’t be anything other than fiction, but what if it conveys some kind of truth?
This strange little book starts out totally nonsensical, by the end you’re sure it corresponds to something that happened — happens? — to real people, in a really mad city, in the real world, but the language is too wild to piece it together easily.
It’s really funny, and provocative. It touches on so many taboos I’m afraid to recommend it. The author reportedly said that “in the months following the Israeli publication of the novel in 1992, people who recognized her as its author were actually afraid of her.”
But still, I want to read more by the same author. I’m already looking forward to rereading this.
This strange little book starts out totally nonsensical, by the end you’re sure it corresponds to something that happened — happens? — to real people, in a really mad city, in the real world, but the language is too wild to piece it together easily.
It’s really funny, and provocative. It touches on so many taboos I’m afraid to recommend it. The author reportedly said that “in the months following the Israeli publication of the novel in 1992, people who recognized her as its author were actually afraid of her.”
But still, I want to read more by the same author. I’m already looking forward to rereading this.
June 29, 2019
Real downer and slog despite how much action happens constantly, an ever-changing barrage of murders, surgeries, and chaos that adds up to nothing. Definitely trying to go the Pynchon route of uniting the disparate events with a strange psedo-conspiracy, but it fails in every respect to add up or be compelling even in the unreliability. If read allegorically, well, it still doesn't mean too much. Gore gone lit as a criticism of Israeli politics sounds way cooler than the execution here!
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December 25, 2023הספר הזה צריך להיות ההגדרה המילונית לfever dream
December 24, 2021
Posiblemente el libro más raruno que he leído en mi vida.
April 9, 2016
Dolly City by Orly Castel-Bloom
This short dystopian tale is written in a fearless, shocking and courageous language that, at first, can be off-putting. The author describes an Israel and a heroine beset with paranoia, chaos, disease and hopelessness. A doctor, trained in Katmandu, she travels her city and land searching for sense of family and security that is not possible in this horrid state of affairs. At one point, she adopts an infant and out of a misguided maternal instinct performs untold surgical and other medical interventions in a sick, misguided attempt to protect him from the world around them.
She meets a man called Gordon who claims “I’m the first Jew to work the land since the destruction of the Second temple” yet after being together for 9 months (symbolic) “history and folklore had taken him over completely. All the theories about Mother Earth and working the land were bullshit. He was sick of Dolly City, he wanted to try his luck in Mexico City”.
In the end one has to believe that the author's tale is a commentary on Israel and the complications it faces dealing with their Arab neighbors and their own internal political forces.
If one can get past the horror of its language it can be an engrossing experience that I will be thinking about for some time. This book is not for everyone.
This short dystopian tale is written in a fearless, shocking and courageous language that, at first, can be off-putting. The author describes an Israel and a heroine beset with paranoia, chaos, disease and hopelessness. A doctor, trained in Katmandu, she travels her city and land searching for sense of family and security that is not possible in this horrid state of affairs. At one point, she adopts an infant and out of a misguided maternal instinct performs untold surgical and other medical interventions in a sick, misguided attempt to protect him from the world around them.
She meets a man called Gordon who claims “I’m the first Jew to work the land since the destruction of the Second temple” yet after being together for 9 months (symbolic) “history and folklore had taken him over completely. All the theories about Mother Earth and working the land were bullshit. He was sick of Dolly City, he wanted to try his luck in Mexico City”.
In the end one has to believe that the author's tale is a commentary on Israel and the complications it faces dealing with their Arab neighbors and their own internal political forces.
If one can get past the horror of its language it can be an engrossing experience that I will be thinking about for some time. This book is not for everyone.
June 23, 2016
Este libro es, por mucho, la cosa más rara que he leído en mi vida.
Seguramente sea una metáfora sobre la historia de Israel o algo por el estilo. Pero, afortunadamente, se puede leer literalmente. O sea, sin tener en cuenta que uno lee algo simbólico, sino que es una historia hecha y derecha, sin doble sentidos.
Y que es MUY-FUCKING-RARA.
Tratar de explicar de qué se trata es absolutamente imposible, pero sería algo así. A una médica se le muere el perro. Contrata un tipo para que lo entierre. Ella lo sigue a escondidas. El enterrador destroza el cadáver antes de enterrarlo. Ella lo mata. En el camino, encuentra un bebé en la calle. Decide adoptarlo y criarlo como a un hijo. Pero el instinto maternal se le pasa de rosca y ella vive con un pánico constante a que el nene se enferme; el miedo es tal que lo opera todos los días sólo para revisar que esté todo bien adentro.
El resto de la novela es la relación de la mujer con este niño, su "hijo", al que sigue maltratando por amor, mientras tratan de vivir en una ciudad que, probablemente, sólo sea la psiquis de la mina.
Es rarísima. Todo pasa tan rápido que no te da tiempo a pensar ni siquiera en simbolismos ni nada. Todo es ya, ya, ya. La tapa del libro cita una crítica de Le Monde, que dice "Kafka en Tel Aviv". Kafka, mis pelotas. No se me ocurre ni un punto de comparación con esto, pero Kafka seguro que no.
Seguramente sea una metáfora sobre la historia de Israel o algo por el estilo. Pero, afortunadamente, se puede leer literalmente. O sea, sin tener en cuenta que uno lee algo simbólico, sino que es una historia hecha y derecha, sin doble sentidos.
Y que es MUY-FUCKING-RARA.
Tratar de explicar de qué se trata es absolutamente imposible, pero sería algo así. A una médica se le muere el perro. Contrata un tipo para que lo entierre. Ella lo sigue a escondidas. El enterrador destroza el cadáver antes de enterrarlo. Ella lo mata. En el camino, encuentra un bebé en la calle. Decide adoptarlo y criarlo como a un hijo. Pero el instinto maternal se le pasa de rosca y ella vive con un pánico constante a que el nene se enferme; el miedo es tal que lo opera todos los días sólo para revisar que esté todo bien adentro.
El resto de la novela es la relación de la mujer con este niño, su "hijo", al que sigue maltratando por amor, mientras tratan de vivir en una ciudad que, probablemente, sólo sea la psiquis de la mina.
Es rarísima. Todo pasa tan rápido que no te da tiempo a pensar ni siquiera en simbolismos ni nada. Todo es ya, ya, ya. La tapa del libro cita una crítica de Le Monde, que dice "Kafka en Tel Aviv". Kafka, mis pelotas. No se me ocurre ni un punto de comparación con esto, pero Kafka seguro que no.
August 25, 2025
3.6-3.9.
Even though this is a postmodernist piece of political, social and corporeal horror satire, I’ve had a similar feeling to finishing a classic -you might not read it again, however you would probably discuss it. A lot.
Indubitably the reading itself is an experience… It goes above and beyond the expected and perhaps would not be the best fit for more sensitive readers.
One of my favourite parts about this book were the many descriptions of Dolly city: its people, weather, atmosphere, environment…A totally damned, dystopian, nonsensical city which holds its echoes in contemporary world absorbing all the possible horrors from it posing a question: is it the environment or the protagonist Dolly who is suffering from multiple illnesses? The illnesses and absurdity in this book eloquently encapsulate a critique on Israeli society, though closer reading is needed to understand different political, cultural and religious references.
Even though this is a postmodernist piece of political, social and corporeal horror satire, I’ve had a similar feeling to finishing a classic -you might not read it again, however you would probably discuss it. A lot.
Indubitably the reading itself is an experience… It goes above and beyond the expected and perhaps would not be the best fit for more sensitive readers.
One of my favourite parts about this book were the many descriptions of Dolly city: its people, weather, atmosphere, environment…A totally damned, dystopian, nonsensical city which holds its echoes in contemporary world absorbing all the possible horrors from it posing a question: is it the environment or the protagonist Dolly who is suffering from multiple illnesses? The illnesses and absurdity in this book eloquently encapsulate a critique on Israeli society, though closer reading is needed to understand different political, cultural and religious references.
August 23, 2012
In all honesty, I hated this book. If I could give it no stars without making it look like I didn't rate it, I would. Even though it was supposed to be a sattire, and the society was supposed to be corrupt, I just couldn't wrap my head around it at all. The narrator was just too much to handle.
March 11, 2016
At first I was overwhelmed by the weirdness and madness of this book, but it grew on me pretty quickly. You have to accept the fantastic setting and the obvious madness of the main character for what they are and let them lead you on. It is definitely worth reading.
November 12, 2015
What a book! One of the more bizarre pieces of literature I've read recently.
April 18, 2016
This could easily be one of the weirdest and the most disturbing books I have ever read.
November 7, 2017
Nije mi legla knjiga. Najverovatnije sam izabrala pogrešan trenutak za njeno čitanje.
January 22, 2021
Amazing, hilarious and twisted. The novel's arbitrary events and outlandish descriptions really challenge the idea of structres, boundaries and traditions.
June 19, 2019
MARAVILLA😍
•
Ya en los cuatro primeros párrafos de esta estupenda novela se intuye una historia atípica. Una historia dura por momentos, contada de forma directa y brusca. Todo un acierto, en mi opinión. No hay una sola página que deje indiferente.
•
Dolly, su protagonista, también es atípica en todo: como médico, como hija, como madre, como ser humano (si se la puede considerar tal) en general.
•
Dolly es
〰️polémica: “En Dolly City todo el mundo sabe que con los refugiados gitanos, los kurdos y también con los asiáticos es imposible discutir. Son extremadamente susceptibles, no toleran ninguna clase de comentario ni de reproche, hay que dejarlos tranquilos.”
〰️una obsesa de la cirugía: “Hola, mamá, has envejecido. Tienes todo el pelo blanco y la cara arrugada. Estás horrible. ¿Quieres que te haga un lifting?”
〰️cruel: “[...] o se burlaba de él. Yo permitía que lo hicieran para que no se transformara en un niño mimado, para que se enterara de que la vida era un manicomio.”
〰️y está loca: “Levanté a Ninette Oberson, la metí en la secadora y apreté el botón de INICIO.”
•
Y todo en el libro es una put* locura. Más abajo tenéis más frases, como siempre.
•
¿Qué encontraréis en este libro? De todo; multitud de sensaciones; os quedareis en shock.
•
Erratas encontradas: 2 {🤦🏻♀️ ¡psicoanalista ven a mí!}
•
FRASES SUBRAYADAS:
•
“[...] el miedo, el terror más enorme, no es más que la onda expansiva de la muerte.”
•
“Fue un error tremendo, porque la información reciente es más complicada y, cuando por fin conseguí comprenderla más o menos, penetró en mi interior tan brutalmente como lo haría un maníaco sexual.”
•
“Como médico, sabía que el mejor remedio contra la enfermedad es la salud.”
•
“Las pocas personas a las que había operado a lo largo de mi vida habían muerto en la mesa de operaciones. La operación había sido un éxito, pero el paciente había muerto.”
•
“Contemplé la espalda con los cortes: sin duda alguna, era un mapa de Israel.”
•
“Dolly City era una ciudad amputada, troceada, un asco de ciudad.”
•
“[...] ¿y si estuviera desarrollando un cáncer? El miedo al cáncer es el más terrible de todos. Creo que es la enfermedad más sombría que el ángel de la muerte haya podido inventar.”
•
“[...] y de este modo había descuartizado toda clase de animales, así porque sí, sin razón alguna.”
•
“[...] no quisiera dar la impresión de que adopté a un niño para destruirlo. Yo solo he querido protegerlo de todo mal.” ➡️{hombre ... "adoptar” ... ya leeréis qué sucedió}
•
“[...] no le había enseñado a hablar. ¿Para qué? ¿Para que dijera «mamá»?”
•
“Mi preocupación por su salud era insaciable. Era una voracidad rayana en lo absurdo.”
•
“En realidad no sabía nada de psiquiatría, así que improvisaba. Les soltaba mentiras de todo tipo, como que la humanidad se divide en dos categorías, los que han sido dados por el culo y los que no, ya sea metafóricamente o en la práctica.”
•
“Hombres desesperados se follaban los troncos de los árboles.”
•
“—Llama al médico -murmuró-. Estoy un poco enferma.
—¿Qué tienes? ¿Has olvidado que soy médico? Dime, ¿qué te duele?
—Napoleón también creía que era Napoleón -dijo.”
•
“[...] tuve que recurrir a la eutanasia, la rama de la medicina que más odiaba, porque ni es un asesinato ni salva vidas. Entonces, ¿qué es? Es el momento en el que la medicina admite su fracaso.”
•
“Me pasé meses como un yo-yo, deambulando de una profesión a otra, de una especialidad a otra, igual que los israelitas vagaron de un lugar a otro durante sus largos años de exilio.”
•
“Cuando la humanidad haya conseguido encontrar un remedio contra el cáncer, tendrá que dedicarse a encontrar la forma de matar la locura sin matar al loco.”
•
“El niño tenía un aspecto lamentable; era el reflejo de una locura de años.”
•
“Ese mismo día descubrí la forma de luchar contra mi locura: la indiferencia.”
•
“El tiempo paso como pasa siempre. Primero los años, luego los meses, luego los días, las horas, los minutos y, por fin, pero no menos importantes, los segundos.”
•
“El gobernador me pidió que pasara la noche con él, pero yo prefería suicidarme.”
•
#LeoYComparto #bookish #DimeUnLibro #bookaholic #NarrativaHebrea
•
Ya en los cuatro primeros párrafos de esta estupenda novela se intuye una historia atípica. Una historia dura por momentos, contada de forma directa y brusca. Todo un acierto, en mi opinión. No hay una sola página que deje indiferente.
•
Dolly, su protagonista, también es atípica en todo: como médico, como hija, como madre, como ser humano (si se la puede considerar tal) en general.
•
Dolly es
〰️polémica: “En Dolly City todo el mundo sabe que con los refugiados gitanos, los kurdos y también con los asiáticos es imposible discutir. Son extremadamente susceptibles, no toleran ninguna clase de comentario ni de reproche, hay que dejarlos tranquilos.”
〰️una obsesa de la cirugía: “Hola, mamá, has envejecido. Tienes todo el pelo blanco y la cara arrugada. Estás horrible. ¿Quieres que te haga un lifting?”
〰️cruel: “[...] o se burlaba de él. Yo permitía que lo hicieran para que no se transformara en un niño mimado, para que se enterara de que la vida era un manicomio.”
〰️y está loca: “Levanté a Ninette Oberson, la metí en la secadora y apreté el botón de INICIO.”
•
Y todo en el libro es una put* locura. Más abajo tenéis más frases, como siempre.
•
¿Qué encontraréis en este libro? De todo; multitud de sensaciones; os quedareis en shock.
•
Erratas encontradas: 2 {🤦🏻♀️ ¡psicoanalista ven a mí!}
•
FRASES SUBRAYADAS:
•
“[...] el miedo, el terror más enorme, no es más que la onda expansiva de la muerte.”
•
“Fue un error tremendo, porque la información reciente es más complicada y, cuando por fin conseguí comprenderla más o menos, penetró en mi interior tan brutalmente como lo haría un maníaco sexual.”
•
“Como médico, sabía que el mejor remedio contra la enfermedad es la salud.”
•
“Las pocas personas a las que había operado a lo largo de mi vida habían muerto en la mesa de operaciones. La operación había sido un éxito, pero el paciente había muerto.”
•
“Contemplé la espalda con los cortes: sin duda alguna, era un mapa de Israel.”
•
“Dolly City era una ciudad amputada, troceada, un asco de ciudad.”
•
“[...] ¿y si estuviera desarrollando un cáncer? El miedo al cáncer es el más terrible de todos. Creo que es la enfermedad más sombría que el ángel de la muerte haya podido inventar.”
•
“[...] y de este modo había descuartizado toda clase de animales, así porque sí, sin razón alguna.”
•
“[...] no quisiera dar la impresión de que adopté a un niño para destruirlo. Yo solo he querido protegerlo de todo mal.” ➡️{hombre ... "adoptar” ... ya leeréis qué sucedió}
•
“[...] no le había enseñado a hablar. ¿Para qué? ¿Para que dijera «mamá»?”
•
“Mi preocupación por su salud era insaciable. Era una voracidad rayana en lo absurdo.”
•
“En realidad no sabía nada de psiquiatría, así que improvisaba. Les soltaba mentiras de todo tipo, como que la humanidad se divide en dos categorías, los que han sido dados por el culo y los que no, ya sea metafóricamente o en la práctica.”
•
“Hombres desesperados se follaban los troncos de los árboles.”
•
“—Llama al médico -murmuró-. Estoy un poco enferma.
—¿Qué tienes? ¿Has olvidado que soy médico? Dime, ¿qué te duele?
—Napoleón también creía que era Napoleón -dijo.”
•
“[...] tuve que recurrir a la eutanasia, la rama de la medicina que más odiaba, porque ni es un asesinato ni salva vidas. Entonces, ¿qué es? Es el momento en el que la medicina admite su fracaso.”
•
“Me pasé meses como un yo-yo, deambulando de una profesión a otra, de una especialidad a otra, igual que los israelitas vagaron de un lugar a otro durante sus largos años de exilio.”
•
“Cuando la humanidad haya conseguido encontrar un remedio contra el cáncer, tendrá que dedicarse a encontrar la forma de matar la locura sin matar al loco.”
•
“El niño tenía un aspecto lamentable; era el reflejo de una locura de años.”
•
“Ese mismo día descubrí la forma de luchar contra mi locura: la indiferencia.”
•
“El tiempo paso como pasa siempre. Primero los años, luego los meses, luego los días, las horas, los minutos y, por fin, pero no menos importantes, los segundos.”
•
“El gobernador me pidió que pasara la noche con él, pero yo prefería suicidarme.”
•
#LeoYComparto #bookish #DimeUnLibro #bookaholic #NarrativaHebrea
Read
October 28, 2020Een over de top verhaal over een vrouw die een vondeling tot haar eigen zoon maakt, verslaafd is aan opereren en als de dood is voor de mogelijke dood van haar zoon. Ze is afgestudeerd arts aan de University of Kathmandu en woont in Dolly City - wat wel ergens in Israël moet zijn, maar dan een Israël waar ook de Theems stroomt. Het klinkt zo nog best normaal. Het is niet normaal. In Dolly City zijn wolkenkrabbers van 400 etages normaal en is alles mogelijk. Niet al het mogelijke wordt gedaan, maar er worden flink wat grenzen der normaalheid overschreden. De protagoniste heet overigens ook Dolly.
Om en nabij de/het(?) eerste kwart van het boek las ik in een soort staat van iets wat tussen afgrijzen, geanimeerdheid en, nee, zoiets klopt wel - hing. De/het tweede kwart was er ook het vorige, plus ook wel bewondering, maar daalde er een soort gewenning in. De laatste twee kwarten en met name de/het laatste kwart, bestonden uit een soort geautomatiseerd doorlezen zonder echt nog erg verrast te kunnen worden en nam het plezier meer af dan toe. Nadat de gekte tot een soort nieuw normaal was geworden, bleek het verhaal an sich me eigenlijk niet zo veel te kunnen schelen en lukte het me ook niet de onderliggende gevoeligheid echt te voelen.
Nu laat ik het lijken alsof er bijna alleen gekte was, en geen verhaal. Er was een verhaal. Met lagen zelfs. Het feit dat de protagoniste hetzelfde heet als de stad of andersom, zegt al wat. Dat deze monoloog de lezer meeneemt in een soort bestaan waarvan we waarschijnlijk niet direct hopen het zelf te moeten doorstaan - laat staan Dolly tegen te komen - ,dat Dolly heen en weer wordt geslingerd tussen allerlei door twijfel voortgestuwde ongecontroleerde impulsen, angsten en hyperbewustzijn, zonder dat ze er nou echt een realistische zelfreflectie op nahoudt, maakten dat het voelde als een inkijkje in de gedachtestroom van iemand waar veel niet helemaal goed mee gaat. Maar in de wereld die Orly Castel-Bloom hier heeft neergezet, lijkt dat uiteindelijk misschien helemaal niet meer zo uit de toon te vallen en is de onrealistische zelfreflectie realistischer dan het lijkt.
Mij maakte het boek uiteindelijk een beetje moe, maar dat neemt niet weg dat ik vind dat er briljante vondsten (en ritmes) in staan die het geheel iets unieks geven. Gedurfd geschreven en een gedurfde allegorie voor bepaalde aspecten van het moderne leven en de moderne mens. Welke, dat weet ik niet precies. Ik genoot vooral toen het verhaal minder verhaal was en er geen plotontwikkeling was. Die is al met al misschien alsnog minimaal, maar is er wel. Van mij had het best bij enkel gek mogen blijven. (Zeg ik nu. Als het dat daadwerkelijk was geweest (en misschien is dat het ook gewoon), had ik vast weer iets anders aangemerkt. Dat ik graag een plot had gehad, bijvoorbeeld.)
'De rillingen liepen me over de rug. De haren rezen me te berge, de zware gordijnen wapperden, het kopieerapparaat kopieerde dezelfde bladzijde duizend keer zonder dat ik het daartoe opdracht had gegeven. De vonken vlogen van het kopieerapparaat af en het sprong uit elkaar.' p. 23
'Hij besloot dat mijn identiteit me niet helder genoeg voor ogen stond en hij trainde me, overhoorde me.
'Naam, alstublieft.'
'Dolly.'
'Bezigheid?'
'Arts.'
'Burgerlijke staat.'
'Gen. plus kind.'
'Wat is gen. plus kind?'
'Weet ik niet, kwam er vanzelf uit.'
{...]' p.80
Om en nabij de/het(?) eerste kwart van het boek las ik in een soort staat van iets wat tussen afgrijzen, geanimeerdheid en, nee, zoiets klopt wel - hing. De/het tweede kwart was er ook het vorige, plus ook wel bewondering, maar daalde er een soort gewenning in. De laatste twee kwarten en met name de/het laatste kwart, bestonden uit een soort geautomatiseerd doorlezen zonder echt nog erg verrast te kunnen worden en nam het plezier meer af dan toe. Nadat de gekte tot een soort nieuw normaal was geworden, bleek het verhaal an sich me eigenlijk niet zo veel te kunnen schelen en lukte het me ook niet de onderliggende gevoeligheid echt te voelen.
Nu laat ik het lijken alsof er bijna alleen gekte was, en geen verhaal. Er was een verhaal. Met lagen zelfs. Het feit dat de protagoniste hetzelfde heet als de stad of andersom, zegt al wat. Dat deze monoloog de lezer meeneemt in een soort bestaan waarvan we waarschijnlijk niet direct hopen het zelf te moeten doorstaan - laat staan Dolly tegen te komen - ,dat Dolly heen en weer wordt geslingerd tussen allerlei door twijfel voortgestuwde ongecontroleerde impulsen, angsten en hyperbewustzijn, zonder dat ze er nou echt een realistische zelfreflectie op nahoudt, maakten dat het voelde als een inkijkje in de gedachtestroom van iemand waar veel niet helemaal goed mee gaat. Maar in de wereld die Orly Castel-Bloom hier heeft neergezet, lijkt dat uiteindelijk misschien helemaal niet meer zo uit de toon te vallen en is de onrealistische zelfreflectie realistischer dan het lijkt.
Mij maakte het boek uiteindelijk een beetje moe, maar dat neemt niet weg dat ik vind dat er briljante vondsten (en ritmes) in staan die het geheel iets unieks geven. Gedurfd geschreven en een gedurfde allegorie voor bepaalde aspecten van het moderne leven en de moderne mens. Welke, dat weet ik niet precies. Ik genoot vooral toen het verhaal minder verhaal was en er geen plotontwikkeling was. Die is al met al misschien alsnog minimaal, maar is er wel. Van mij had het best bij enkel gek mogen blijven. (Zeg ik nu. Als het dat daadwerkelijk was geweest (en misschien is dat het ook gewoon), had ik vast weer iets anders aangemerkt. Dat ik graag een plot had gehad, bijvoorbeeld.)
'De rillingen liepen me over de rug. De haren rezen me te berge, de zware gordijnen wapperden, het kopieerapparaat kopieerde dezelfde bladzijde duizend keer zonder dat ik het daartoe opdracht had gegeven. De vonken vlogen van het kopieerapparaat af en het sprong uit elkaar.' p. 23
'Hij besloot dat mijn identiteit me niet helder genoeg voor ogen stond en hij trainde me, overhoorde me.
'Naam, alstublieft.'
'Dolly.'
'Bezigheid?'
'Arts.'
'Burgerlijke staat.'
'Gen. plus kind.'
'Wat is gen. plus kind?'
'Weet ik niet, kwam er vanzelf uit.'
{...]' p.80
Displaying 1 - 30 of 79 reviews