Picnic Grounds: A Novel in Fragments

by Oz Shelach

Part reportage, part parable, part excavation of history, this jigsaw puzzle of compelling tales constitutes an exile’s nostalgic tour into Israel’s culture of denial. Captivating in its beguiling, seeming simplicity, Picnic Grounds is a novel built from the layers of overlapping lives and stories, much like the villages and cities of Israel are constructed from a culture superimposed over the palimpsest of history. Landscape, language and the manufacture of knowledge are deconstructed by a unique new voice, writing in a language that is not quite English, from a life that is anything but post-colonial. Oz Shelach was born in West Jerusalem in 1968 and has been a journalist and editor for Israeli radio and magazines. He currently lives in New York.

Genres: Middle East, Short Stories

112 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2003

Reviews

[Crystal · Rating 4 out of 5]

read this for my engl 367 migrancy/refugee class but it really stayed with me!!
an amazing book of short story fragments about Israeli occupation of Palestine. I've never seen someone use so few words to convey so much - Shelach uses single phrases to capture years of history, warfare, and violence, all neatly wrapped up in irony and scathing commentary at the same time.
on the first read nothing seems to mean anything, but with background reading and research, every single image produced in these short snippets lends itself to a bigger picture. what got my ass especially is the way pine tree plantation in Palestine comes to function as a tool of political displacement - the JNF aggressively planted pine trees to cover major sites of Palestinian massacre, and a lot of these sites became picnic grounds - meaning that physical evidence, memory, and historical narrative are all eradicated at the same time. also pine trees are literally poisonous to the environment in Palestine, they shed acidic needles and kill everything around them, talk about a metaphor zoo wee mama!!

[Eric · Rating 5 out of 5]

A small masterpiece. A novel in fragments. I recommend it to anyone with an appreciation for quiet, piercing, brilliant microfiction / flash fiction / short-short stories. Wonderful. Haunting. Almost perfect.

[richard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fragments is an apt name for this exploration of a present-day anti-archaeology. Shelach chooses wry humor over expository description, which gives the book a blink-and-you'll-miss-it feel that demands re-reading.

[Qasam Alhaj · Rating 4 out of 5]

رواية شذرية ذكية , قرأت ترجمتها للعربية التي انجزها الدكتور عبدالرحيم الشيخ,
في هذه الرواية الشذرية ينقد شيلاح السياسة الاستعمارية الاسرائيلية القائمة على انكار وطمس الوجود الفلسطيني, وإحالته الى محض اسطورة وخيال,
تشتمل على التلميح اكثر من التصريح , وتحتاج الى جهد ومعرفة سابقة وعميقة للتأويل
اختار شيلاح كتابة روايته باللغة الانجليزية مع انها تدخل نطاق الادب العبري , لاعتقاده ان اللغة العبرية هي لغة استعمارية وسياسية خادمة للمشروع القومي الصهيوني الاستعماري وصنو له

[Phillip · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting interplay with the idea of Israeli and Arab narratives and the ways in which these have been solidified into everyday lifestyles and occurrences, appearing as if they are almost naturally existent.

[Giana Vitale · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’ve never read flash fiction or single-paged short story form like this before, but I really enjoyed it. Unfortunately, and this is all my own fault, much of the nuance and meaning went over my head. This book clearly makes extensive commentary about Israeli-Palestinian relations, Jewish diaspora, and the like. My own lack of knowledge on these topics has prevented me from truly grasping what’s being said here, and so my rating reflects what I got out of it. I believe I would rate this higher if I was more familiar with Israeli history. I found the bite-sized stories entertaining anyway. I hope to return to this book at some point in the future with a more comprehensive understanding of Israeli history. I will continue to keep an eye out for flash fiction from now on since this book has sold me on it.

[Santino S · Rating 4 out of 5]

This novella is a unique and worthwhile read. It is a length which can be finished in a sitting, although it is good to return to. Each fragment is a piece of flash fiction that resides at around a page. From what I observed, there are no recurring characters, which lends an ability to return and read a piece here or there leisurely. As a whole, the work is displayed very artfully, with the book design matching the prose. The tone is candid, simplified, and poetic. With no use of indentation, the mix of description, aside, and narration are achieved very nicely. The novel paints clear and quick pictures with complex undertones that testify to its setting and the Israel-Palestine conflict at large.

[Tal · Rating 5 out of 5]

as an israeli who is interested in ecology and the occupation of Palestine, this scratched an itch i didn’t know i had

his dry humor and cynicism also appeal to me

i’m gonna need to reread several times

[R.K. Cowles · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 1/4 stars

[Nicole]

read for hist182

[Ashley · Rating 4 out of 5]

To be consumed in small sips. Don’t think I fully understood it, but beautiful nonetheless

[Shriram Narayanan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting book, have not read any previous books by Israeli authors. He is quite critical of Israel, book is not really a story but 1-2 page characters.

[nobody · Rating 3 out of 5]

I rate this three, but almost rated it a four. It's a haunting, sorrowful look at Isreal. There is no real storyline, its a collection of many vignettes. It'll stick with you.