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Maror
A multi-generational saga with cultural and political depth, drawing on the rich, often troubling recent history of Israel, for fans of A History of Seven Killings or The White Tiger.
How do you build a nation?
It takes statesmen and soldiers, farmers and factory workers, of course. But it also takes thieves, prostitutes and policemen.
Nation-building demands sacrifice. And one man knows exactly where those bodies are buried: Cohen, a man who loves his country. A reasonable man for unreasonable times.
A car bomb in the back streets of Tel Aviv. A diamond robbery in Haifa. Civil war in Lebanon. Rebel fighters in the Colombian jungle. An assassination in Cancún.
How do they all connect? Only Cohen knows.
Maror is the story of a war for the soul of Israel – a dazzling spread of narrative gunshots across four decades and three continents.
It is a true story. All of these things happened.
How do you build a nation?
It takes statesmen and soldiers, farmers and factory workers, of course. But it also takes thieves, prostitutes and policemen.
Nation-building demands sacrifice. And one man knows exactly where those bodies are buried: Cohen, a man who loves his country. A reasonable man for unreasonable times.
A car bomb in the back streets of Tel Aviv. A diamond robbery in Haifa. Civil war in Lebanon. Rebel fighters in the Colombian jungle. An assassination in Cancún.
How do they all connect? Only Cohen knows.
Maror is the story of a war for the soul of Israel – a dazzling spread of narrative gunshots across four decades and three continents.
It is a true story. All of these things happened.
560 pages, Paperback
First published August 4, 2022
50 people are currently reading
1162 people want to read
About the author
Lavie Tidhar
398 books730 followersLavie Tidhar was raised on a kibbutz in Israel. He has travelled extensively since he was a teenager, living in South Africa, the UK, Laos, and the small island nation of Vanuatu.
Tidhar began publishing with a poetry collection in Hebrew in 1998, but soon moved to fiction, becoming a prolific author of short stories early in the 21st century.
Temporal Spiders, Spatial Webs won the 2003 Clarke-Bradbury competition, sponsored by the European Space Agency, while The Night Train (2010) was a Sturgeon Award finalist.
Linked story collection HebrewPunk (2007) contains stories of Jewish pulp fantasy.
He co-wrote dark fantasy novel The Tel Aviv Dossier (2009) with Nir Yaniv. The Bookman Histories series, combining literary and historical characters with steampunk elements, includes The Bookman (2010), Camera Obscura (2011), and The Great Game (2012).
Standalone novel Osama (2011) combines pulp adventure with a sophisticated look at the impact of terrorism. It won the 2012 World Fantasy Award, and was a finalist for the Campbell Memorial Award, British Science Fiction Award, and a Kitschie.
His latest novels are Martian Sands and The Violent Century.
Much of Tidhar’s best work is done at novella length, including An Occupation of Angels (2005), Cloud Permutations (2010), British Fantasy Award winner Gorel and the Pot-Bellied God (2011), and Jesus & the Eightfold Path (2011).
Tidhar advocates bringing international SF to a wider audience, and has edited The Apex Book of World SF (2009) and The Apex Book of World SF 2 (2012).
He is also editor-in-chief of the World SF Blog , and in 2011 was a finalist for a World Fantasy Award for his work there.
He also edited A Dick and Jane Primer for Adults (2008); wrote Michael Marshall Smith: The Annotated Bibliography (2004); wrote weird picture book Going to The Moon (2012, with artist Paul McCaffery); and scripted one-shot comic Adolf Hitler’s I Dream of Ants! (2012, with artist Neil Struthers).
Tidhar lives with his wife in London.
Tidhar began publishing with a poetry collection in Hebrew in 1998, but soon moved to fiction, becoming a prolific author of short stories early in the 21st century.
Temporal Spiders, Spatial Webs won the 2003 Clarke-Bradbury competition, sponsored by the European Space Agency, while The Night Train (2010) was a Sturgeon Award finalist.
Linked story collection HebrewPunk (2007) contains stories of Jewish pulp fantasy.
He co-wrote dark fantasy novel The Tel Aviv Dossier (2009) with Nir Yaniv. The Bookman Histories series, combining literary and historical characters with steampunk elements, includes The Bookman (2010), Camera Obscura (2011), and The Great Game (2012).
Standalone novel Osama (2011) combines pulp adventure with a sophisticated look at the impact of terrorism. It won the 2012 World Fantasy Award, and was a finalist for the Campbell Memorial Award, British Science Fiction Award, and a Kitschie.
His latest novels are Martian Sands and The Violent Century.
Much of Tidhar’s best work is done at novella length, including An Occupation of Angels (2005), Cloud Permutations (2010), British Fantasy Award winner Gorel and the Pot-Bellied God (2011), and Jesus & the Eightfold Path (2011).
Tidhar advocates bringing international SF to a wider audience, and has edited The Apex Book of World SF (2009) and The Apex Book of World SF 2 (2012).
He is also editor-in-chief of the World SF Blog , and in 2011 was a finalist for a World Fantasy Award for his work there.
He also edited A Dick and Jane Primer for Adults (2008); wrote Michael Marshall Smith: The Annotated Bibliography (2004); wrote weird picture book Going to The Moon (2012, with artist Paul McCaffery); and scripted one-shot comic Adolf Hitler’s I Dream of Ants! (2012, with artist Neil Struthers).
Tidhar lives with his wife in London.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 75 reviews
June 15, 2022
An epic historical noir. A web of corruption, drug dealing and violence snakes across the decades and across cities and continents. The result is an almost operatic crime novel. I call it the Jewish Godfather. A good pick for fans of James Ellroy and Paco Ignacio Taibo II.
March 5, 2024
Let me start with a big thank you to my lovely husband (AKA Book Santa) who knows that I love Tidhar’s work and who made sure his most recent novel was part of my holiday book bundle. You’re the best!
When I read a book by Lavie Tidhar, not only is my mind blown by where his imagination takes him (and his readers!) but I also inevitably learn a lot – often stuff that you won’t find in most history books. “Maror” blends multiple story lines connected by one character, the enigmatic Cohen.
Tidhar’s muscular but almost cinematic prose never disappoints, and while he usually shines when he pens mind-blowing speculative fiction, “Maror” is solidly anchored in history and the gritty realities most of us would rather ignore. Indeed, most of the characters are based on real people – as are the events described. I am not very familiar with the history of Israel, but after reading “McMafia”, I can’t say that I wasn’t particularly shocked to read through events that sound like they belong in a book by James Ellroy or a Quentin Tarantino movie (I realize it’s not even the first time I link Tidhar’s work to Tarantino, by the way, but they are both incredibly clever and not afraid of graphic violence).
The book is a collection of stories spanning more than 30 years – these stories are connected by the presence, sometimes central and sometimes only very peripheral, of a man named Cohen, who is the only one who seems to see the greater picture. There are corrupt cops and politicians, kids trying to make a life for themselves, people trying to understand what happened to their friends and relatives, people seeking justice. Very few here find what they are looking for.
It is difficult to connect with any of the characters, but I don’t think that this was Tidhar’s aim; I think he was trying to show what the cost of ideals can be, even when that cost is terrible, bleak and blood-soaked.
If you enjoy this man’s book, this one is absolutely worth your attention, but be mindful that you are in for an often brutal exploration of the underworld.
When I read a book by Lavie Tidhar, not only is my mind blown by where his imagination takes him (and his readers!) but I also inevitably learn a lot – often stuff that you won’t find in most history books. “Maror” blends multiple story lines connected by one character, the enigmatic Cohen.
Tidhar’s muscular but almost cinematic prose never disappoints, and while he usually shines when he pens mind-blowing speculative fiction, “Maror” is solidly anchored in history and the gritty realities most of us would rather ignore. Indeed, most of the characters are based on real people – as are the events described. I am not very familiar with the history of Israel, but after reading “McMafia”, I can’t say that I wasn’t particularly shocked to read through events that sound like they belong in a book by James Ellroy or a Quentin Tarantino movie (I realize it’s not even the first time I link Tidhar’s work to Tarantino, by the way, but they are both incredibly clever and not afraid of graphic violence).
The book is a collection of stories spanning more than 30 years – these stories are connected by the presence, sometimes central and sometimes only very peripheral, of a man named Cohen, who is the only one who seems to see the greater picture. There are corrupt cops and politicians, kids trying to make a life for themselves, people trying to understand what happened to their friends and relatives, people seeking justice. Very few here find what they are looking for.
It is difficult to connect with any of the characters, but I don’t think that this was Tidhar’s aim; I think he was trying to show what the cost of ideals can be, even when that cost is terrible, bleak and blood-soaked.
If you enjoy this man’s book, this one is absolutely worth your attention, but be mindful that you are in for an often brutal exploration of the underworld.
February 20, 2023
I received this book from Net Galley, in exchange for an honest review
This is the first long-form novel I had read by the author and the short-stories I encountered were from the scifi/fantasy genre.
This is different. The author has taken real events and personalities from the last 60 years, changed a few names and woven them into a fictionalized history of organized crime in Israel.
If you are an Israeli, like me, there are many wry smiles as you recognizes the references.
And there are so many, too many.
In the 1990s it seemed that a basic requirement for Israeli pop groups was a hilarious name and on the excuse of a protagonist turning on the radio the author lists them all - or at least that is what it felt like.
Some of the events are barely relevant to the narrative but they seem to have been included simply because the author enjoyed retelling them.
And, of course, in typically Israeli style it has to include a trip to the States and South America, though only the seediest locations.
The constant mentioning of events and cultural references did give the narrative a realistic feel of advancing through history though some of the events 'slipped' to a later date and some events were grouped together when they actually took place over more than one year.
There were also other editing errors such as the mixing–up of characters' names.
I did enjoy the writing and the most of the storylines but I didn't care if any of the protagonists survived.
The author took the book's title from the bitter herb of the Passover Seder meal and seems to have included everything he found unpleasant or distasteful in Israeli society, almost to the exclusion of anything else. It began to feel like an extended, angry rant: repetitive and wearing.
If you like your crime stories sleazy, seedy and sordid, full of drugs, criminals and explosions this maybe for you.
This is the first long-form novel I had read by the author and the short-stories I encountered were from the scifi/fantasy genre.
This is different. The author has taken real events and personalities from the last 60 years, changed a few names and woven them into a fictionalized history of organized crime in Israel.
If you are an Israeli, like me, there are many wry smiles as you recognizes the references.
And there are so many, too many.
In the 1990s it seemed that a basic requirement for Israeli pop groups was a hilarious name and on the excuse of a protagonist turning on the radio the author lists them all - or at least that is what it felt like.
Some of the events are barely relevant to the narrative but they seem to have been included simply because the author enjoyed retelling them.
And, of course, in typically Israeli style it has to include a trip to the States and South America, though only the seediest locations.
The constant mentioning of events and cultural references did give the narrative a realistic feel of advancing through history though some of the events 'slipped' to a later date and some events were grouped together when they actually took place over more than one year.
There were also other editing errors such as the mixing–up of characters' names.
I did enjoy the writing and the most of the storylines but I didn't care if any of the protagonists survived.
The author took the book's title from the bitter herb of the Passover Seder meal and seems to have included everything he found unpleasant or distasteful in Israeli society, almost to the exclusion of anything else. It began to feel like an extended, angry rant: repetitive and wearing.
If you like your crime stories sleazy, seedy and sordid, full of drugs, criminals and explosions this maybe for you.
July 27, 2022
First, I'd like to thank Head of Zeus and Netgalley for providing me with an early copy of the novel in return for an honest review.
I've been a fan of the author for quite some time, and read several of his novels. The first thing that stands out with Maror is that it's unlike anything else he's ever written. Of course his energetic style, vividness of descriptions, and vivacious characters are all there, but this time - there is no speculative component. The book is a retelling of Israel's nationbuilding through the lens of its criminal underbelly, taking inspiration from multiple real-life events that occurred in Israel between 1970 and 2001 (roughly). The amount of research that has gone into this book is truly impressive - the author brings to life (albeit hypothetically) pivotal historical events and the characters that shaped them, with the fictional character Cohen involved in each story. You don't really know if Cohen is a villain or a saint, and in some ways he represents the id of the Israeli nation (perhaps?). The painstaking attention the author pays to the music of each period is also deeply impressive, as it provides a red thread of the emotional torrent in each period (from nationalistic fervour to individualistic hedonism).
I really enjoyed this book and also think it can be a great (and fun) introduction to Israel for people who've only read about the political side of it. The author quotes Bialik (a famous Jewish poet) in saying: "We shall only have a true state when we have our own Hebrew thief, our own Hebrew whore, and our own Hebrew murderer", and this, for me, epitomises the purpose of the author in embarking on this journey.
My one peeve with this book is that I felt the ending to be too open-ended. While I understand the choice to do it this way, I also can't but feel that something is missing for me in giving the entire narrative more purpose and more closure. Maybe it's just me, and others will find this ending congruent with the rest of the narrative.
Finally, it's worth mentioning that I'm not sure how much of this book will be accessible to people who don't know Israel or indeed its underbelly. I happen to know it, and found the book easy to follow and understand, identifying the real events that inspired the episodes in the book. It's hard for me to judge what impact it will have on those who've no familiarity with this topic at all.
Either way, if you have any interest in Israel as a nation, or just like the author's style, it's a must read.
I've been a fan of the author for quite some time, and read several of his novels. The first thing that stands out with Maror is that it's unlike anything else he's ever written. Of course his energetic style, vividness of descriptions, and vivacious characters are all there, but this time - there is no speculative component. The book is a retelling of Israel's nationbuilding through the lens of its criminal underbelly, taking inspiration from multiple real-life events that occurred in Israel between 1970 and 2001 (roughly). The amount of research that has gone into this book is truly impressive - the author brings to life (albeit hypothetically) pivotal historical events and the characters that shaped them, with the fictional character Cohen involved in each story. You don't really know if Cohen is a villain or a saint, and in some ways he represents the id of the Israeli nation (perhaps?). The painstaking attention the author pays to the music of each period is also deeply impressive, as it provides a red thread of the emotional torrent in each period (from nationalistic fervour to individualistic hedonism).
I really enjoyed this book and also think it can be a great (and fun) introduction to Israel for people who've only read about the political side of it. The author quotes Bialik (a famous Jewish poet) in saying: "We shall only have a true state when we have our own Hebrew thief, our own Hebrew whore, and our own Hebrew murderer", and this, for me, epitomises the purpose of the author in embarking on this journey.
My one peeve with this book is that I felt the ending to be too open-ended. While I understand the choice to do it this way, I also can't but feel that something is missing for me in giving the entire narrative more purpose and more closure. Maybe it's just me, and others will find this ending congruent with the rest of the narrative.
Finally, it's worth mentioning that I'm not sure how much of this book will be accessible to people who don't know Israel or indeed its underbelly. I happen to know it, and found the book easy to follow and understand, identifying the real events that inspired the episodes in the book. It's hard for me to judge what impact it will have on those who've no familiarity with this topic at all.
Either way, if you have any interest in Israel as a nation, or just like the author's style, it's a must read.
July 29, 2022
Tidhar es un gran narrador, puede con cualquier género que le venga en gana escribir. He disfrutado con sus historias de futuro, sus ucronías, sus superhéroes, y ahora con esta novela histórica que narra diferentes momentos de la historia más oscura de Israel. Me han gustado mucho las diferentes voces que propone y la estructura en relatos con saltos temporales.
https://dreamsofelvex.blogspot.com/20...
https://dreamsofelvex.blogspot.com/20...
November 12, 2022
Absolutely incredible.
This is a hard-boiled crime novel based on real events throughout the history of Israel. While some names were changed and dialogue is invented, most of the major players and the historical events really happened.
I'm going to tag the review for spoilers, but I would suggest that very little here will spoil a close reading of the text.
It's a splendid, beautiful, disturbing, moving, chilling book. A masterpiece even among Lavie's masterpieces.
This is a hard-boiled crime novel based on real events throughout the history of Israel. While some names were changed and dialogue is invented, most of the major players and the historical events really happened.
I'm going to tag the review for spoilers, but I would suggest that very little here will spoil a close reading of the text.
It's a splendid, beautiful, disturbing, moving, chilling book. A masterpiece even among Lavie's masterpieces.
June 28, 2024
Das jüdische Passah-Fest erinnert an den Auszug der Juden aus Ägypten. Das zweite Buch Mose erzählt vom Auszug und die Anweisung des Herrn an die jüdische Gemeinde, sie sollen ein Lamm schlachten und „mit bitteren Kräutern sollen sie es essen“ (Exodus 12:8). Diese bitteren Kräuter als Symbol der Sklaverei in Ägypten werden im Hebräischen als „Maror“ bezeichnet. Mit „Maror“ betitelt Lavie Tidhar auch seinen aktuellen Roman, ein Roman über mehr als dreißig Jahre israelischer Geschichte, allerdings aus einem ungewöhnlichen Blickwinkel. Und wenn man nach über 600 Seiten diesen Roman zugeklappt hat, dann versteht man auch die Symbolik des Titels mit den bitteren Kräutern.
Sie stand auf, und für einen kurzen Moment war Avi allein. Er hörte Eis im Glas klappern und vergrub sein Gesicht in den Händen.
„Ich hasse dieses Land“, sagte er und weinte. (Auszug S. 85)
Der Roman beginnt zunächst im Jahr 2003. Eine Autobombe in Tel Aviv vor einer Wechselstube. Schnell stellt sich heraus: Es ist wohl keine politischer Anschlag, sondern das Ziel war Rubinstein, eine Unterweltgröße. Der kam allerdings unverletzt davon, stattdessen gab es Toten unter Passanten, unter anderem Schulkinder. Der leitende Polizist Cohen beauftragt den jungen Polizisten Avi, sich der Sache anzunehmen und gibt ihm freie Hand. Und Avi nimmt sich der Sache an, die in der Residenz eines weiteren Unterweltbosses in einem Blutbad enden wird.
Danach springt das Buch zurück ins Jahr 1974 und geht von nun an chronologisch vor. Cohen und Eddie sind zwei junge Polizisten, die zum Fundort einer Frauenleiche am Mittelmeerstrand zwischen Tel Aviv und Haifa gerufen werden. Die beiden dürfen hinterher an den Mordermittlungen teilnehmen. Der Druck ist hoch, die Ermittlungen laufen zäh. Da kommt es der Polizei gelegen, dass ein Zeuge sich wunderbar als Verdächtiger eignet. Die Indizien sind aber zu wenig, es braucht ein Geständnis. Cohen und Eddie begreifen schnell, wie sie sich da einbringen können.
Tidhar erzählt nun episodenhaft. Springt manchmal ein paar Monate, manchmal ein paar Jahre in der Zeit nach vorne. Er führt den Leser von 1974 bis 2008 durch mehr als dreißig Jahre israelischer Geschichte und erzählt diese als Geschichte von Verbrechen, Skandalen, Korruption und Staatsaffären. Als Figur im Hintergrund, die aber dennoch alle Fäden in der Hand hält und diese Episoden zusammenhält, fungiert Cohen. 1974 noch ein Streifenpolizist, aber schon mit allen Wassern gewaschen, hält er in der Folge gute Kontakte zu allen Seiten, Polizei, Politik, Unterwelt, Geheimdienste, steigt nicht allzu hoch in der Hierarchie auf, aber wird der Strippenzieher, der alles in Reine bringt und ausputzt, so schmutzig es auch wird. Ein Patriot, der alles tut, um den Staat Israel zu beschützen und dafür alle Grenzen überschreitet.
Jetzt blickte Rubinstein auf. „Ich werde nicht schlau aus dir“, sagte er. „Was bist du, Polizist oder Gangster?“
Man kann auch beides sein, dachte Benny, sagte es aber nicht laut.
„Ich bin kein Gangster“, erklärte Cohen.
„Was dann?“
„Ich wahre die Ordnung“, sagte Cohen. (Auszug S.226)
Die Geschichte Israels als eine Geschichte der Korruption und des organisierten Verbrechens zu erzählen, ist ein starkes Stück. Aber Tidhar fiktionalisiert nicht nur, sondern verarbeitet reale Ereignisse zu einem Epos über Realpolitik und den berühmten Zweck, der die Mittel heiligt. Er zitiert Staatsgründer Ben Gurion: „Erst wenn wir unseren eigenen hebräischen Dieb, unsere eigene hebräische Hure und unseren eigenen hebräischen Mörder haben, haben wir wahrhaftig einen Staat.“
Manipulierte Polizeiermittlungen, Mord, Raub, skandalöse Grundstücksgeschäfte im besetzten Gebieten, eine Eskalation des Drogenhandels durch Israels Eingreifen in den libanesischen Bürgerkrieg, Iran-Contra-Affäre, Waffenhandel mit (süd-)amerikanischen Drogenbossen und Ausbildung von privaten Söldnern durch israelische Reservisten. Alles tatsächlich passiert. Der Sumpf, den Tidhar hier beschreibt, ist mehr als knöcheltief und dem Leser schwirrt förmlich der Kopf ob der angedeuteten staatlichen Verstrickungen in all diese zwielichtigen Dinge unter dem Deckmantel einer Realpolitik in einem bedrohten Land. Und mittendrin dieser Cohen, der Bibelzitate um sich wirft, was zunehmend als Zynismus durchgeht.
„Ich weiß, es ist nicht leicht gewesen“, sagte Cohen. Er schien zwiegespalten. Als wollte er Nir etwas anvertrauen. „Du findest unsere Arbeit abstoßend. Ich auch. Aber Habgier treibt mich nicht an, Nir, sondern das Bedürfnis nach Stabilität.
Lavie Tidhar ist eigentlich vor allem als Science Fiction und Fantasy-Autor bekannt. Mit „Maror“ wagt er einen historischen Parforceritt durch die dunklen Seiten Israels. Und dieser gelingt fulminant. In seiner Heimat scheint die Zeit übrigens noch nicht reif für diesen Roman zu sein, eine Übersetzung ins Hebräische gibt es noch nicht.
Neben Cohen als rotem Faden tauchen zahlreiche Figuren ab und wieder auf, ehe sie dann oftmals entsorgt werden. Tidhars Schreibstil ist rasant, eindrücklich, immer wieder dringt er tief in die Personen ein, aus deren Blickwinkel die jeweilige Episode erzählt wird (nur Cohen bleibt der Mann im Hintergrund, auch bei den Erzählern). Das Ganze verdichtet er zu einem epischen Thriller, bei dem nicht nur mir ein Vergleich zu Don Winslows „Tage der Toten“ in den Sinn kam. Dabei lässt der Autor auch eine bemerkenswerte Akribie erkennen, was Schauplätze und Historizität betrifft. Zudem ist das Buch eine popkulturelle Quelle, insbesondere zur israelischen Musikszene. Alles in allem kommt man nicht umhin zu sagen: „Maror“ ist ein echtes Meisterwerk.
Sie stand auf, und für einen kurzen Moment war Avi allein. Er hörte Eis im Glas klappern und vergrub sein Gesicht in den Händen.
„Ich hasse dieses Land“, sagte er und weinte. (Auszug S. 85)
Der Roman beginnt zunächst im Jahr 2003. Eine Autobombe in Tel Aviv vor einer Wechselstube. Schnell stellt sich heraus: Es ist wohl keine politischer Anschlag, sondern das Ziel war Rubinstein, eine Unterweltgröße. Der kam allerdings unverletzt davon, stattdessen gab es Toten unter Passanten, unter anderem Schulkinder. Der leitende Polizist Cohen beauftragt den jungen Polizisten Avi, sich der Sache anzunehmen und gibt ihm freie Hand. Und Avi nimmt sich der Sache an, die in der Residenz eines weiteren Unterweltbosses in einem Blutbad enden wird.
Danach springt das Buch zurück ins Jahr 1974 und geht von nun an chronologisch vor. Cohen und Eddie sind zwei junge Polizisten, die zum Fundort einer Frauenleiche am Mittelmeerstrand zwischen Tel Aviv und Haifa gerufen werden. Die beiden dürfen hinterher an den Mordermittlungen teilnehmen. Der Druck ist hoch, die Ermittlungen laufen zäh. Da kommt es der Polizei gelegen, dass ein Zeuge sich wunderbar als Verdächtiger eignet. Die Indizien sind aber zu wenig, es braucht ein Geständnis. Cohen und Eddie begreifen schnell, wie sie sich da einbringen können.
Tidhar erzählt nun episodenhaft. Springt manchmal ein paar Monate, manchmal ein paar Jahre in der Zeit nach vorne. Er führt den Leser von 1974 bis 2008 durch mehr als dreißig Jahre israelischer Geschichte und erzählt diese als Geschichte von Verbrechen, Skandalen, Korruption und Staatsaffären. Als Figur im Hintergrund, die aber dennoch alle Fäden in der Hand hält und diese Episoden zusammenhält, fungiert Cohen. 1974 noch ein Streifenpolizist, aber schon mit allen Wassern gewaschen, hält er in der Folge gute Kontakte zu allen Seiten, Polizei, Politik, Unterwelt, Geheimdienste, steigt nicht allzu hoch in der Hierarchie auf, aber wird der Strippenzieher, der alles in Reine bringt und ausputzt, so schmutzig es auch wird. Ein Patriot, der alles tut, um den Staat Israel zu beschützen und dafür alle Grenzen überschreitet.
Jetzt blickte Rubinstein auf. „Ich werde nicht schlau aus dir“, sagte er. „Was bist du, Polizist oder Gangster?“
Man kann auch beides sein, dachte Benny, sagte es aber nicht laut.
„Ich bin kein Gangster“, erklärte Cohen.
„Was dann?“
„Ich wahre die Ordnung“, sagte Cohen. (Auszug S.226)
Die Geschichte Israels als eine Geschichte der Korruption und des organisierten Verbrechens zu erzählen, ist ein starkes Stück. Aber Tidhar fiktionalisiert nicht nur, sondern verarbeitet reale Ereignisse zu einem Epos über Realpolitik und den berühmten Zweck, der die Mittel heiligt. Er zitiert Staatsgründer Ben Gurion: „Erst wenn wir unseren eigenen hebräischen Dieb, unsere eigene hebräische Hure und unseren eigenen hebräischen Mörder haben, haben wir wahrhaftig einen Staat.“
Manipulierte Polizeiermittlungen, Mord, Raub, skandalöse Grundstücksgeschäfte im besetzten Gebieten, eine Eskalation des Drogenhandels durch Israels Eingreifen in den libanesischen Bürgerkrieg, Iran-Contra-Affäre, Waffenhandel mit (süd-)amerikanischen Drogenbossen und Ausbildung von privaten Söldnern durch israelische Reservisten. Alles tatsächlich passiert. Der Sumpf, den Tidhar hier beschreibt, ist mehr als knöcheltief und dem Leser schwirrt förmlich der Kopf ob der angedeuteten staatlichen Verstrickungen in all diese zwielichtigen Dinge unter dem Deckmantel einer Realpolitik in einem bedrohten Land. Und mittendrin dieser Cohen, der Bibelzitate um sich wirft, was zunehmend als Zynismus durchgeht.
„Ich weiß, es ist nicht leicht gewesen“, sagte Cohen. Er schien zwiegespalten. Als wollte er Nir etwas anvertrauen. „Du findest unsere Arbeit abstoßend. Ich auch. Aber Habgier treibt mich nicht an, Nir, sondern das Bedürfnis nach Stabilität.
Lavie Tidhar ist eigentlich vor allem als Science Fiction und Fantasy-Autor bekannt. Mit „Maror“ wagt er einen historischen Parforceritt durch die dunklen Seiten Israels. Und dieser gelingt fulminant. In seiner Heimat scheint die Zeit übrigens noch nicht reif für diesen Roman zu sein, eine Übersetzung ins Hebräische gibt es noch nicht.
Neben Cohen als rotem Faden tauchen zahlreiche Figuren ab und wieder auf, ehe sie dann oftmals entsorgt werden. Tidhars Schreibstil ist rasant, eindrücklich, immer wieder dringt er tief in die Personen ein, aus deren Blickwinkel die jeweilige Episode erzählt wird (nur Cohen bleibt der Mann im Hintergrund, auch bei den Erzählern). Das Ganze verdichtet er zu einem epischen Thriller, bei dem nicht nur mir ein Vergleich zu Don Winslows „Tage der Toten“ in den Sinn kam. Dabei lässt der Autor auch eine bemerkenswerte Akribie erkennen, was Schauplätze und Historizität betrifft. Zudem ist das Buch eine popkulturelle Quelle, insbesondere zur israelischen Musikszene. Alles in allem kommt man nicht umhin zu sagen: „Maror“ ist ein echtes Meisterwerk.
May 12, 2022
Through a variety of interconnected characters, spanning time and place, Tidhar takes us on a journey not only through Israel's criminal underworld, but across Israel's history itself. With wonderful attention to detail, Tidhar draws upon historical events as well as his own Israeli insight to create a fascinating, interwoven tale that kept me turning page after page.
I fully admit that my knowledge of Israel and its history is lacking and I therefore found myself learning throughout this novel. No doubt I also missed a lot of detail that one familiar with the country would pick up on. Tidhar has created a cast of fascinating characters that tell their own individual stories, which are carefully crafted to interconnect with each another. One character is a common thread throughout, Cohen.
Drug dealing, murders, unsolved crimes, war, export of arms, this novel has it all. My only real gripe is the ending, I really would've liked more although I understand why the author has chosen this route. Otherwise, this is a novel that I think I will reread in the future, in fact I think I'd possibly get more out of it then, now that my knowledge of Israel's recent history has been improved somewhat!
I fully admit that my knowledge of Israel and its history is lacking and I therefore found myself learning throughout this novel. No doubt I also missed a lot of detail that one familiar with the country would pick up on. Tidhar has created a cast of fascinating characters that tell their own individual stories, which are carefully crafted to interconnect with each another. One character is a common thread throughout, Cohen.
Drug dealing, murders, unsolved crimes, war, export of arms, this novel has it all. My only real gripe is the ending, I really would've liked more although I understand why the author has chosen this route. Otherwise, this is a novel that I think I will reread in the future, in fact I think I'd possibly get more out of it then, now that my knowledge of Israel's recent history has been improved somewhat!
July 26, 2022
A journal through the Israeli underworld, this is an epic, sweeping saga with drug dealing, murder, violence and history. It might help to have a little knowledge of Israeli history as keys moments from that countries past feature centrally here, and Tidhar doesn't take the easy route of leading his reader by the hand.
The writing is uniformly excellent, tense and thrilling. This is intelligent crime writing and highly recommended.
Thank you to the publishers and Netgalley for the ARC.
The writing is uniformly excellent, tense and thrilling. This is intelligent crime writing and highly recommended.
Thank you to the publishers and Netgalley for the ARC.
June 25, 2022
"'I wouldn't do that,' it said. 'If I were you. One gives you life and the other knowledge, and you're too young to need either one just yet.' 'You're a snake,' Avi said. 'No shit,' the snake said.'"
Maror is a raw account of the unspoken rules that keep society running, find a way to manage the black markets and the unethical deals trusted officials will make to maintain state funding. Set in Israel, Maror explores the foundations that underpin the young state, through a non-linear timeline, multiple protagonists and a variety of challenges, including kidnapping, terrorist financing, the drug trade, oligarchs taking Israeli passports to preserve assets and unsolved serial killings.
The book delivers when it comes to nuance and awareness of the conflict in the region, without overtly taking a side and reflecting the raw deal everyone involved gets. Political affiliations and international relations ultimately boil down to nothing in the name of achieving end goals though, with enemies enemies becoming friends, when the time calls for it.
"Life dictated a path and you followed it, and it didn't matter how often you dressed up as an astronaut for Purim, there was still no fucking way you were going to set foot on the moon".
It's rare to find a Jewish fiction. Even rarer to find one that focuses on Jewish existence outside of the Holocaust. 5/5. Will read again. Will buy for all my friends too.
Thank you to NetGalley for the Arc.
Maror is a raw account of the unspoken rules that keep society running, find a way to manage the black markets and the unethical deals trusted officials will make to maintain state funding. Set in Israel, Maror explores the foundations that underpin the young state, through a non-linear timeline, multiple protagonists and a variety of challenges, including kidnapping, terrorist financing, the drug trade, oligarchs taking Israeli passports to preserve assets and unsolved serial killings.
The book delivers when it comes to nuance and awareness of the conflict in the region, without overtly taking a side and reflecting the raw deal everyone involved gets. Political affiliations and international relations ultimately boil down to nothing in the name of achieving end goals though, with enemies enemies becoming friends, when the time calls for it.
"Life dictated a path and you followed it, and it didn't matter how often you dressed up as an astronaut for Purim, there was still no fucking way you were going to set foot on the moon".
It's rare to find a Jewish fiction. Even rarer to find one that focuses on Jewish existence outside of the Holocaust. 5/5. Will read again. Will buy for all my friends too.
Thank you to NetGalley for the Arc.
September 8, 2022
4,25 / 5
Conocido por su amplísima obra dentro de la fantasía y la ciencia ficción, Lavie Tidhar estrena en este 2022 el casillero de novelas de ficción fuera de estos géneros trayéndonos una obra situada principalmente en Israel a medio camino entre la ficción histórica, la novela detectivesca y el thriller. De hecho, según el propio autor, todo lo que aquí se cuenta es real.
Un coche bomba a principios de nuestro siglo nos introduce a Cohen, un inspector de policía al más puro estilo Villarejo español, cuyas redes se extienden más allá del cuerpo policial israelí al que pertenece. Cuando empezamos a atisbar el alcance del tejido del cual forma parte central Tidhar nos lleva a la década de los años setenta donde conoceremos a un joven Cohen y los acontecimientos que le hicieron llegar a ser quien es en los 2000.
Maror se cuenta a través de múltiples pequeñas historias desde los setenta hasta entrado nuestro siglo. En cada una de ellas iremos conociendo diversos personajes. En la casi totalidad de ellas Cohen es un secundario que mueve sus hilos para favorecer a los estratos altos de Israel. Visitaremos Los Ángeles cuando la cocaína era abiertamente consumida, la jungla colombiana con tropas de las FARC siendo entrenadas por policías israelíes, o entraremos en el Líbano para resolver un problema inmobiliario. Todo ello da forma a la historia de Cohen y, en paralelo, la de la propia Israel.
Escrita con el particular estilo sarcástico y crudo de Tidhar, Maror es una gran novela que no descarto llegue en castellano a alguna editorial generalista. Una estructura en espiraldonde su final no conecta del todo con el inicio, pero donde todo se relaciona en forma de gigantesco puzle cuyas piezas esperan ser juntadas para intentar arreglar las vidas de todos aquellos (y no son pocos) que la dieron por un supuesto bien común.
Conocido por su amplísima obra dentro de la fantasía y la ciencia ficción, Lavie Tidhar estrena en este 2022 el casillero de novelas de ficción fuera de estos géneros trayéndonos una obra situada principalmente en Israel a medio camino entre la ficción histórica, la novela detectivesca y el thriller. De hecho, según el propio autor, todo lo que aquí se cuenta es real.
Un coche bomba a principios de nuestro siglo nos introduce a Cohen, un inspector de policía al más puro estilo Villarejo español, cuyas redes se extienden más allá del cuerpo policial israelí al que pertenece. Cuando empezamos a atisbar el alcance del tejido del cual forma parte central Tidhar nos lleva a la década de los años setenta donde conoceremos a un joven Cohen y los acontecimientos que le hicieron llegar a ser quien es en los 2000.
Maror se cuenta a través de múltiples pequeñas historias desde los setenta hasta entrado nuestro siglo. En cada una de ellas iremos conociendo diversos personajes. En la casi totalidad de ellas Cohen es un secundario que mueve sus hilos para favorecer a los estratos altos de Israel. Visitaremos Los Ángeles cuando la cocaína era abiertamente consumida, la jungla colombiana con tropas de las FARC siendo entrenadas por policías israelíes, o entraremos en el Líbano para resolver un problema inmobiliario. Todo ello da forma a la historia de Cohen y, en paralelo, la de la propia Israel.
Escrita con el particular estilo sarcástico y crudo de Tidhar, Maror es una gran novela que no descarto llegue en castellano a alguna editorial generalista. Una estructura en espiraldonde su final no conecta del todo con el inicio, pero donde todo se relaciona en forma de gigantesco puzle cuyas piezas esperan ser juntadas para intentar arreglar las vidas de todos aquellos (y no son pocos) que la dieron por un supuesto bien común.
August 6, 2022
Set in Israel, Maror starts out following Avi, a gumshoe detective who's a bit crooked. There's been a car bomb and a little girl is injured. The novel then follows Avi's boss Cohen, an even more crooked cop, back in time to the 70s and how his career progressed. It flips around timelines between the 70s and 2000s and everywhere in between.
I feel the blurb and classification was a little misleading for this one. It was in my suggested reads on Netgalley even though I don't read crime novels. The blurb said it would appeal to fans of The White Tiger which I love but it's a very different type of book. If crime, specifically gangster crime is your thing, this book might be for you. (Very specifically not a detective novel, no crime is solved so it'll leave your Agatha Christie fans cold)
You might need to bone up on your Israel knowledge beforehand. If you're not very familiar with Israel, its history, colloquialisms, politics, culture etc this author is not going to help you out. You can Google or let it pass by really. For a book set in Israel there is very little Palestine, it's like a giant elephant in the room, looming but seldom mentioned, even though parts of the book are set in occupied territories. It seems to do a little shrug at the whole issue.
This book has approximately 275 main characters! Ok slight exaggeration but it genuinely has so many characters that we learn all about and then often never see again, or their significance is lost in the crowd. It's too many books crammed into one. It's so many stories that none of them are properly told and you're left feeling dissatisfied with the whole thing. They all sort of intertwine and come together at the end but there's so many that by the time you get there you don't really care any more. I can see what the author was trying to do but it feels like trying to be clever with connections and twists backfired on this occasion.
You know sometimes people describe a book as "chick lit" and I hate to see that used in a disparaging way. I feel though that the best way to describe where this book fits is "man lit" Maybe I just don't have the means to appreciate men shooting other men in the back of the head at regular intervals.
Too many timelines, characters, locations and plotholes for my liking. A decent crime novel but not for me.
I feel the blurb and classification was a little misleading for this one. It was in my suggested reads on Netgalley even though I don't read crime novels. The blurb said it would appeal to fans of The White Tiger which I love but it's a very different type of book. If crime, specifically gangster crime is your thing, this book might be for you. (Very specifically not a detective novel, no crime is solved so it'll leave your Agatha Christie fans cold)
You might need to bone up on your Israel knowledge beforehand. If you're not very familiar with Israel, its history, colloquialisms, politics, culture etc this author is not going to help you out. You can Google or let it pass by really. For a book set in Israel there is very little Palestine, it's like a giant elephant in the room, looming but seldom mentioned, even though parts of the book are set in occupied territories. It seems to do a little shrug at the whole issue.
This book has approximately 275 main characters! Ok slight exaggeration but it genuinely has so many characters that we learn all about and then often never see again, or their significance is lost in the crowd. It's too many books crammed into one. It's so many stories that none of them are properly told and you're left feeling dissatisfied with the whole thing. They all sort of intertwine and come together at the end but there's so many that by the time you get there you don't really care any more. I can see what the author was trying to do but it feels like trying to be clever with connections and twists backfired on this occasion.
You know sometimes people describe a book as "chick lit" and I hate to see that used in a disparaging way. I feel though that the best way to describe where this book fits is "man lit" Maybe I just don't have the means to appreciate men shooting other men in the back of the head at regular intervals.
Too many timelines, characters, locations and plotholes for my liking. A decent crime novel but not for me.
June 28, 2022
3.5
This started brilliantly, it felt like it was going to be an Israeli Don Winslow. But a couple of things started to let it down.
First off, it became significantly less interesting once you got towards the halfway mark. The whole land grab storyline was such a stark change of gear.
Secondly - and this is absolutely not Tidhar's fault - the amount of mistakes in the text was unforgivable. There were dozens of errors, often crucial to the flow of the story. Things like the wrong character being attributed dialogue, sometimes characters that aren't even featured in that time period of the novel. It was so bizarre and so off-putting. If I was Tidhar I would be having words with the publisher because it makes parts of the novel unreadable.
This started brilliantly, it felt like it was going to be an Israeli Don Winslow. But a couple of things started to let it down.
First off, it became significantly less interesting once you got towards the halfway mark. The whole land grab storyline was such a stark change of gear.
Secondly - and this is absolutely not Tidhar's fault - the amount of mistakes in the text was unforgivable. There were dozens of errors, often crucial to the flow of the story. Things like the wrong character being attributed dialogue, sometimes characters that aren't even featured in that time period of the novel. It was so bizarre and so off-putting. If I was Tidhar I would be having words with the publisher because it makes parts of the novel unreadable.
August 25, 2025
Episodisches Gangster Epos dem ein wenig der rote Faden fehlt (wenn man sich keine Notizen macht) - dafür sind hier einzelne Episoden spannender als bei anderen ganze Bücher. Eine ganz andere Geschichte Israels, eine Geschichte von Korruption, Gewalt, und Verbrechen im Schatten der offiziellen Politik. Ich freue mich schon auf Adana, den nächsten Teil. Für Fans von James Elroy
June 3, 2022
Part of why I read is to learn about things I don’t know and, although I have studied a little of its history, I have a big gap in my knowledge of Israel so some googling was in order. Israel is the size of Wales with a population close to that of London. Tel Aviv’s population is roughly the same as Bristol’s. Maror are the bitter herbs eaten at the Passover Seder; an enticing indication of what’s to come.
First we are introduced to Avi. He’s a bit of a shambles – he needs to sleep more and drink and snort less but he’s likeable nonetheless. Avi’s a cop. But that’s not even half the story. The person we really need to get to know is Cohen. Cohen has seen it all. And done most of it too.
Maror is written in such a way that I was immediately drawn in. Short sentences, plain language. Exposition is achieved by stealth, for example describing three people that walk past to show the diversity of the place. It’s subtly done and that’s no mean feat when dealing with such a complex subject as Israel, particularly in the period covered by the book. I’m still digesting the many strands of the story and think it’ll require a re-read to fully appreciate the wealth of characters and events, most of which actually happened. Cracking stuff.
I received a free proof copy of this book via NetGalley in return for an honest review.
First we are introduced to Avi. He’s a bit of a shambles – he needs to sleep more and drink and snort less but he’s likeable nonetheless. Avi’s a cop. But that’s not even half the story. The person we really need to get to know is Cohen. Cohen has seen it all. And done most of it too.
Maror is written in such a way that I was immediately drawn in. Short sentences, plain language. Exposition is achieved by stealth, for example describing three people that walk past to show the diversity of the place. It’s subtly done and that’s no mean feat when dealing with such a complex subject as Israel, particularly in the period covered by the book. I’m still digesting the many strands of the story and think it’ll require a re-read to fully appreciate the wealth of characters and events, most of which actually happened. Cracking stuff.
I received a free proof copy of this book via NetGalley in return for an honest review.
May 1, 2023
I had decided to take a chance on this book as I thought I might learn something. I did re Israel and for that I am glad that I listened to it. I just found it difficult to follow as all new to me.
The narration worked.
I was given a free copy by netgalley and the publishers but the review is entirely my own
The narration worked.
I was given a free copy by netgalley and the publishers but the review is entirely my own
September 23, 2025
Lavie Tidhar ist mir bereits als SF-Autor, siehe
aufgefallen ist, in diesem Roman beschreibt er nicht weniger als die jüngere israelische Geschichte, irgendwo zwischen dem "Paten" und "Pulp Fiction" mithilfe von Erzählungen um Mord und Totschlag. Der Polizist Cohen taucht in allen 18 Kapiteln auf, aus denen der Roman besteht, es ist nicht immer klar, ob er tatsächlich noch auf der Seite von Recht und Gesetz steht, bisweilen erinnert er an einen Racheengel. Der Titel: „Maror“ ist durch die bitteren Kräuter, die am Beginn des Pessach-Festes zur Erinnerung an den Auszug aus Ägypten verzehrt werden, entlehnt. Die Bitterkeit, die nie vergehen darf, weil die Erinnerung an die Sklaverei nie vergehen darf. Ein deutliches Signal in Zeiten, in denen der Nahostkonflikt auch unter postkolonialen Vorzeichen gelesen wird. Freilich eben auch eins, das auf diesen Text zurückverweist, in dem Israel selbst Ausgang von Leid, von Schmerz, von Gewalt und Verbrechen ist.
Dies gemahnt ebenso an die Vergangenheit voller Schrecken, voller Krieg, Gewalt und Hass. Wie Israel "stärker, moderner, aber auch archaischer" wurde "durch Verbrechen" wird hier erzählt. Tidhar beschreibe diese Verbrechen in mehreren Episoden eindringlich, präzise, reportagenhaft. Im dunklen Zentrum des Geschehens, als verbindendes Glied zwischen den Episoden steht der Polizist Cohen, der vieles sein kann und zu sein bereit ist - Waffenschmuggler, Räuber, Mörder, Landbesetzer - was immer er für sein Land für notwendig hält. Gemeinsam ergeben diese Episoden ein brachiales historisches Krimi-Epos.
Mit vielen wechselnden Figuren und Handlungsorten ist das Buch gespickt, die Handlung erstreckt sich von 1974 bis 2008, von Israel, Lebanon, USA und Südamerika. Für mich setzt sich der Eindruck fest, dass Armeemitglieder in Israel quasi unanfechtbar, sind, auch die Polizei ist in etliche Verbrechen verstrickt und vertrauen sollte man höchstens sich selbst. Eine "vernichtende Kritik am israelischen Staatsapparat" !
Eines die besten Bücher, das ich in letzter Zeit gelesen habe...
aufgefallen ist, in diesem Roman beschreibt er nicht weniger als die jüngere israelische Geschichte, irgendwo zwischen dem "Paten" und "Pulp Fiction" mithilfe von Erzählungen um Mord und Totschlag. Der Polizist Cohen taucht in allen 18 Kapiteln auf, aus denen der Roman besteht, es ist nicht immer klar, ob er tatsächlich noch auf der Seite von Recht und Gesetz steht, bisweilen erinnert er an einen Racheengel. Der Titel: „Maror“ ist durch die bitteren Kräuter, die am Beginn des Pessach-Festes zur Erinnerung an den Auszug aus Ägypten verzehrt werden, entlehnt. Die Bitterkeit, die nie vergehen darf, weil die Erinnerung an die Sklaverei nie vergehen darf. Ein deutliches Signal in Zeiten, in denen der Nahostkonflikt auch unter postkolonialen Vorzeichen gelesen wird. Freilich eben auch eins, das auf diesen Text zurückverweist, in dem Israel selbst Ausgang von Leid, von Schmerz, von Gewalt und Verbrechen ist.Dies gemahnt ebenso an die Vergangenheit voller Schrecken, voller Krieg, Gewalt und Hass. Wie Israel "stärker, moderner, aber auch archaischer" wurde "durch Verbrechen" wird hier erzählt. Tidhar beschreibe diese Verbrechen in mehreren Episoden eindringlich, präzise, reportagenhaft. Im dunklen Zentrum des Geschehens, als verbindendes Glied zwischen den Episoden steht der Polizist Cohen, der vieles sein kann und zu sein bereit ist - Waffenschmuggler, Räuber, Mörder, Landbesetzer - was immer er für sein Land für notwendig hält. Gemeinsam ergeben diese Episoden ein brachiales historisches Krimi-Epos.
Mit vielen wechselnden Figuren und Handlungsorten ist das Buch gespickt, die Handlung erstreckt sich von 1974 bis 2008, von Israel, Lebanon, USA und Südamerika. Für mich setzt sich der Eindruck fest, dass Armeemitglieder in Israel quasi unanfechtbar, sind, auch die Polizei ist in etliche Verbrechen verstrickt und vertrauen sollte man höchstens sich selbst. Eine "vernichtende Kritik am israelischen Staatsapparat" !
Eines die besten Bücher, das ich in letzter Zeit gelesen habe...
Read
May 24, 2022I've come to Lavie Tidhar from his fantasy and science fiction work, but while none of that was any great respecter of genre boundaries, this is still very clearly something different. The obvious thing to call it would be an attempt at the Great Israeli Novel, but with the proviso that its models are in that overlap of writers trying to do the Great American Novel by way of crime. I'm thinking in particular of James Ellroy, though bear in mind that's coming from someone who only read two fairly early Ellroys a good few years back and found that plenty. And it was when the prose here felt the most like it was reaching for his incantatory power that I felt least convinced by it:
"Avi went still.
Avi went cold.
Ramzi closed his eyes.
His chest stopped moving.
Avi let the gun drop."
Thankfully, most of Maror isn't like that. And it has the edge over Ellroy that where he's riffing on generations of other books and films about bad shit going down in LA, relocating all those damaged veterans and drug deals and shady land trades to the far end of the Mediterranean instantly changes the story, even before you factor in the suicide bombs and the long wars and the differences in culture. Which, without being overdone, give a real sense of a world and a life that are the same in many respects as the Anglosphere...yet not. As a British reader, I have at least a sort of osmotic familiarity with most of the bands and shows and brands and films that get dropped into US crime stories to build a sense of place and particularity, but here some of the names are the same and others really aren't. Likewise with the incidents, as the characters twine around each other over the long, violent decades: sometimes I know a war or an assassination is coming, but a scandal or a disaster can still blindside me. The main currents of history, though – well. We open in the early 21st century on Cohen, a cop so bad even Vic Mackie would do a sharp intake of breath, then flash back to the seventies, and gradually see how the fresh-faced young investigator ended up like that. In amongst all the explosions, serial killings, double-crosses and other genre staples, though, I think the most painful I found the reading experience was when the narrative hit the nineties, where in Israel as so many places it seemed like there was a chance of peace, a new world no longer defined by the feuds and hatreds of the past. And there as elsewhere, we all know now how that ended.
Tidhar being Tidhar, of course, he's not going to let himself do anything so plodding as a straight Whither Israel? novel. Little nods to his SF sneak in; a bookseller who mostly makes his money from drugs nowadays has a picture on his wall of the Central Station which, in Tidhar's book of the same name, was actually built – and I feel like the bookseller himself may also have cropped up in that book and/or Unholy Land. Not every gesture works; each chapter opens with a quote, usually from within itself, but when the chapters aren't long this mainly serves to get a bit 'do you see?' with the apposite ones ("Land is a tricky business," yes, very good) and feel like it's reaching the rest of the time. The section set in the 1982 Lebanon war takes all of its chapter titles from Duran Duran songs, for no reason I found terribly clear; surely even if you wanted to go New Romantic then the Human League would have been the obvious choice? But overall, it builds into something with enough tragic sweep and granularity that I feel it was worth the reading; certainly not my favourite Tidhar, but way ahead of the ones that weren't for me at all. And hell, as with Adrian Tchaikovksy, even if you're not quite sold on one there'll be another along in a minute; this isn't out until August, but the main reason I've got around to finishing it now is that I already have another Netgalley ARC of his next one afterwards, and that looks right up my street.
"Avi went still.
Avi went cold.
Ramzi closed his eyes.
His chest stopped moving.
Avi let the gun drop."
Thankfully, most of Maror isn't like that. And it has the edge over Ellroy that where he's riffing on generations of other books and films about bad shit going down in LA, relocating all those damaged veterans and drug deals and shady land trades to the far end of the Mediterranean instantly changes the story, even before you factor in the suicide bombs and the long wars and the differences in culture. Which, without being overdone, give a real sense of a world and a life that are the same in many respects as the Anglosphere...yet not. As a British reader, I have at least a sort of osmotic familiarity with most of the bands and shows and brands and films that get dropped into US crime stories to build a sense of place and particularity, but here some of the names are the same and others really aren't. Likewise with the incidents, as the characters twine around each other over the long, violent decades: sometimes I know a war or an assassination is coming, but a scandal or a disaster can still blindside me. The main currents of history, though – well. We open in the early 21st century on Cohen, a cop so bad even Vic Mackie would do a sharp intake of breath, then flash back to the seventies, and gradually see how the fresh-faced young investigator ended up like that. In amongst all the explosions, serial killings, double-crosses and other genre staples, though, I think the most painful I found the reading experience was when the narrative hit the nineties, where in Israel as so many places it seemed like there was a chance of peace, a new world no longer defined by the feuds and hatreds of the past. And there as elsewhere, we all know now how that ended.
Tidhar being Tidhar, of course, he's not going to let himself do anything so plodding as a straight Whither Israel? novel. Little nods to his SF sneak in; a bookseller who mostly makes his money from drugs nowadays has a picture on his wall of the Central Station which, in Tidhar's book of the same name, was actually built – and I feel like the bookseller himself may also have cropped up in that book and/or Unholy Land. Not every gesture works; each chapter opens with a quote, usually from within itself, but when the chapters aren't long this mainly serves to get a bit 'do you see?' with the apposite ones ("Land is a tricky business," yes, very good) and feel like it's reaching the rest of the time. The section set in the 1982 Lebanon war takes all of its chapter titles from Duran Duran songs, for no reason I found terribly clear; surely even if you wanted to go New Romantic then the Human League would have been the obvious choice? But overall, it builds into something with enough tragic sweep and granularity that I feel it was worth the reading; certainly not my favourite Tidhar, but way ahead of the ones that weren't for me at all. And hell, as with Adrian Tchaikovksy, even if you're not quite sold on one there'll be another along in a minute; this isn't out until August, but the main reason I've got around to finishing it now is that I already have another Netgalley ARC of his next one afterwards, and that looks right up my street.
October 12, 2022
I have only read Lavie Tidhar's science fiction work, but that is so well-written and character driven that I had no doubt that he would be able to operate in a different genre. Maror is crime fiction, or to be more precise political crime fiction. It starts with what appears to be a terrorist bombing in Tel Aviv, and our appropriately scuzzy and deadbeat cop slowly unravels a case that starts to look more like organised crime. And a little more unraveling and he discovers that it might be organized crime but one of the organized parties is the police themselves. And it all seems to go back to one man - Cohen - not quite a Police Chief but he's always been there, and he's always been involved (and no-one likes him).
This is the first fifty pages of the book, and suddenly we are whipped thirty years back in time to the early seventies were Cohen is a fresh-faced cop and there might be a serial killer on the loose. Cohen is never our viewpoint character, we waft in and out of the stories of other cops, journalists, criminals, and in one notable segment an actress cum drill instructor cum drug dealer. But Cohen is always there, slowly becoming more resigned to the ever-darkening grey areas within which he operates. That serial killer pops back up too as connective tissue, Cohen was related to the first victim and therefore has a personal stake in how or who is fitted up for the crime. And this is full of dirty deeds done pretty cheaply.
Whilst I think narratively that the serial killer plot is wrapped up a bit early and the actual ending isn't quite as punchy as I expected it to be, there is no denying that this is pretty brilliant stuff. It's crime fiction where the crimes become cumulative, where the idea of corruption and organized crime are exactly what a new nation requires for a certain kind of legitimacy. The book constantly touches on the Israeli state, there is a section about how illegal settlements become legal when no-one chases them down (and that this is broadly state policy anyway who cares). But it is a book about a rotten state being built that way. If the state is built on violence, then violence will permeate every aspect of it. None of this is ever done didactically, it reads like the grand thirty-year crime opus it is, and of course by the end it dares us to not just understand, but to even like Cohen.
This is the first fifty pages of the book, and suddenly we are whipped thirty years back in time to the early seventies were Cohen is a fresh-faced cop and there might be a serial killer on the loose. Cohen is never our viewpoint character, we waft in and out of the stories of other cops, journalists, criminals, and in one notable segment an actress cum drill instructor cum drug dealer. But Cohen is always there, slowly becoming more resigned to the ever-darkening grey areas within which he operates. That serial killer pops back up too as connective tissue, Cohen was related to the first victim and therefore has a personal stake in how or who is fitted up for the crime. And this is full of dirty deeds done pretty cheaply.
Whilst I think narratively that the serial killer plot is wrapped up a bit early and the actual ending isn't quite as punchy as I expected it to be, there is no denying that this is pretty brilliant stuff. It's crime fiction where the crimes become cumulative, where the idea of corruption and organized crime are exactly what a new nation requires for a certain kind of legitimacy. The book constantly touches on the Israeli state, there is a section about how illegal settlements become legal when no-one chases them down (and that this is broadly state policy anyway who cares). But it is a book about a rotten state being built that way. If the state is built on violence, then violence will permeate every aspect of it. None of this is ever done didactically, it reads like the grand thirty-year crime opus it is, and of course by the end it dares us to not just understand, but to even like Cohen.
January 15, 2023
This was my first time reading anything by Tidhar and it won't be the last, because the writing and the author's attention to detail was fantastic. Maror is a complex book, that spans across history and place, and has a considerable cast of characters - some of whom we don't get to spend enough time with. I am not as familiar with the history as I could me, so I felt like I learned a lot throughout, although there were some notable thread that wasn't really touched on - Palestine. Beyond that though this was an involved, expansive crime novel that didn't let itself be bound by that definition. The only thing beside that omission that let it down for me was the ending, which although it made sense and closed out the novel and its threads, felt not lacking - so as much as it could have been more?
February 11, 2022
This was the first book that I have read by this author and gosh, what a book to start with. The writing style, the plotline, the characters and the way they were developed were all incredible. It is based upon a period of history that I am not fully aware of or know much information about but the wealth of knowledge in this book made it obvious that the author had researched very highly and had seamlessly put that knowledge/research down on the page.
There are so many elements to this book that I am still processing it but all I can say is that it is simply stunning and definitely a must read.
There are so many elements to this book that I am still processing it but all I can say is that it is simply stunning and definitely a must read.
September 24, 2023
Some review on Goodreads compared this to the Godfather and I not only took that personally, but it also served as a poignant reminder that Goodreads is not to be trusted as anything but a digital ledger for tracking books, reviews and recommendations to be ignored.
September 18, 2025
Cohen
Im Jahr 2003 wird der Polizist Avi zu einem Tatort gerufen. Eine Autobombe ist explodiert und mehrere Menschen wurden getötet. Chief Inspector Cohen leitet den Einsatz und er beauftragt Avi mit weiteren Ermittlungen. Dann geht es zurück ins Jahr 1974. Es sind die Anfangsjahre Cohens bei der Polizei. Mit seinem Partner untersucht er eine Reihe von Morden an jungen Frauen. Eine der ersten Getöteten war wohl eine Cousine. Nun ist wieder eine junge Frau getötet worden. In Verdacht gerät ihr Lebensgefährte. Die Beweislage ist allerdings dünn. Als ein weitere Verdächtiger gefunden wird, erscheint für Cohen die Sache klar.
Über mehrere Jahrzehnte spannt sich die Handlung dieses Thrillers. Israel ist teilweise von Krieg und Gewalt geprägt. Doch teilweise wollen die Menschen auch nur in ihrem Staat in Sicherheit leben. Was sind sie bereit dafür einzusetzen? Cohen beginnt als kleiner Streifenpolizist, wie er selber sagt. Über die Zeit baut er sich allerdings seine Netzwerke auf, in die er auch Kollegen hineinzieht. Nicht immer geht es damit ganz mit rechten Dingen zu. Und auch die politische Situation verändert sich. Auch über die Jahre hin und über Ländergrenzen scheinen viele Fäden bei Cohen zusammenzulaufen.
Sowohl das Cover als auch der Klappentext lassen auf einen spannenden Thriller schließen. Dass sich die Handlung über mehrere Jahrzehnte ausdehnt, wird erst während der Lektüre klar. Auch dass es manchmal reichlich brutal zugeht, merkt man erst beim Lesen. Um die Lösung von Fällen scheint es weniger zu gehen. Dafür erhält man eine ernüchternde Beschreibung um die Vorgänge zwischen Polizisten und Gangstern. Eher nebenbei erwähnt, werden Hintergründe zu den Entwicklungen in Israel. Gerade die Themen, die man als interessant empfunden hätte werden nur angerissen. In Laufe der Lektüre dieses immerhin über sechshundertseitigen Romans sind schon einige Zusammenhänge zu erkennen. Und an den schonungslos präzisen Schilderungen erkennt man die genaue Recherche. Ob dieser Thriller die Erwartungen erfüllen kann, muss jeder Leser oder jede Leserin selbst entscheiden.
3,5 Sterne
Im Jahr 2003 wird der Polizist Avi zu einem Tatort gerufen. Eine Autobombe ist explodiert und mehrere Menschen wurden getötet. Chief Inspector Cohen leitet den Einsatz und er beauftragt Avi mit weiteren Ermittlungen. Dann geht es zurück ins Jahr 1974. Es sind die Anfangsjahre Cohens bei der Polizei. Mit seinem Partner untersucht er eine Reihe von Morden an jungen Frauen. Eine der ersten Getöteten war wohl eine Cousine. Nun ist wieder eine junge Frau getötet worden. In Verdacht gerät ihr Lebensgefährte. Die Beweislage ist allerdings dünn. Als ein weitere Verdächtiger gefunden wird, erscheint für Cohen die Sache klar.
Über mehrere Jahrzehnte spannt sich die Handlung dieses Thrillers. Israel ist teilweise von Krieg und Gewalt geprägt. Doch teilweise wollen die Menschen auch nur in ihrem Staat in Sicherheit leben. Was sind sie bereit dafür einzusetzen? Cohen beginnt als kleiner Streifenpolizist, wie er selber sagt. Über die Zeit baut er sich allerdings seine Netzwerke auf, in die er auch Kollegen hineinzieht. Nicht immer geht es damit ganz mit rechten Dingen zu. Und auch die politische Situation verändert sich. Auch über die Jahre hin und über Ländergrenzen scheinen viele Fäden bei Cohen zusammenzulaufen.
Sowohl das Cover als auch der Klappentext lassen auf einen spannenden Thriller schließen. Dass sich die Handlung über mehrere Jahrzehnte ausdehnt, wird erst während der Lektüre klar. Auch dass es manchmal reichlich brutal zugeht, merkt man erst beim Lesen. Um die Lösung von Fällen scheint es weniger zu gehen. Dafür erhält man eine ernüchternde Beschreibung um die Vorgänge zwischen Polizisten und Gangstern. Eher nebenbei erwähnt, werden Hintergründe zu den Entwicklungen in Israel. Gerade die Themen, die man als interessant empfunden hätte werden nur angerissen. In Laufe der Lektüre dieses immerhin über sechshundertseitigen Romans sind schon einige Zusammenhänge zu erkennen. Und an den schonungslos präzisen Schilderungen erkennt man die genaue Recherche. Ob dieser Thriller die Erwartungen erfüllen kann, muss jeder Leser oder jede Leserin selbst entscheiden.
3,5 Sterne
December 29, 2023
Israel’s answer to James Ellroy. And an impressive answer at that.
Here we get an episodic, not-quite-linear story of several loosely connected figures over a 35 year period who represent a coarsening – if not deadening – of the dream of Israel as a nation founded on idealism. Most of these are gangsters capable of shooting even close friends in the back. Many of the others are even worse.
Ellroy’s fundamental insight into American culture – and I respect it as at the heart of one of the major oeuvres of contemporary American literature – is that our ‘American dream’ is built on a foundation of lies, deceit, and cruelty that we have papered over with happy stories. His Kennedy Brothers aren’t merely horn-dogs – though puritanical brother Bobby comes in for plenty of scorn – but also political criminals, men who are not above any alliance that will help them politically. His Howard Hughes is an even sicker, more sexually frustrated figure than the worst depictions of the one-time tech hero.
Tidhar does that for Israel and more – it’s especially difficult to read it now, as the awful action in Gaza is taking place. This novel serves as an accusation of a rottenness pervading Israel’s sense of itself. It’s singers are either saccharine or indifferent (one scene takes place at the final concert by Machina – the Israeli equivalent of the Who’s concert in Cincinnati in 1979 when fans were killed in the crush). It’s police know they can never stamp out organized crime and drug use, so they “control it,” “making” and unmaking kingpins so they can continue to be a force. Its soldiers use war as an opportunity to sell drugs and high-end weaponry. Its veterans serve as mercenaries for the likes of the Contras and Pablo Escobar.
It's bad stuff on a global scale, and Tidhar uses the wide-angle lens of semi-disconnected episodes to bring together the sense that no one person really knows how awful it all is.
I believe the novel was originally written in English (though it may have been translated from the Hebrew) but it assumes substantial familiarity with Israeli popular culture. As I read, I often checked out names of musicians and political figures to determine who was real and who invented.
Tidhar (or his translator) doesn’t try for Ellroy’s hard-bop jazz riffing, but he does have a sense of the hardboiled. One early chunk reads, “There was no point pulling a gun unless you were ready to use it. Avi understood that. The driver understood that.”
And Avi is a cop trying to solve a rape and murder.
Another later one, “She liked cops almost as much as she liked crooks, maybe because most of the time she couldn’t really tell the difference.”
One scene has haunted me since I read it two days ago.
The closest we have to a through-line character is Cohen, a police officer who is – most of the time – a quasi-conscience. He’s notorious for having a Biblical verse to suit every situation, and he is committed to solving the strong of serial killings plaguing his department, even if it means beating a confession out of someone he knows is not really responsible.
At the same time Cohen is perhaps the central figure in making and breaking the underworld kingpins who terrorize others. We learn eventually that he anointed Rubenstein because he thought they could work together.
That theme of betraying the next generation of a corruption that mars everything that Israel stands for, is tough to handle.
An Israeli recommended this to me because I am at work as well on a non-linear novel across decades that confronts the nature of the Jewish gangster. There’s a darkness here – a “bitterness” (which is what ‘maror’ means) – that makes it ultimately very different from what I’m after.
But this is powerful, though. Like the best of Ellroy, it’s kill-’em-all howl of near despair without a vision of how the world might have been better but with a sense that, somehow, we took the wrong path.
Here we get an episodic, not-quite-linear story of several loosely connected figures over a 35 year period who represent a coarsening – if not deadening – of the dream of Israel as a nation founded on idealism. Most of these are gangsters capable of shooting even close friends in the back. Many of the others are even worse.
Ellroy’s fundamental insight into American culture – and I respect it as at the heart of one of the major oeuvres of contemporary American literature – is that our ‘American dream’ is built on a foundation of lies, deceit, and cruelty that we have papered over with happy stories. His Kennedy Brothers aren’t merely horn-dogs – though puritanical brother Bobby comes in for plenty of scorn – but also political criminals, men who are not above any alliance that will help them politically. His Howard Hughes is an even sicker, more sexually frustrated figure than the worst depictions of the one-time tech hero.
Tidhar does that for Israel and more – it’s especially difficult to read it now, as the awful action in Gaza is taking place. This novel serves as an accusation of a rottenness pervading Israel’s sense of itself. It’s singers are either saccharine or indifferent (one scene takes place at the final concert by Machina – the Israeli equivalent of the Who’s concert in Cincinnati in 1979 when fans were killed in the crush). It’s police know they can never stamp out organized crime and drug use, so they “control it,” “making” and unmaking kingpins so they can continue to be a force. Its soldiers use war as an opportunity to sell drugs and high-end weaponry. Its veterans serve as mercenaries for the likes of the Contras and Pablo Escobar.
It's bad stuff on a global scale, and Tidhar uses the wide-angle lens of semi-disconnected episodes to bring together the sense that no one person really knows how awful it all is.
I believe the novel was originally written in English (though it may have been translated from the Hebrew) but it assumes substantial familiarity with Israeli popular culture. As I read, I often checked out names of musicians and political figures to determine who was real and who invented.
Tidhar (or his translator) doesn’t try for Ellroy’s hard-bop jazz riffing, but he does have a sense of the hardboiled. One early chunk reads, “There was no point pulling a gun unless you were ready to use it. Avi understood that. The driver understood that.”
And Avi is a cop trying to solve a rape and murder.
Another later one, “She liked cops almost as much as she liked crooks, maybe because most of the time she couldn’t really tell the difference.”
One scene has haunted me since I read it two days ago.
The closest we have to a through-line character is Cohen, a police officer who is – most of the time – a quasi-conscience. He’s notorious for having a Biblical verse to suit every situation, and he is committed to solving the strong of serial killings plaguing his department, even if it means beating a confession out of someone he knows is not really responsible.
At the same time Cohen is perhaps the central figure in making and breaking the underworld kingpins who terrorize others. We learn eventually that he anointed Rubenstein because he thought they could work together.
That theme of betraying the next generation of a corruption that mars everything that Israel stands for, is tough to handle.
An Israeli recommended this to me because I am at work as well on a non-linear novel across decades that confronts the nature of the Jewish gangster. There’s a darkness here – a “bitterness” (which is what ‘maror’ means) – that makes it ultimately very different from what I’m after.
But this is powerful, though. Like the best of Ellroy, it’s kill-’em-all howl of near despair without a vision of how the world might have been better but with a sense that, somehow, we took the wrong path.
July 27, 2022
I have never heard of Lavie Tidhar before but was intrigued by the premise of Maror. The meaning of the Hebrew word 'maror' is bitter herbs, and the title encapsulates the book perfectly.
Described as a state-of-the-nation book the publicity blurb goes as follows:
'Across four decades and three continents, Lavie Tidhar seeks to give an answer. It takes statesmen and soldiers, farmers and factory workers, of course. But it also takes thieves, prostitutes and policemen. Nation-building demands sacrifice. And one man knows exactly where those bodies are buried: Cohen, a man who loves his country. A reasonable man for unreasonable times. '
So, Maror is a complex multi-generational saga that veers between the political landscape of modern Israel and gangsters who run riot, hunted down by the main character, Cohen. I sensed residual anger on the part of the writer as the book progressed and I wonder if he felt this while writing the book?
As a secular Jewish woman who first visited Israel soon after the Six Day War I found the book riveting but wonder who the audience for it will be? For me, the Israelis in the story are not shown in a good light and I worry that in today's climate this may well feed anti-Semites and anti-Zionists, and more hatred of Jews. It is the book that Mr Tidhar 'has always wanted to write' but I didn't find any redeeming characters who might have given a more balanced view of modern Israel. Nevertheless, I give Maror 5*.
For those who do not know, until 1947 when the United Nations partition plan created the State of Israel and the ending of the British Mandate dating from after the First World War, the area was known as Palestine. The Jews and Arabs who co-existed there were collectively Palestinians but usually referred to as Jews and Arabs.
Many thanks to NetGalley and Head of Zeus/Apollo for the opportunity to read and review this book.
Described as a state-of-the-nation book the publicity blurb goes as follows:
'Across four decades and three continents, Lavie Tidhar seeks to give an answer. It takes statesmen and soldiers, farmers and factory workers, of course. But it also takes thieves, prostitutes and policemen. Nation-building demands sacrifice. And one man knows exactly where those bodies are buried: Cohen, a man who loves his country. A reasonable man for unreasonable times. '
So, Maror is a complex multi-generational saga that veers between the political landscape of modern Israel and gangsters who run riot, hunted down by the main character, Cohen. I sensed residual anger on the part of the writer as the book progressed and I wonder if he felt this while writing the book?
As a secular Jewish woman who first visited Israel soon after the Six Day War I found the book riveting but wonder who the audience for it will be? For me, the Israelis in the story are not shown in a good light and I worry that in today's climate this may well feed anti-Semites and anti-Zionists, and more hatred of Jews. It is the book that Mr Tidhar 'has always wanted to write' but I didn't find any redeeming characters who might have given a more balanced view of modern Israel. Nevertheless, I give Maror 5*.
For those who do not know, until 1947 when the United Nations partition plan created the State of Israel and the ending of the British Mandate dating from after the First World War, the area was known as Palestine. The Jews and Arabs who co-existed there were collectively Palestinians but usually referred to as Jews and Arabs.
Many thanks to NetGalley and Head of Zeus/Apollo for the opportunity to read and review this book.
June 16, 2023
This is a NetGalley Review Copy.
A brutal, spanning history of Israel through the eyes of characters and their loose association with Cohen, a beat cop who rises through the ranks at the same time the country changes and evolves: you get to hear so many vital stories that provide an eye-opener into Israel's history if you're not too familiar, and the backdrop of the historical noir that gives the book its edge frames it around an ongoing Zodiac type mystery wrapped up with a premise that makes it ideal for fans of The Godfather or The White Tiger; or if you liked the style of William Boyd's The Romantic which tells a whole life in one book - this one goes one step further with its rich lead characters and tells the life of a whole country through their eyes; Cohen only really a side figure: we see how Cohen is operated around them moving back and forth between worlds like a ghost, showing up in the lives of a woman who snaps and murders her friend, and then intent on taking down a serial rapist.
It's a dark book, the torture scenes early on especially when listening to on audio are downright uncomfortable but it's told in a way that challenges the audience and dares them to question whether Cohen has any kind of moral stand point or leg to stand on at all - whilst we primarily see others' views of him rather than his own, the opening chapter introduces us to what kind of man he's like, and Tidhar - playing in a completely different genre to his past works, gives us a memorable playing field that proves how versatile he is as a writer. I'm a massive fan.
A brutal, spanning history of Israel through the eyes of characters and their loose association with Cohen, a beat cop who rises through the ranks at the same time the country changes and evolves: you get to hear so many vital stories that provide an eye-opener into Israel's history if you're not too familiar, and the backdrop of the historical noir that gives the book its edge frames it around an ongoing Zodiac type mystery wrapped up with a premise that makes it ideal for fans of The Godfather or The White Tiger; or if you liked the style of William Boyd's The Romantic which tells a whole life in one book - this one goes one step further with its rich lead characters and tells the life of a whole country through their eyes; Cohen only really a side figure: we see how Cohen is operated around them moving back and forth between worlds like a ghost, showing up in the lives of a woman who snaps and murders her friend, and then intent on taking down a serial rapist.
It's a dark book, the torture scenes early on especially when listening to on audio are downright uncomfortable but it's told in a way that challenges the audience and dares them to question whether Cohen has any kind of moral stand point or leg to stand on at all - whilst we primarily see others' views of him rather than his own, the opening chapter introduces us to what kind of man he's like, and Tidhar - playing in a completely different genre to his past works, gives us a memorable playing field that proves how versatile he is as a writer. I'm a massive fan.
July 4, 2023
Epic, decades-spanning noir. At times maybe too noir—too hard-boiled. At times it goes on maybe too long, the author reveling maybe too much in his ability to hopscotch between places and points of view. And a part of me kept feeling defensive: this story is set amidst corruption and criminality in the middle decades of Israel’s history, and if one didn’t know anything outside this book, one might imagine there was nothing to the place but drugs and fraud, criminals and degenerates. I wondered how much was based in truth: is the author well-informed and giving us reasonably accurate history, or is he irresponsibly misguiding readers in his overheated reach for a hard-boiled mood? But those concerns were repeatedly swept aside by the storytelling. Though a little long, the book flows. Its characters proliferate but all come alive, and most weave together. And it is often very, very funny. Near the end, a point is made: a character remarks how all the criminality recounted in the book was so very specific to its time and place, and yet could’ve happened anywhere. And in that perhaps one promise of Israel is fulfilled, that it might just be a country like any other. I wanted to give the novel 4 stars for its faults and its remorseless if implicit criticism of Israel, but I enjoyed reading it too much.
At times reminded me of Don Winslow, with Israel taking the place of SoCal and Mexico.
At times reminded me of Don Winslow, with Israel taking the place of SoCal and Mexico.
October 20, 2023
Lavie Tidhar's "Maror" is an absolute gem that deserves every bit of praise it receives. With his impeccable storytelling and imaginative world-building, Tidhar has crafted a novel that effortlessly bridges the gap between genres, offering readers a truly unique and captivating experience. This book is a delightful blend of science fiction, fantasy, and elements of the surreal, making it a must-read for those who crave originality and creativity in their literary adventures.
The characters in "Maror" are brilliantly crafted, each with their own distinct personalities and motivations that add depth to the narrative. Tidhar's writing style is a true marvel, with its poetic prose and a knack for painting vivid, otherworldly landscapes that transport you to the heart of the story.
What truly sets "Maror" apart is its ability to challenge your preconceived notions and provoke thought. Tidhar skillfully weaves themes of identity, memory, and the human condition throughout the story, making you ponder long after you've turned the last page.
In conclusion, "Maror" is a masterclass in speculative fiction, and Lavie Tidhar's talent shines brightly in every page. It's a thought-provoking, enthralling, and beautifully written book that I wholeheartedly recommend to any reader seeking a unique and immersive literary journey. Four stars are a well-deserved rating for this outstanding work.
The characters in "Maror" are brilliantly crafted, each with their own distinct personalities and motivations that add depth to the narrative. Tidhar's writing style is a true marvel, with its poetic prose and a knack for painting vivid, otherworldly landscapes that transport you to the heart of the story.
What truly sets "Maror" apart is its ability to challenge your preconceived notions and provoke thought. Tidhar skillfully weaves themes of identity, memory, and the human condition throughout the story, making you ponder long after you've turned the last page.
In conclusion, "Maror" is a masterclass in speculative fiction, and Lavie Tidhar's talent shines brightly in every page. It's a thought-provoking, enthralling, and beautifully written book that I wholeheartedly recommend to any reader seeking a unique and immersive literary journey. Four stars are a well-deserved rating for this outstanding work.
February 24, 2023
I have such mixed reviews about this book. Firstly it was a great read. The writing is awesome and I found myself really wrapped in some of the scenes and it was easy to visualise. I read this book so quickly and it was definitely an enjoyable read
However there are a lot of characters and the ending fell a bit flat. I think the book is supposed to imply that the world revolves around Cohen but it wasn’t made that clear and I guess it’s up to the reader to make sense of it. Some characters fell off the face of the planet when I wanted more from them. Others, like Sylvie, I didn’t really care for. The style of the writing reminds me of A Visit From the Goon Squad in that there’s multiple characters across a timeline and their stories all connect.
I didn’t really understand the murders or what the point of that part of the story was. Regardless, it was a great read and I think the writing and story telling alone gives it a 3.5 or a 4.
However there are a lot of characters and the ending fell a bit flat. I think the book is supposed to imply that the world revolves around Cohen but it wasn’t made that clear and I guess it’s up to the reader to make sense of it. Some characters fell off the face of the planet when I wanted more from them. Others, like Sylvie, I didn’t really care for. The style of the writing reminds me of A Visit From the Goon Squad in that there’s multiple characters across a timeline and their stories all connect.
I didn’t really understand the murders or what the point of that part of the story was. Regardless, it was a great read and I think the writing and story telling alone gives it a 3.5 or a 4.
September 30, 2022
No! No! No!
I had seen great reviews on this novel. However, now I’m wondering if I live in a parallel universe. I managed to read a few chapters hoping it would get better, instead it got worse. I skipped to the end – violence personified.
The blurb for the book gave no hint that it was about the corruption of the highest order and that every page (or every second page) would see another person shot dead. Just too much for me.
Elite Reviewing Group received a copy of the book to review.
I had seen great reviews on this novel. However, now I’m wondering if I live in a parallel universe. I managed to read a few chapters hoping it would get better, instead it got worse. I skipped to the end – violence personified.
The blurb for the book gave no hint that it was about the corruption of the highest order and that every page (or every second page) would see another person shot dead. Just too much for me.
Elite Reviewing Group received a copy of the book to review.
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