“What do people see in me on the first impression? … Is there any imprint left from the love I knew? A rebirth mark?”

I received an ARC copy in exchange for an honest review.

It’s taken me a while to get around to the 2017 Man Booker International Prize nominees. So long, in fact, that the winner was selected and I still hadn’t read any of them… whoops!

This was the first of my eBook TBR, simply because it was on the top of the (digital) pile, I had no idea I was reading the winner of the awards until I came to review it.

And, though I hate to say it, I’m not quite sure how I feel about the book. It’s undoubtedly clever and well written – it did win, after all – but did I enjoy reading it? Not so much.

The premise was incredibly gripping: how would it feel to see a person unravel? To see the layers peel off one by one? What would remain at the end? Will it look at all like the person we started with?

The rambling style of narrative, punctuated by unfunny jokes, made for a difficult and tiring read to begin with. Despite being a small book, I had to have a break half way through… for two months! I just couldn’t connect enough to the story to keep going. Like many of our protagonist’s spectators, I considered abandoning the battle, giving up despite my intrigue and moving on to something different.

Still, I pressed on and, though the rambling didn’t stop, it was easier to get on with the more I read. What began as uncomfortable became harrowing and somewhat pitiful. The remaining audience (and I) were under the same trance; we started disgusted, then intrigued and, by the end, we felt pity for the poor creature on stage.

I finished feeling satisfied at having made it to the end. Some books aren’t worth the effort you put into them, but I appreciated this more and more as I look back over it. It does, however, seem wrong to give a book more than 3 stars when it was so hard to get through.

A Horse Walks Into A Bar will not be for everyone but I do think perseverance and patience pays off in the end. It is a small book so it won’t take too much of your time to read.

Give it a go and see where it takes you!

Timely but not my cup of tea, writing style didn't work for me but I appreciated the importance of a book this culturally relevant. Would recommend to anyone looking for a more cerebral read.

This has some mixed reviews, and I can understand why, to an extent. It’s very unusual, very dark and is difficult to read at times. But it’s brilliant.
Stand-up comedian Dovaleh G is giving a performance in a small Israeli town. A childhood friend has been asked to attend – he doesn’t know why, and as the evening progresses, he feels more and more uncomfortable, as do the audience, who realise that this isn’t the show they were expecting.
Dovaleh is telling his own story, and it isn’t very funny at all. It’s heart-breaking, and he tells it unflinchingly. From the performance, we learn about Dovaleh, his life, his tragedies, and we learn about betrayals, about loss.
It’s an unusual structure, but it really works, allowing for Dovaleh’s character to come through so authentically – which is where it is sometimes hard to read. As a reader, it’s as if you’re there in the audience at times, witnessing Dovaleh falling apart. And you really feel for the child that he was, and the pain that he felt, and you understand how that has made him the man he is. It’s about more than one man though. Dovaleh’s mother is still suffering from what she experienced in the holocaust. His father loves him, but, like many men of his generation, he finds it hard to show that love. And Dovaleh, who has the potential to be so much, who is intelligent and funny and shows flashes of kindness, has no real chance of meeting that potential – his individuality sets him firmly outside and he suffers for that.
Like the audience in the little club in Netanya, it was hard to know whether to laugh or cry. This is an unsettling novel, but it is beautifully crafted, and highly recommended.

A difficult book to get into, I took it as a holiday read but gave up. On my return I tried again, it is a very slow read and it would help to have an idea of the daily goings on in Israel. Reviews seem to differ on the humour of the book, I did not find it very funny, but that might just be my sense of humour!!

A very raw and powerful novel. Quite unusually form as well. Reading it was like watching stand up comedy but with an enhanced attention for details. Strongly recommended.

Unique. Well worth a read for anyone who enjoys books that push the boundaries of fiction.

One of my top reads of 2017.

Highly original and a fast-paced read - also very sad.

A 57 year old man performs a stand up comedy routine, mixing the story of his life and jokes of all sorts. Desperate, profane and compelling, he sweeps up his audience and the reader. As someone who finds watching stand up comedy anxiety-provoking to start with, this was a harrowing story and a writing tour de force.

Possibly the most depressing book of the year and certainly the most uncomfortable read for a long time. This is a comic novel in the way The UK Office is a comedy - not really. The devastating tension begins as what you think will be a short anexdotw, but the hammer just continues not to fall leaving the reader suspended so uncomfortably. The book is a car crash, as a reader you want to shout at the scene to stop but of course you are powerless. It’s a far from enjoyable experience reading this book, but you can not fault the skill here.

the writing is wonderful, the story, raw. not an easy read, emotionally, but absolutely gripping.

I found it crude and painful. A story that engendered in me little sympathy for the rather pathetic, unlikeable main character and at times reading it felt similar to banging my head against a wall.
Yet I couldn't stop reading it and when I reached the end, although I sighed in deep relief, I did not regret the time spent.

Steel yourself and read it.

This just didn't hit the mark as a complete narrative. Initially i was enjoying it but it lost its momentum

David Grossman’s novel about a night at a comedy club is nothing but a funny story. If anything it draws its subject from the general belief that behind every great comedian/jokerman lies a deep trauma. This of course in itself is an overgeneralisation and it doesn’t always apply but I have experienced this too many times in my life, to believe this in a personal level. That said, Grossman’s book is not an easy ride because its main subject seems to be the human condition: its failings, its struggles, its attempt to reconcile and give meaning to the past; and its dilemmas which sometimes do not simply alter someone’s path, but can alter their very soul.

Those who will manage to go through the first pages, they will be rewarded with a page-turner. The way that Grossman builds up Dovaleh’s story is masterfully crafted. The inserted breaks and pauses in key places intensify the reading experience and are successfully drawing us more and more into the story. At the end, it is really difficult not to sympathise with Dovaleh’s tragic experience.

Do not waste any of your life on this book. I am a determined reader, but I couldn't get past the first 30 pages or so. The story may have some attraction, but the writing style is too opaque and the colloquial use of language in an unfamiliar register (to me) is simply not accessible. I gave up.

While I feel like I personally missed something here, I nevertheless found myself a bit riveted by this rather discomforting life story presented as stand up (without being funny...) amidst a strange unresolved acquaintanceship.

A real page turner I couldn't put it down. A gripping yet harrowing story of a stand up comedian. Dovaleh comes across as complex. A really good and riveting read.

I found this book hard going, but persevered to the end to find out what happened. Nothing did !

I tried with this - boy, how I tried, and boy how trying it was - but a third of it was more than enough. Must be for a specific audience that doesn't include me - I couldn't be bothered to find the point of it all, if point there was.

A wonderful book that is well written and full of surprises. Definitely one of the best books I’ve read this year.

In a club in a small Israeli town, a comedian gives a shocked audience the most unconventional stand-up performance they’ve ever seen. While some choose to get up and leave, others remain enthralled and entranced, watching the comedian, Dovaleh G, fall apart on stage.

I’ll be honest, I didn’t get this book. It recently won the Man Booker International Prize, so I was intrigued and wanted to give it a go. Unfortunately, as far as I can tell, it seems to have won the award purely because of its unusual style and relatively hard-hitting subject matter rather than for the quality of the actual story.

The book is written in real-time, from the perspective of an audience member: a childhood friend of Dovaleh who has been summoned to the show at his request (though he doesn’t really understand why, or particularly want to be there). Despite the suggestive title and the setting of a comedy club, A Horse Walks into a Bar is not funny. It isn’t even remotely amusing and is barely entertaining. Reading the book, I felt exactly the same way as the audience members who chose to get up and leave. As it happens, this may well have been the desired effect and, if so, the book is remarkably well written (if not, then oh dear). Although I give the author kudos for his impressive and unconventional writing abilities, getting through this book was a painful and unpleasant experience.

Dovaleh himself was probably the most difficult thing about this novel. He was not likeable and was too annoying to be particularly interesting, yet we follow his entire rambling narrative from start to finish. I skim-read large portions of the book, until right near the very end where things did admittedly pick up and become marginally more engaging. He covers multiple themes during his on-stage breakdown, including friendship, betrayal, revenge and the Holocaust. Sadly, most of this went over my head (probably largely down to the skim-reading, but I’m holding the book responsible for not drawing me in enough).

There is no question that this is a clever book, and probably worth a read, but it is not even remotely enjoyable.