Be My Knife: A Novel - Hardcover

Grossman, David

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9780374299774: Be My Knife: A Novel

Synopsis

The international bestseller: a compelling love story from the leading Israeli novelist of his generation

"We could be like two people who inject themselves with truth serum, and at long last have to tell it--the truth. I want to be able to say to myself, 'I bled truth with her,' yes, that's what I want. Be a knife for me, and I, I swear, will be a knife for you."

An awkward, neurotic seller of rare books writes a desperate letter to a beautiful stranger whom he sees at a class reunion. This simple, lonely attempt at seduction begins a love affair of words between Yair and Miriam, two married, middle-aged adults, dissatisfied with their lives, yearning for the connection that has always eluded them--and, eventually, reawakened to feelings that they thought had passed them by. Their correspondence unfolds into an exchange of their most naked confessions: of desire, childhood tragedies, joys, and humiliations.

Through the dialogue between Yair--a family man and surprisingly successful adulterer, whose complex, guarded letters reveal a life of secrets kept from the people closest to him--and Miriam, at first deceptively open and warm, who fills her life with distraction to avoid a past full of painful secrets, Be My Knife explores the nature and the limits of intimacy.

A deep departure from David Grossman's previous work, Be My Knife is his subtlest, most passionate novel yet.

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About the Author

David Grossman is the author of five novels as well as two groundbreaking worls of journalism, The Yellow Wind (1987) and Sleeping on a Wire (1993), several children's books, and a play. He lives in Jerusalem.

Reviews

Another original premise from Israeli novelist/journalist Grossman: after a shy, middle-aged man notices a beautiful stranger at a reunion, they launch a passionate affair of words.
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