These humorous stories by Ephraim Kishon are full of the stuff of life itself - children, dogs, neighbors, domestic appliances, plumbers, bureaucrats, swindlers, taxi drivers, publishers, media men, tax authorities, policemen, touched one and all by that spark of lunacy which makes it worth turning the page to see what happens next.
"I became a satirist", Kishon told an interviewer from the "International Herald Tribune", "when I learned that mankind is insane".
Like all great writers, Kishon has given life to a cast of unforgettable characters. Enter Ervinke, the law-bending alter ego of Kishon himself; Tsuries, the three-eyed melon seller; Stucks, the ever-absent plumber; and Inspector Fishbaum, the scourge of tax-evaders everywhere.
Although the background to many of Kishon's stories is Israel, their hilarity is universal.
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 4.0 / 5.0
Not that funny.:
I usually enjoy good ethnic humor, some of which is laugh-out-loud funny, but this one merits only a small and occasional smile. Perhaps it was better in the original German.
The man knows humor.:
I`ve read Mr. Kishon`s books in the 1960`s about the craziness that defined the modern Israel as he witnessed it`s history firsthand. When I visited Israel 15 years later, it was as if I stepped into the pages of any of his books. It`s only too sad that this man isn`t the Prime Minister, Foreign Minister, Defence Minister, ...heck, Ephraim could replace the entire Knesset. His book are priceless.
More books need to be translated!:
I giggled all the way from Frankfurt to Munich. People in my train compartment gave me strange looks, but I just couldn't stop laughing. Tears were running down my face! I don't even remember which of Kishon's books I was reading, it was in German. Unfortunately I could only find this one translated into in English. All of his books were very popular in Germany during the 70's and 80's. They probably still are. Kishon pokes fun at everyone and everything. His descriptions of customs, friends, politics,... more info
Very funny indeed:
Kishon is a writer whose humor appeals especially to those who know the horrors of petty bureacracy and the endless minor everyday insults of domestic family life. These are his specialities . But he is too a chronicler of particular time in Israeli society, and for those who lived in the Israel of the fifties and sixties his work has special relevance.
He may not have been the funniest man in the world but he could be very funny indeed.
