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| Orly Castel-Bloom |
The Mina Lisa |
| Novel |
Jerusalem, Keter, 1995. 149 pp.
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Orly Castel-Bloom's wild imagination and humor are racier than ever in this third novel, drawing the readers into fantastic adventures in a world of twisted logic. Everything, however, begins in a typical Israeli setting.
Mina is a happy 38-year-old housewife who looks after her husband Oved, her three children and her home. Into this normal life enters Flora, her husband's grandmother, who comes to live with them. An old lady like any other? Not quite. As Mina discovers, Flora throws her food out of the window and eats paper instead. More precisely, Flora devours Mina's screenplays, which she had stashed in drawers, convinced they would never be made into films.
"She has already eaten real masterpieces," Oved tells Mina, revealing that Flora is more than 200 years old. She was born in the 18th century in Crete, and was blessed with longevity for having followed the commandment, 'Honor thy father and thy mother that thy days may be long.' From the moment Flora tastes Mina's screenplays, she cannot eat anything else. When the screenplays are finished, Mina, who has abandoned writing, refuses to supply new ones. The hungry Flora grows weaker.
But when Flora reveals her involvement in the 'Time Police,' Mina complies and returns to writing. The two women fly off on a fanciful journey in time, hoping to discover what became of the 'Time Police' Chief, who was once Flora's lover. They arrive in a world that is a mixture of reality and illusion, where women are chained to their pens and forced to write screenplays. In the end Mina liberates her fellow screenwriters and rescues Flora from a bitter fate. Oved, whose dream has been to hold in his own hands – if only for three seconds – the real, eternal and precious "Mona Lisa," must make do with his own Mina Lisa, who returns to him and to her quiet life. Flora, who has had enough of living, takes her last breath and passes on at the ripe old age of 203.
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About the Book
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Novelist Batya Gur described The Mina Lisa as "...a brilliant and funny work...the charm of Castel-Bloom's 'fizzy realism'...lies in its direct power." Ha'aretz noted: "Brilliant...Orly Castel-Bloom's ambitious and thoughtful sixth book makes you want to read her previous works." L'Arche wrote: "[Castel-Bloom is] the most controversial writer of her generation, with a fantastic tale where the literary creation plays a major role."
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