Body Language
Shai Tubali uses the protagonist’s body as the-point-of reference for most of the nine stories in this collection. In the first story, “Two Hundred Shekels,” a confused and bored youth undergoes a sexual and emotional experience with a man who supports himself by selling his body. “Test Tube Baby” chronicles the story of a father who cannot cope with the fact that his first born son has fallen in love. In “Adolescence,” Tubali illuminates the subject of parenthood from the angle of the developing erotic bond between an adolescent boy and his vulnerable, anxious mother. The literary achievement of Shai Tubali’s Body Language goes beyond the fact that he questions certain social conventions. His language is economical and free of mannerisms, and he portrays a wide range of human feelings with delicacy and precision.
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“ Tubali's writing is like a machine-gun being fired with a sniper's precision. Direct and gripping, it is exciting and confident as well as disturbing, as only Jean Genet and rock music can be.”
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“ Tubali’s stories capture the heart through fluency and naturalness of expression.”
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“ Shai Tubali's stories display a stylistic wholeness of content and form, and are written with the maturity of an older writer. Tubali is a talented storyteller. ”