Dolphins in Kiryat Gat
The protagonists in this collection of short stories reach out to one other, sometimes touching in unexpected places. Some tell their stories to one another, others to themselves; at least that is what they endeavor to do. They all, for different reasons, are longing for someone or something.
Kiryat Gat, a provincial town in southern Israel, provides the setting for big-hearted, down-to-earth stories rooted in contemporary daily life. The protagonists are all struggling, in one way or another, with loneliness and with facing up to the absurdity and meaninglessness of their lives. Like dolphins leaping from the sea, the stories burst with the power of a force of nature that cannot be stopped. Each story stands alone; combining them into one collection creates a rich and varied world of characters and situations. Invariably, the conversations that form the narrative reveal a gulf, sometimes tragic, between emotions and desires and what is expressed out loud.
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“Dana Heifetz’s writing is engrossing due to the psychological design of the characters in her stories and her observation of the lives of young people in contemporary Israel, as well as the clean, precise style of her prose. ”