Slanted Barking
In the first story, “Summer in the Galilee,” a gang of louts on horseback carry out a casual and fruitless robbery, then they race to a nearby pastoral kibbutz where they rampage with pleasure. The viewpoint is anarchic, and the story is told in a sarcastic tone that denies ethical commitments.
There are violent fantasies in the story “Sabbath,” in which a couple’s married life is disrupted by the wife’s sister, who leads them into a sexual adventure that focuses their frustrations. In the last scene the three lean out of the window and shoot at passersby. Izraeli’s style relies on action rather than description and is spare to the point of minimalism. Paradoxically, it is when his characters cannot articulate their intense emotions that we sense the full force of their personalities.
Yedioth Ahronoth selected Slanted Barking as the best Hebrew fiction of 1994.
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“ Almost all the stories take place in the realm of the absurd, but the local Israeli color is apparent... Izraeli touches on an important and painful topic: the aggression of Israeli youth in the 90s.”
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“ Original, unsettling...the author foregoes morals and climaxes. Izraeli's language is the lingo of tabloids combined with elevated phrases and neologisms of his own invention.”