Joshua Sobol. Whiskey’s Fine

Who is Hanina Regev? Is he a star in public relations, a poet, or a member of an Israeli liquidation outfit? It depends on whom you ask. Hanina of the many identities and varied talents, a womanizer who enjoys himself in bars, can play any role. He calls himself Shakespeare, Shylock, "the man with the legs", Nino - and another half dozen names, depending on the situation, the company and the character he is taking on. The enigma of his life is resolved over the course of this suspenseful, complex novel dealing with Jewish fate and Israeli identity. Hanina was born to Holocaust survivors in a small village in Israel. His mother's first husband was murdered in the war, and his mother lost her baby daughter in the forest where she hid. Hanina's father, known as Iron Man, led the rebellion of the Sonderkommando, the men assigned to burn the bodies of the victims at the concentration camp to which he was sent. After completing his compulsory army service, Hanina chooses to join a four-man liquidation unit whose task is to pursue and execute terrorists and murderers worldwide. Only two members, Hanina and Yadnuga , survived, and now, eighteen years later, they are still close friends. But Hanina is sure that the book is not closed, and their last enemy, known as Adonis, is still alive. One day in Manhattan, Hanina notices a mysterious man, dressed in black, who looks and sounds like Adonis. He decides to take time off from the public relations business he so detests and resume the pursuit of his bitter enemy to avenge the death of Yonas, one of the original four. Eliminating Adonis is also in the interests of a prostitute called Melissa: Adonis is her pimp. In pursuing a common enemy, Hanina and Melissa develop a special relationship, and the two manage to lure Adonis to a fateful meeting in the desert. The book ends with a scene of pursuit until the death in which Hanina, "the man with the legs", defeats his enemy. The account is now closed.


A breathtaking, brilliantly written, furiously kaleidoscopic series of personal and historical, tragic, comic, bizarre and banal events telling with startling completeness the Jewish history of the 20th century.
Die Zeit 
 
A literary riddle of admirable subtlety.
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung

Joshua Sobol’s wild and whimsical prose fuses literary allusion, political commentary and moving recollection.
Culturecritic UK
 
Heady stuff, filled with unlikely erudition, graceful writing, clever wordplay, and shape-shifting characters and realities, as well as gritty depictions of violence and suffering. 
Booklist