Like almost everyone else in class, I really liked Etgar Keret's The Bus Driver Who Wanted to be God. At first I thought some of the stories didn't really have too much of a point, but after going back and looking again, I was pretty satisfied that they mostly all do. Mostly. As Carly says, though, I don't know how much some of the stories tell us about Israeli culture. Since nearly everyone blogged about this book, I'm going to
try to keep this post short. I loved "A Souvenir of Hell," "Uterus" (to which I have a somewhat personal connection, believe it or not (the story, not the organ)), and "Breaking the Pig," which I thought was hilarious and ironic. That row of three was a great run for me. I'm also a big fan of "The Flying Santinis," which says, to me, a lot about striving for perfection and God's understanding nature.
While I was really disappointed to hear my classmates' bad reviews of Wristcutters: A Love Story, I think I may give it a chance, especially since Will Arnett is in it. I don't expect to particularly enjoy it after having read "Kneller's Happy Campers," but I'd like to see it just the same.
Off topic, I came across an old clip of Will Arnett hosting one of MTV's spring break things. He introduced Arrested Development. (If you don't know, Arnett went on, years later, to star in the fantastic series "Arrested Development.")
Carefully chosen, some of these stories could be great to use in secondary or early college classrooms. Some just provide thought and discussion provoking material ("Breaking the Pig," "Cocked and Locked" if you can deal with the language) (though the teacher may have to pull some ideas out and prompt students or give them questions/ideas to think about while reading), while others provide a specifically (or more powerful because it's) Israeli (or Jewish) perspective, such as "Shoes." The stories would also be great models for a creative writing classroom. Keret provides much to discuss in the way of style and voice. His quiet, absurd, and sometimes seemingly inappropriate humor can be a great perspective for young authors unfamiliar with that sort of thing (his writing reminds me David Sedaris's in this way).
