Someone to Run With A Novel

The story of a lost dog, and the discovery of first love on the streets of Jerusalem are portrayed here with a gritty realism that is as fresh as it is compelling. When awkward and painfully shy sixteen-year-old Assaf is asked to find the owner of a stray yellow lab, he begins a quest that will bring him into contact with street kids and criminals, and a talented young singer, Tamar, engaged on her own mission: to rescue a teenage drug addict. A runaway bestseller in Israel, in the words of theChristian Science Monitor: "It's time for Americans to fall in love withSomeone to Run With." David Grossmanis the author of six novels and three works of nonfiction. He lives in Jerusalem. Earnest, awkward, and painfully shy, sixteen-year-old Assaf is having the worst summer of his life. With his big sister gone to America and his best friend suddenly the most popular kid in their class, Assaf worries away his days at a lowly summer job in Jerusalem's city hall and spends his evenings alone, watching television and playing games on the Internet. One morning, Assaf's routine is interrupted by an absurd assignment: to find the owner of a stray yellow Labrador retriever. Meanwhile, on the other side of the city, Tamar, a talented young singer with a lonely, tempestuous soul, undertakes an equally unpromising mission: to rescue a drug-addicted boy from the underworld . . . and, eventually, to find her dog. Someone to Run Withis the most popular work to date from "a writer who has been, for nearly two decades, one of the most original and talented . . . anywhere" (The New York Times Book Review), a bestseller hailed by the Israeli press (and by reform politicians such as Shimon Peres) for its mixture of fairy-tale magic, emotional sensitivity, and gritty realism. The novel explores the life of Israeli street kidswhom Grossman interviewed extensivelyand the anxieties of family life in a society racked by self-doubt. Most of all, it evokes the adventure of adolescence and the discovery of love as Tamar and Assaf, pushed beyond the limits of childhood by their quests, find themselves, and each other. "Beautiful and arresting . . . Like the best fables,Someone to Run Withhoists the reader into a world larger and more luminous than any found outside the book. Grossman has created a place of great dangers and improbable strokes of fortune, of compelling suspense and love's labor gained."Los Angeles Times "Beautiful and arresting . . . Like the best fables,Someone to Run Withhoists the reader into a world larger and more luminous than any found outside the book. Grossman has created a place of great dangers and improbable strokes of fortune, of compelling suspense and love's labor gained."Los Angeles Times "In Grossman's latest novel, which tumbles along the dusty streets of Jerusalem, adolescent idealism and angst keep the characters on the move. Assaf, a shy misfit, embarks upon a quixotic journey with a lost dog to find its mistress. Tamar, a caustic fifteen-year-old who can sing Mozart and Leonard Cohen on demand, runs away from home to find the criminals who have ensnared her older brother. A young street musician, in the grip of a heroin habit as formidable as his talent, stumbles through his routines with death close behind. The resulting picaresque is a cross betweenRun Lola RunandOliver Twist, and as the reader waits for these solitary odysseys to intersect, the urgency becomes almost unbearable. Grossman evokes teen-age nobility and self-hatred in all its pimply particularity, while slyly suggesting that the arduous quest for connections should never be outgrown."The New Yorker "In its wittily idiomatic translation,Someone to Run W

David Grossman is the author of six novels and three works of nonfiction. He lives in Jerusalem.

“Someone to Run With reveals again that Grossman is one of contemporary literature’s most versatile and absorbing writers....A deceptively simple story that is another revelation of Grossman’s genius.”--San Francisco Chronicle

“Beautiful and arresting...Grossman has created a place of great dangers and improbable strokes of fortune, of compelling suspense and love’s labors gained.”--Los Angeles Times

“Passionate and heartfelt...a story that is at once universal and specific, a classical fable of love brought to contemporary Israel.”--Claire Messud, The New York Times Book Review