The Nimrod Flipout Stories

From Israel's most popular and acclaimed young writer--"Stories that are short, strange, funny, deceptively casual in tone and affect, stories that sound like a joke but aren't" (Yann Martel, author ofLife of Pi) Already featured onThis American LifeandSelected Shortsand inZoetrope: All StoryandL.A. Weekly, these short stories include a man who finds equal pleasure in his beautiful girlfriend and the fat, soccer-loving lout she turns into after dark; shrinking parents; a case of impotence cured by a pet terrier; and a pessimistic Middle Eastern talking fish. A bestseller in Israel,The Nimrod Flipoutis an extraordinary collection from the preeminent Israeli writer of his generation. Etgar Keretis the author of three bestselling story collections, one novella, three graphic novels, and a children's book. His fiction has been translated into more than twenty languages and has been the basis for more than forty short films. He lives and teaches in Tel Aviv. Already featured onThis American LifeandSelected Shorts, these stories introduce a man who finds equal pleasure in his beautiful girlfriend and the fat, soccer-loving lout she turns into after dark; shrinking parents; a case of impotence cured by a pet terrier; and a pessimistic Middle Eastern talking fish.The Nimrod Flipoutis an extraordinary collection from Israel's most acclaimed young writer. "Keret's short stories are filled with antiheroes. There are no brave Maccabees, no swashbuckling warriors. Instead, his sketches dramatize the mundane details of daily life. Keret's [stories] seem to promise that there is more to life than Merkava tanks and suicide killers, more even than nanotech or IPOs. His quirky collections . . . offer a glimpse into the Israeli subconscious."--Kevin Peraino,Newsweek "One of the joys of this collection by Mr. Keret, a young Israeli writer, is the insight it gives into the life of his countrymen . . . Mr. Keret's incredible stories are complemented by his laconic style. Bizarre things happen in each and every one of them, but neither he nor his characters bat an eye at the oddities surrounding them. Like the undercurrent of terrorism, this could be an aspect of the Israeli psyche."--Sonny Bunch,The Washington Times "The Nimrod Flipoutcontains 30 stories, most of which straddle the line between a joke and a fable. The tone is what Rod Serling might have sounded like had he decided to make ‘The Twilight Zone' a comedy set in Israel, with each episode lasting just a few minutes . . . Keret's Israelis are described with the cut-to-the-chase imperative of a comedian. The people who dash in and out of his stories are the sort of familiar urbanites you would find in a sitcom, albeit one playing on a television that might become untethered at any moment, floating away into oblivion as though it were all a strange dream."--Thomas Beller,The New York Times Book Review "Keret . . . has been hailed as a radical new voice in Israeli literature. [He] has cousins at an international level--like Haruki Murakami, his young male characters favor hard-boiled speech and make no apologies for their juvenile habits, and they seem unfazed by the mild magical realism that pervades their lives. Yet Mr. Keret distinguishes himself with a kind of overarching sorrow. The deadly realities of Israeli life facilitate a style that differs from Murakami's fatalism."--Benjamin Lytal,The Sun

Etgar Keret is the author of three bestselling story collections, one novella, three graphic novels, and a children's book. His fiction has been translated into sixteen languages and has been the basis for more than forty short films (including the winner of an MTV prize). He lives and teaches in Tel Aviv.