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To Know a Woman

By: Amos Oz
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 0099913402
ISBN-13: 9780099913405
Released: 21 May 1992
RRP: £7.99
Average Rating:

Customer Reviews

To Know A Man - By: prisrob, 20 Oct 2004
Yoel Ravid, is my kind of man. He was an Israeli secret service agent for most of his life, & had the ability to sense the truth in people. Amos Oz has written an extraordinary novel, "To Know a Woman". However, in Yoel's quest to find the secret of his life & what might have gone wrong; we learn as does Yoel, much more about his life & how to live it. This novel has been misnamed, it should be "To Know a Man"!

We meet Yoel as he is exploring his retired life. His wife of many years, Irvia, has died suddenly. He is left with a daughter, Netta, whom he doesn't reallly know. His mother & his mother-in-law live together in an apartment near by, & Yoel feels the need to bring the family together. He cannot abide to live in the apartment that he lived in with his wife. He finds a house to rent with four bedrooms & everyone moves in together. This is a strange family- rarely do they speak or talk of important matters. They sit at night watching TV & rarely speak. Netta, his daughter has epilepsy & we learn that Irvia could not accept this diagnosis. Netta is a young woman who reads- she eats & sleeps at will, stays up alll hours of the night & attends school where she does not fit in.

Yoel feels out of place. He is used to being busy alll the time, now he has very little to do. He thinks a lot about his life with his wife, how they met & married & their life with Netta. He thinks about his profession. He was rarely at home & his job was his life even though he loved his family. He drives his car at night & thinks. He sleeps little. He visits his next door neighbors who are an interesting couple, brother & sister. And he forms a relationship with his realtor, they go sailing every Saturday, & the realtor tells Yoel alll of his secrets. All of this introspection is good for Yoel. His mother & mother-in-law are always arguing. His daughter tells him , "As you wish". for any question he asks her. No one it seems in the family is able to talk freely about what they are reallly thinking.

The process of Yoel's assimilation of life is a joy to behold. It is a quiet coming together, & we are treated to the most wonderful writing . Yoel's daily life is told in such great detail & with such an explicit description that the mundane becomes revered. A life to be lived. This is my first Amos Oz book, & I look forward to reading his entire collection. Highly Recommended. prisrob

A book full of pictures - By: , 16 May 2001
...and emotions. Yoel, who used to work for the secret services in Israel, is not a tough man as another people think. He never had the time to prove so to his wife, but now that he is retired & she is dead, he decides to settle down a bit & spend time with his family, come closer to them & especiallly his daughter. You will see that Yoel is more an *observer* in life rather a passenger & as a reader you will get a clear picture for everything he observes. You will also be the only one to know Yoel's feelings about the people around him & be amazed how deep but conceeled these feelings are. Very sweet & emotional book.