Somewhat disjointed vignettes, but interesting to see attitudes across the board. I feel like New York may have more in common with Tel Aviv than San Francisco--even though it reminded me a bit of Tales of the City. ( )

Really didn't think much of these. Half felt like watered down Etgar Keret (who I love) and the others had sad sack narrators smitten with self-absorbed beautiful people. Ick. ( )

2.5 out of 5.
I just wish I could've related to or enjoyed more of the stories in the collection, overall. For the most part, I found myself skimming - because there was little new or engaging here. The stories are well-written, although they wear their author's Israeli identity aggressively at times, but they felt like pieces from a club I haven't been invited to yet: the New York (specifically Brooklyn) young-writer "scene". I'm a young writer in New York and am certainly part of the literary scene... but there's a little too much effort put into "being literary" here. When Oria relaxes and just writes something for fun, it shows: the story grabs you. The others, they don't grab as much.

More at RB: http://ragingbiblioholism.com/2015/05/01/new-york-1-tel-aviv-0/ ( )

2.5 out of 5.
I just wish I could've related to or enjoyed more of the stories in the collection, overall. For the most part, I found myself skimming - because there was little new or engaging here. The stories are well-written, although they wear their author's Israeli identity aggressively at times, but they felt like pieces from a club I haven't been invited to yet: the New York (specifically Brooklyn) young-writer "scene". I'm a young writer in New York and am certainly part of the literary scene... but there's a little too much effort put into "being literary" here. When Oria relaxes and just writes something for fun, it shows: the story grabs you. The others, they don't grab as much.

More at RB: http://ragingbiblioholism.com/2015/05/01/new-york-1-tel-aviv-0/ ( )