Aharon Kleinfeld, un niño de doce años, es el cabecilla de su grupo de amigos en un barrio de Jerusalén. Con su portentosa imaginación, les inspira nuevos juegos y aventuras, pero, cuando sus amigos empiezan a madurar, el cuerpo de Aharon se niega a crecer durante tres largos años. En el Israel previo a la guerra de los Seis Días, Aharon se siente defraudado cuando Guidon, su mejor amigo, y Yaeli, la chica que le gusta, abandonan su imaginativo universo para comprometerse con los jóvenes del movimiento sionista. ( )

Compared to The Tin Drum and Call It Sleep by the New York Times, this book is at once a work of magical realism and post-Freudian psychology. Complex with multiple layers of meaning it draws you in to its depths and mesmerizes you with its language. ( )

There is a lot of Yiddish in the book - such as.....Im hayu samim et hamo'ach shelcha b'tarnegol, hu haya ratz yashar l'shochet tafsik lezyen = "If they had to put your brain in a chicken, it would run straight to the butcher". Quite a lot I am still trying to translate.

I was shocked at the ending, it takes you places mentally that you might not want to go. ( )

I read this a second time because I will lead my book group discussion. I liked it a little better as a metaphor for Israel before 1967, but it is my least favorite David Grossman's books that I've read. I foumd tedious the details of the characters body functions and poor manners. ( )

I found this book very difficult, and I did not enjoy reading it as I did other books of grossman's. I was actually bored and did not really care about the characters. this is an adolescent very much pained by his coming of age. I will read it again, as I know Grossman always has much to say. ( )