This
talented author has outdone himself with his debut novel, Mrs.
Lilienblum's Cloud Factory (Kinneret Zmora-Bitan Dvir, July 2023). The
book is due to be published by Astra House in 2024, but I couldn't wait for the
English edition and just finished reading it in its original Hebrew.
The
book opens with Sarai Lilienblum sitting in the middle of the Big Crater in
Israel's south, wearing a Bordeaux bathrobe and drinking a martini. She had
been missing for days and no one in her family knew where she was, or how she
got to the crater. And Sarai isn't explaining anything.
We
soon learn about Sarai's latest invention, a machine that can manufacture
clouds and intense rainfall and possibly solve the climate crisis. That
possibility depends not only on the interactions between Sarai and her family,
but on the very nature of Israel's startup culture.
The
novel is very witty, with fully developed characters and an amazing plot.
"When
you read Gefen’s stories," I wrote in my review of Jerusalem Beach,
"with their diverse characters, and cross-genre themes of memories and
dreams, you never know what you’re going to get. But one thing you do know.
Each story is going to be very enjoyable to read."
The
same is true for Mrs. Lilienblum's Cloud Factory, a tour de force
by a very talented author whose mark on the Israeli literary scene is just getting
started. The book is a pleasure to read and highly recommended.
Iddo Gefen is an
author and neurocognitive researcher at the Virtual and Augmented Reality Lab
at the Sagol Brain Institute. He leads an innovative study to diagnose aspects
of Parkinson’s disease using storytelling and augmented reality. Jerusalem
Beach, his first book, received the Israeli Minister of Culture’s Award in
2017, and the 2023 Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature.
Originally posted on The Times of Israel.
Related articles:
‘Jerusalem Beach’ by Iddo Gefen Is Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature Finalist
Review of ‘Jerusalem Beach’ by Iddo Gefen
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