Love Life

by Zeruya Shalev

Book Overview

Hailed by The New York Times Book Review as a novel that broke all the barriers...sexually explicit yet dense with biblical allusions and psychological insight, Love Life unbuttoned Hebrew literature and spent four months as Israel's number one best-seller. What begins as a story of a young married woman's turbulent affair with an older man rapidly devolves into a feverish, lyrical crash course in the anatomy of obsession. When Yaara meets Aryeh,...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0802137814
• ISBN13: 9780802137814
• Release Date: March 2001
• Publisher: Grove Press
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 0.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.5" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

Intense book!

I read this book several years ago, and it is still one of my favorites. It is definitely not for the weak of heart or those obsessed with morality. First, the punctuation in this book will aggravate most gentle readers who are looking for an easy read. It reads in "thoughts" and rarely has a period. I would consider it a whirlwind book, and those adept to reading critically will have trouble putting it down, for want of the next sentence. Secondly, if you consider yourself a person who cast judgment easily, this book is NOT for you. The subject and common thread of this book is adultery and disappointments. If you still desire to read this book, you will NOT be disappointed. You can feel the main characters confusion and disillusion with her life. Shalev has a way of describing things poetically and has an interesting perspective on things that I loved and had never thought of before. She has her character try on a dress just to see a mannequin naked and as defiled as she feels inside. Shalev never gives pretense that her main character needs "therapy" or should not feel the way she is feeling, but she takes the reader through the feelings so palatably that you almost feel it yourself. I read this book in 2 days without being able to put it down. I would recommend it to any reader who reads avidly, is savvy to literature, and can read critically without passing judgment on the heroine.

Love Life

A wonderful book, compelling to read. I read it non-stop for three days and felt that I was flung into the haphazard world of the main character, Ya'ara. The writing is supurb. Descriptive, intimate and sometimes painfully easy to identify with. The situation is human and the characters are simple people who have all the complexities of those we know and love in our own lives. Bravo to Shalev! A must!

enthralling wise tale of the power of the withheld.

One of the most absorbing and alluring books I have read in a long time. This is an incredibly psychologically astute writer. She tells a wonderfully evocative and erotic tale of the power of desire for the unattainable and the unknown.

a wonderful book

I loved this book. it may be different, and it's either you LOVE it or you dont like at at all. at first you dont understand what is going on in Yaara's mind, falling in love in such an obssesive way with her father's friend, an older and not so attractive man who doesnt treat her the way you would like to be treated. but as you keep on reading you start understanding Yaara's inner complicated world, and many things are starting to make sense. I also love Zeruya Shalev's way of writing. it's almost poetic,and the character seems to be driffting from one episode to the other...very much worth reading.

Love Life

I devoured Love Life. Never have I read a more honest, disturbing, and brilliant account of the way uncertainty in love and life can translate into obsession and erotic fury. I recommend this book to anyone who is not afraid to take a magnifying glass to the darkest corners of the self. The truth is, Shalev's seemingly bottomless reservoir of fresh, gorgeous imagery and her nearly flawless command of language make even that view beautiful. I can't imagine that anyone who reads this book will be left unaffected; when i finished it I felt eviscerated. But pleasantly so.