Minotaur

By Benjamin Tammuz

Book Overview

"With echoes of Kafka and Conrad," the acclaimed Israeli author of Castle in Spain offers "a provocative, spare, slow-to-unfold mystery of character" (Kirkus Reviews).

On the day of his forty-first birthday, Israeli secret agent Alexander Abramov encounters a beautiful young redhead on a city bus. He immediately recognizes her as the woman he has been searching for all his life, the one he has loved forever. Though they have never met, he is certain this young woman named Thea is an essential part of his life's destiny.
Using all the tricks of his trade and communicating through anonymous letters, Abramov takes control of Thea's life without ever revealing his identity. Soon, Abramov's desperate, dangerous love for a woman half his age consumes everything in its path: time, distance, and rival suitors. And for Thea, keeping her lover safe from the amorous "Mr. Anonymous" becomes an obsession of her own. Only Abramov's own story, of a life conditioned by isolation, distrust, violence, and murder, can explain his devastating manipulation of the woman he professes to love.
Hailed by Graham Greene as "the best novel of the year" upon its initial release in 1981, Minotaur is a highly inventive literary thriller.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1609451163
• ISBN13: 9781609451165
• Release Date: May 2013
• Publisher: Europa Editions
• Length: 185 Pages
• Weight: 0.58 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.3" x 8.2"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

Classic

This was a book that I found by random selection and fell in love with. It begins with an intriguing concept- that we are each meant to be with one certain person, somewhere in the world- and continues to reveal more and more about the characters and their actions. There is intense character development, but the plot remains focused and clear. It's the kind of story that transcends all cultural boundaries.

one of the best books I've ever read

This book starts a little slow but is definitely worth summoning the patience. It is written in a somewhat unconventional fashion. A handfull of characthers are first introduced then each chapter tells that charachter's story. The plots are intrelated and slowly revealed as you make your way through the book. This isn't just used as a clever device but as a way of showing the complexity of each character and makes the book something like both a collection of short stories and a novel. The writing is beautiful even in translation and the depth and complexity of the characters is amazing. It has a sort of classical feel to it but I think more than anything it is the timelessness of the story/stories it tells that gives it this feeling.