Book supplied by Netgalley for an honest review.
My rating: 5 out of 5
It’s rare to find uniqueness in fiction, we’ve been making up stories for thousands of years after all, but David Grossman’s A horse Walks into a Bar squarely hits the mark. The story is framed around Dovaleh G’s stand-up routine in an industrial area of Israel, but as the night goes on, the comedy fades and the story of a parent’s funeral prevails. The narrator is an old friend of the comedian, one who was close, but who didn’t offer support when support was needed. The tale explores what it is to be bullied, how the mind creates tricks to avoid the pain, and how those decisions affect the rest of your life.
A brilliant book, and a worthy winner of the 2017 Man Booker International Prize.