Description
Book SynopsisA tragic-comic novel in its essence,
Petty Business chronicles a year in one family's life, set against the backdrop of Tel Aviv's rapidly changing global economy in the early 1990s. Pinkus's biting critique of Tel Aviv's provincial character and its residents' shtetl mentality is delivered with a perfect combination of wit, humour, and tender pathos.
Trade ReviewA very funny yet tragic book, a unique work in the history of Israeli literature and one of only a handful ofworks that relates to the great humoristic tradition of Eastern European Jewish literature in Hebrew and Yiddish. Highly recommended.' - Yaron Peleg, Kennedy Leigh Lecturer in Modern Hebrew Studies, University of Cambridge
'The first few episodes of Petty Business bring Honoré de Balzac’s César Birotteau to mind . . . but Pinkus chooses wisely not to show its protagonists in their fall. . . . [It] is not the grand novel about the end of Israeli petit bourgeoisie but a depiction of its last few moments of grace, and it is a wonderful depiction.' - Motti Fogel, Achbar Ha’Ir
'[A] decisive literary victory, a real celebration . . . the precise observations of Philip Roth, the grotesque wildness of Hanoch Levin, and the sharp melancholy of Ephraim Kishon. . . . A humorous novel that is motivated by empathy rather than sarcasm and manages to be both entertaining and deeply moving.' - Omri Herzog, Ha’aretz
'A refreshing, realistic portrayal of the city of Tel Aviv and a rare depiction of middle-aged, petty bourgeois characters who don’t usually findtheir way into Israeli fiction' - Philip Hollander, assistant professor, Center for Jewish Studies, University of Wisconsin–Madison
