Meir Shalev (1948–2023)
Author of A Pigeon and a Boy
About the Author
Image credit: Meir Shalev, Leipzig Book Fair 2015 By Lesekreis - Own work, CC0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=38943802
Works by Meir Shalev
בביתו במדבר 5 copies
משכב לצים — Author — 4 copies
Re Adamo nella giungla 2 copies
גומות החן של זהר 2 copies
Es mejor ser un delfin 1999 1 copy
קרמר החתול יוצא אל היער 1 copy
פנדה יוצאת למרעה 1 copy
סוד אחיזת העיניים 1 copy
Afpersing in Karmel 1 copy
Associated Works
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Canonical name
- Shalev, Meir
- Legal name
- מאיר שלו
- Other names
- Шалев, Меир
- Birthdate
- 1948-07-29
- Date of death
- 2023-04-11
- Gender
- male
- Nationality
- Israel
- Birthplace
- Nahalal, Israel
- Place of death
- Alonei Abba, Israel
- Places of residence
- Nahalal, Israel (birth)
Jerusalem, Israel - Education
- Hebrew University of Jerusalem
- Occupations
- columnist
producer (radio/TV programs)
moderator (radio/TV programs)
fiction writer
children's book writer - Relationships
- Shalev, Zeruya (cousin)
- Organizations
- Yedioth Ahronoth (columnist)
- Awards and honors
- Bernstein Prize (1989)
Juliet Club Prize (Italy, 1999)
Brenner Prize (2006)
Members
Discussions
A Pigeon and a Boy by Meir Shalev in Book talk (May 2020)
Reviews
Lists
Awards
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Associated Authors
Statistics
- Works
- 51
- Also by
- 2
- Members
- 2,426
- Popularity
- #10,574
- Rating
- 4.0
- Reviews
- 96
- ISBNs
- 208
- Languages
- 16
- Favorited
- 17
This is a memoir by Israeli author Meir Shalev who was born in 1948 on Nahalal, Israel’s first moshav. The book is translated from Hebrew by Evan Fallenberg. The moshav movement was a cooperative agricultural community of individual farms started by the Zionists as part of the Second Aliyah (1904-1914 Jewish emigration to Palestine, largely from Russia). The moshavim were more family-based than kibbutz. The first moshav was established in Nahalal in Jezreel valley where this story takes place. Grandma Tonia, the central character in the story, arrived in 1923, as part of the Third Aliyah. She was born in Rokitno, Ukraine in the 1900s and married Grandpa Aharon after she arrived in Palestine.
The story revolves around the feisty and dirt-obsessed Grandma Tonia and later her mysterious American vacuum cleaner. Tonia has a difficult life, declaring war as she does on the dirt in Palestine. She refuses anyone admittance through her front door, makes them sit on the porch and only the favoured few gain admittance through the back door. The family are made to shower out by the cows’ barn and conduct as much of their daily lives outside as possible. Tonia seems ill-matched with Grandpa Aharon, who seems far more socialist and zionist than she is, and he is clearly unsuited for the farming life he has chosen. Grandpa Aharon and the moshavniks eschew all things frivolous. In particular he disapproves of his brother Uncle Yeshayahu, the traitor who has committed the unpardonable crime of moving to America, the land of temptation and hedonism. Uncle Yeshayahu eventually sends Grandma Tonia a monstrous shiny new vacuum cleaner as a grandiose statement of superiority and possibly revenge. Initially Grandma is captivated by the “svieeperrr,” her new ally in the war against dirt, and her grandson Meir is determined to discover the fate of the mythical appliance that has become the stuff of family legends, rumoured to be imprisoned in Grandma’s spare room. This is a humorous look at family life, and sheds light into the hardship of moshavnik life and the culture in Palestine at the time. The disappointing thing to me was that despite Grandma Tonia being “a character” I was unable to really warm to her. Other than her fanatical approach to cleaning, hard work, and the tyranny with which she enforced her regimen on the family, the only supposedly endearing traits mentioned were her few favourite phrases and mispronunciations. She seemed to have a soft spot for Meir’s girlfriends but this was the only chink revealed in her armour. I also found the very conscious narration with the author’s constant worries about misrepresenting another family member’s version of events distracted me from enjoying the story more.… (more)