WINNER OF THE 2017 MAN BOOKER INTERNATIONAL PRIZE
A New York Times and Washington Post Notable Book "Astounding. . . . [A] magnificently comic and sucker-punch-tragic excursion into brilliance." –Gary Shteyngart,
The New York Times Book Review "Unsettling and mesmerizing. . . . As beautiful as it is unusual, and it's nearly impossible to put down." –NPR
"Bewitching. . . . Brilliant, blistering." –
The Washington Post
"[Grossman] has transcended genre; or rather, he has descended deep into the vaults beneath. . . . This isn't just a book about Israel: it's about people and societies horribly malfunctioning." –
The Guardian "As cunning and compelling as the stand-up guy at its center. In this funnyman's sad, grotesque performance, Grossman reaffirms his power to entertain and unnerve." –
The Boston Globe "Arresting. . . . Grossman seems to be channeling Philip Roth, circa
Portnoy's Complaint, with a colloquial voice that badgers, bullies, berates and beseeches." –
San Francisco Chronicle "A short, shocking masterpiece . . . in which absurdity and humour are used to probe the darkest corners of the human condition." –
The Sunday Times (London)
"[A] pitch-black comedy. . . . It takes an author of Mr Grossman's stature to channel not a failed stand-up but a shockingly effective one, and to give him salty, scabrous gags that–in Jessica Cohen's savoury translation–raise a guilty laugh." –
The Economist "Grossman has once more proved himself as one of Israel's finest literary alchemists. . . . An unsettling, cathartic, confessional stream-of-consciousness soliloquy." –
Haaretz "[A] raw and fiercely emotional book." –
The Spectator "In little more than 200 pages, Grossman brings us to the nerve center of his psyche." –
The Jerusalem Post "Few writers hold a more unflinching mirror up to Israeli society than Grossman . . . But [his work] is also suffused with compassion, acutely attuned to the complexity of individual lives and the solutions people find to the challenge of that complexity." –
Financial Times "A devastating work. . . . A lamentation and a plea for compassion and empathy. . . .
A Horse Walks into a Bar is unlike anything Grossman has yet done." –
The Irish Times
