A sweeping historical epic following four generations of a single family as they struggle to hold on to their land and each other. I wouldn't do that,' it said. 'If I were you. One gives you life and the other knowledge, and you're too young to need either one just yet.''You're a snake,' Avi said. 'No s Schaefer, Brian (29 June 2016). "Let's Circumcise Hitler: Literary Fantasies in the Summer of Trump and Brexit". Ha'aretz.

Pei-chen Liao (2020). "Worlding Alternate Histories of the Post-9/11 Era: The Transnational Trend, Normalization, and the Dynamics of Memory", in Post-9/11 Historical Fiction and Alternate History Fiction, Palgrave Macmillan. A Man Lies Dreaming, Hodder & Stoughton, 2014 (UK) / Melville House, 2016 (US). Review in the Guardian Nation-building demands sacrifice. And one man knows exactly where those bodies are buried: Cohen, a man who loves his country. A reasonable man for unreasonable times. Maror shows us the thieves, the tramps, the prostitutes, the violence, filth and corruption underlying the good behind the Zionist dream.

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Dragon Award Ballot – The Dragon Award". www.dragoncon.org. Archived from the original on 7 August 2019.

One of the boldest, most visionary writers I've ever read creates both a vivid political exploration and a riveting crime epic. It's like the Jewish Godfather! Adama is everything. I was already aware of Lavie Tidhar’s writing and anthology curation skills but this book has cemented him as a firm fave. The Violent Century, Hodder & Stoughton, 2013 (UK) / Tachyon Publications, 2019 (US). Review in the Guardian

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I've been a fan of the author for quite some time, and read several of his novels. The first thing that stands out with Maror is that it's unlike anything else he's ever written. Of course his energetic style, vividness of descriptions, and vivacious characters are all there, but this time - there is no speculative component. The book is a retelling of Israel's nationbuilding through the lens of its criminal underbelly, taking inspiration from multiple real-life events that occurred in Israel between 1970 and 2001 (roughly). The amount of research that has gone into this book is truly impressive - the author brings to life (albeit hypothetically) pivotal historical events and the characters that shaped them, with the fictional character Cohen involved in each story. You don't really know if Cohen is a villain or a saint, and in some ways he represents to id of the Israeli nation (perhaps?). The painstaking detail the author pays to the music of each period is also deeply impressive, as it provides a red thread of the emotional torrent in each period (from nationalistic fervour to individualistic hedonism).

Some write in ink, others in song, Tidhar writes in fire... Maror is a kaleidoscopic masterpiece, immense in its sympathies, alarming in its irreverences and altogether exhilarating.' Junot Díaz Finally, it's worth mentioning that I'm not sure how much of this book will be accessible to people who don't know Israel or indeed its underbelly. I happen to know it, and found the book easy to follow and understand, identifying the real events that inspired the episodes in the book. It's hard for me to judge what impact it will have on those who've no familiarity with this topic at all. Maror are the bitter herbs eaten at Passover, and there are scriptural references throughout the book, not least from Cohen himself, who spouts chapter and verse. In the midst of his ecstasy trip Avi meets the serpent in Eden and sees Cohen as the “Great Priest of Israel”. Indeed, the very structure of the novel is somewhat biblical, more a series of books rather than one sequential story. Yet the real success here comes not in transcendence, but in bringing everything down to its fallen state. Tidhar maps out an amoral underworld where greed and control outweigh any ideology. It is an analysis that frees Israel from its curse of exceptionalism. It is a state like any other. Its particular problems are, in fact, universal. And the noir form excels in taking us to root causes: the corruption of power and the chaos that it engenders. Maror is a masterpiece of the sacred and the profane and, in using genre fiction so inventively, Tidhar has achieved a literary triumph. Adaf, Shimon. "third_attribute", translated by Yaron Regev. In Tidhar and Adaf. Art and War. London: Repeater Books 2016Shortlist Announced – Arthur C. Clarke Award". Archived from the original on 10 July 2018 . Retrieved 3 May 2017. In Charlie Kaufman's Antkind (2020), protagonist B. Rosenberger Rosenberg is portrayed as a former fan of Tidhar (along with Isaac Asimov and Harlan Ellison) turned against him. ""Yes," she screams, "Tidhar! You loved Tidhar!"" ... "I try to call after her, but I cannot. I cannot be a man who countenances Tidhar." [57]

A brilliantly unsentimental portrayal, full of moral murkiness and tarnished hopes, with small, half-glimpsed bursts of joy

Tidhar, Lavie (15 February 2013). "Central Station". Archived from the original on 2 April 2013 . Retrieved 16 February 2013. Maror is kind of hard to describe - it contains so much, covers so much ground and introduces so many characters, that a review risks missing the wood for the trees. I have never heard of Lavie Tidhar before but was intrigued by the premise of Maror. The meaning of the Hebrew word maror is bitter herbs, and the title encapsulates the book perfectly. With her comrades, her fellow kibbutzniks, she will build a better world. There will be green grass, orange trees and pomegranates, a land that is their own and no one else’s.