I didn't enjoy this book at all. Maybe one of those times when it might have been better being there than reading about it.

It is difficult to define a genre for this book which is mostly told as the 'stand-up' performance over one night by fictional Jewish comedian Dovaleh G. It is told through the eyes of an audience member who was a childhood friend of Dovaleh. The English language version of the story which I read has been translated from Hebrew. I found it an uncomfortable read as the main character appears to have a break-down on stage reliving difficult events of his past including the death of a parent. He berates himself and hits himself on stage making the fictional audience members as well as this reader squirm. As a reader I found myself in the audience and this is a tribute to the writing. However it is not a book I could easily recommend.

I found this book very dark and struggled to finish it. I really appreciated the writing though and can understand why it has been critically acclaimed. I have heard a lot of good things from other people but it just wasn't for me. I really appreciated being able to get the chance to try it though.

This was not an easy read and I was not comfortable with this book but felt that I had to continue to the end. A story of someone's break down does not make for easy reading, at times it was darkly humorous but it was also very sad. The background of both main characters made for an interesting read and I think held the book together.

Surprisingly readable story of the last performance of a famous stand-up comedian. The performance is excrucuating as he dies, metaphorically and mentally as he remembers his youth and those whom he failed and those who failed him. It is affecting rather than painful to read.

I was attracted to this book as it was a Booker prizewinner but I must admit I found it a struggle to finish albeit that the writing was good. However, the story did not hold my attention and I almost gave up reading it. I persevered out of curiosity and made it to the end but I must admit that the point of the book was lost on me , My conclusion is that it was just not my type of book and perhaps you should look at other people's reviews.

This book is a translation from Hebrew and set in modern day Israel. I felt the book was an interesting view on Israel, but I found it hard to read. This book is not for the faint hearted, it is deep, multi-layered and complex.

Although I am sure this is a great book and we'll worthy of the accolades, it simply wasn't for mr. Difficult to read

A famous stand up comedian goes off the rails on stage. That's the entire plot of this book, yet David Grossman works magic with it. The comedian makes you laugh out loud occasionally with bad jokes, but the overwhelming sensations are of sadness and guilt.
The comedian recounts the tragedies of his life, and you marvel that he was able to shoulder the pain and become a stand up artist. You listen to all the cries for help that were ignored by those around him during his life, and the thoughtlessness of various people, and you wonder how many people you have unknowingly slighted and hurt during your own life.
The audience at this performance shares the same view as the reader, but they grow restless with the performance and are able to walk away, while the reader is dragged onto the final act.
Quite Brilliant

Will leave you uncertain.

I don't know how to review a book like this one.

I don't want to, either. Ugh, what to do? I feel that if I review it the book may lose something of its magically personal touch.

In this book, the reader becomes part of the audience to Dovalah's stand up comedy act. As does a friend from his more youthful days. The reader witnesses his life playing out right in front of them, his haunting tragedies and the cruel life lessons he was forced to learn at so young an age. It was almost as though this was Dovalah's first attempt to try to come to terms with his miserable life's story.

Like members of the audience, right until the end, you're not sure whether to stick around- you don't always feel comfortable. I stayed to see the end- out of curiosity, mostly. I can't answer whether it was worth it, that is a subjective opinion and one you should reach for yourself. Makes me think why I attempted this review, or any review for that matter, in the first place.

I received this book through NetGalley.

This wasn't a book I could engage with. It may have been well written and potentially gotten much better but by 5% I was already skipping paragraphs and it wasn't improving. I found the comedian character's prelude to his breakdown bitter, insulting ad negative. Without a compelling reason to make me turn the page, I had no reason to keep reading.

Tough going at the start but worth persevering .....

Oh, my, oh, my. Where do I start with this book? Reading it is like being caught in a wind tunnel. The writing is frenetic and my eyes were racing over the pages in an attempt to keep up. I swear it increased my heart rate.

Dovaleh G. is a stand-up comedian and the setting for the novel is a comedy club in Israel. It is clear that Dovaleh is going through some form of nervous breakdown as he berates, cajoles and, in some small part, amuses his audience. Whilst jokes smatter his performance, the real story is from his younger days, his relationship with his parents and a choice he had to make. The story is told in part by a childhood friend whom he has invited to his performance.

I’m pretty sure I am missing some of the more subtle references to the politics of Israel and its neighbours. That is my ignorance rather than a failing of the author.

When I started this novel I thought I was going to struggle to finish it. However the more I read on the more involved I came to the point that I was desperate to get to the end. It is a remarkable if uncomfortable and upsetting read.

I received a complimentary copy of the book from NetGalley and publisher in exchange for an honest review. Thank you.

I was very much looking forward to reading this book after all the positive reviews I had read. It was certainly compelling – I had to see it through to the end. However, it felt like a chore to do so. It is a very uncomfortable book.

I appreciate the literary value of this book and the painful issues it deals with, but surely a book should also entertain, and a comedian should be funny? I should not have to work hard and struggle to the end to discover the point of the story. I suffered, along with the audience, and eventually walked out.

I'm afraid that I was unable to finish this book and realised that I had a problem with David Grossman's writing as I gave up on one his previous books. So, I cannot give a review.

Abandoned due to, I think, a convoluted translation

HARD WORK!

Not my idea of a goodread I'm afraid.

I don't think that I enjoyed or liked this book in any way. This is the reason why I feel that I can only give this book. What is really interesting about this is that I feel like I was a member of the audience myself at his stand-up gig. Like them, I couldn't tear myself away from the train wreck that was his life. Like them, I couldn't find him amusing, but I was bizarrely captivated by his story. The best part of this book is the way that it is structured and the way the main character is unravelling before your eyes. It was simply impossible to look away. I feel completely uncomfortable and unsettled after the experience of reading this book. I'm also impressed by the skill that went into eliciting this reaction from me. I'm sure this book is completely worthy of winning the Man Booker International prize. I wouldn't recommend this book for everyone, but if you are looking for an unusual and immersive reading experience then this is definitely the book for you.

This was only the second Israeli novel that I can recall reading to date - the previous one being Waking Lions by Ayelet Gundar-Goshen - and I must say that on the strength of these two books alone I shall certainly be on the lookout for more! Neither could be classed as 'easy' reads, but the writing by both authors is certainly powerful and compelling and plunges the reader headlong into a very different kind of world.

A Horse Walks into a Bar is unusual in both structure and content - the entire plot unfolds over one evening during a stand-up performance of Dovaleh G in a comedy club in Netanya, although there are increasingly frequent flashbacks to his childhood as the narrative proceeds. It has no chapters or sections to break it up into easily digestible chunks, and only three main characters - Dov himself, a former judge and a little woman who both knew Dov as a child. The reader finds themselves increasingly immersed into a nightmarish world where the jokes become fewer and fewer as the agony of what is really means to be Dov unfolds before our eyes. At times the novel is deliberately sexist, racist and as far from being politically correct as it is possible to be, yet somehow all of this only serves to draw us closer into the novel as it hurtles towards its dreadful conclusion.

Grossman's book is gritty and gets under your skin, but like the key members of the audience at Dov's performance you feel compelled to see it through and stay to the end to find out just what really happened during his childhood to make him the man he now appears to be. There are no easy answers or a happy conclusion to this narrative, but the power and raw honesty of Grossman's writing makes it stay firmly in your memory long after you have turned the final page.

Despite, for me, this being a claustrophobic read, it is evidently written by a master fiction writer. A stand up, comedian, falling apart onstage calls up an ancient friend to witness the evening ..
Without being able to stop himself, the judge, his old friend, stays to listen, and hears as we do often cruel stories of old sins and terrible betrayals. Not easy to read despite its wit ...