My Michael
Amos Oz · 1939–2018 · Israel
Originally Mikha'el Sheli (Hebrew) · translated by Nicholas de Lange
Why it matters
A Jerusalem housewife's stifling marriage drives her into elaborate private fantasies as the city around her fills with tension before 1967. Oz's breakthrough novel of desire and disappointment in the young state's early years.
At a glance
psychological novelmodernist
Difficulty 6/10slow pace274 pagesInterior, dreamlike drift between reality and fantasy with a passive, opaque narrator.
Deep dive
How Hannah's fantasies about two Arab twins from her childhood say more about her marriage than anything she or Michael ever actually says out loud.
