David Grossman

"A stand-up comedian recalls some of his darkest moments and traumatic memories from childhood on stage in front of a live audience"--

In this powerful novel by one of Israel's most prominent writers, Momik, the only child of Holocaust survivors, grows up in the shadow of his parents' history. Determined to exorcise the Nazi "beast" from their shattered lives and prepare for a second holocaust he knows is coming, Momik increasingly shields himself from all feeling and attachment. But through the stories his great-uncle tells him-the same stories he told the commandant of a Nazi concentration...

"Every Tuesday, Yotam's grandfather takes him to a coffee shop after kindergarten, where Grandpa Amnon drinks coffee and Yotam likes to draw. One day, Yotam has a question: "Grandpa, what's on your face?" Grandpa Amnon explains that the lines on his face are wrinkles, and they are something that grownups get. He tells Yotam the stories of how he got each of his wrinkles. Some reasons for Grandpa's wrinkles are sad, like when Grandma Dina was sick....