The Nimrod Flipout: Stories

Short stories that run from page- to chapter- length offer giggles, snickers, thought-provocation, a skewered lens on young adult humanity's strangenesses, as written from the point of view of a sort of anthropologically objective, but rather warped, insider. I've asked my local library to purchase ALL of Etgar Keret's published works, and plan to do the same for my personal collection. These stories are often laugh-out-loud and read-aloud weird and wonderful - like wasabi peanuts, they have zing and crunch - and leave me wanting more!

The word "edgy" came to mind as I quickly read these 30 very short short stories by this young Israeli writer. He has a unique point of view and speaks in a voice all his own. All of these stories are surreal and weird. Some are funny, some are sad and all of them are infused with a particularly Israeli adolescent male's point of view. Themes such as suicide, mental illness, death, infidelity and loyalty of dogs and out-of-control relationships all come together in this eclectic mixture of short stories. This author certainly has a twisted mind and I was always surprised at his creativity. The stories made me uncomfortable even though I was aware that the writer had complete control of his craft and was trying to say something. Because I was reading this book as an assignment for a book discussion group I forced myself to finish it. I found it also refreshing to see how this author's mind worked. I definitely recommend this book for those readers like me who look for something unique and different. It is a skewed view of the world that is not always pleasant. But, honestly, I hated every minute of it.

Brilliant - will charm, stun and depress you. Read at your own risk.

"The Nimrod Flipout" is a collection of extremely short stories. There are thirty that span only 160 pages. For this reason, it's easy to forgive the hit-and-miss nature of TNF, and of microfiction in general. There's very little time or energy to be invested, so if the story doesn't pan out, it's no big loss, and there are plenty of other options in the book. As I read through Flipout, I made notes on the stories I was particularly fond of, at the end, I ended up with a list of 10. "Fatso," "Your Man," "Surprise Egg," "Glittery Eyes," "A Thought in the Shape of a Story," "Gur's Theory of Boredom," "Bwoken," "Ironclad Rules," "A Good Looking Couple," and "Angle." They range from insightful, to funny, to emotionally moving. The other twenty stories included here were just icing on the cake. Keret's pacing is very impressive, and everything moves forward at a brisk pace. Nothing important omitted, nothing needless retained. A worthwhile read, definitely.

the best thing I like about this book was everything, I love the author's style of writing, cynical and honest, not patronizing in any matter.

I only wish there were an endless supply of these weird and wonderful short story collections by Etgar Keret. Keret's short (tiny) stories will transfix you for days with just a couple of pages.

Gave it as a Christmas gift and just flipping through it beforehand I couldn't put it down. Hilarious writing. And apparently, this guy is pretty popular but I hadn't heard his name before I ordered it here. Will certainly be checking out more of his work.

The brilliance of the situations and the distortions of reality and the twists are breathtaking. Keret makes me want to sit down and start writing short stories for the thrill of it.

This book was neither as far-out nor as stylistically interesting as reviews led me to believe it would be. I gave up about a third of the way in. If I want strange and surprising, I'll return to Franz Kafka or Edgar Allen Poe in the future.