"None of it means anything, none of it. You know how it feels when you're someplace and you ask yourself, Why am I here? That's how it is with me all the time. I can't wait to leave. To go from wherever I am to some other place. It never ends."
—page 55, The Girl on the Fridge by Etgar Keret, as found in the short story "The Real Winner of the Preliminary Games"
Many of the short stories in The Girl on the Fridge are written from the point-of-view of those in positions of power, whether they realize it or not—Israelis rather than Palestinians, males rather than females, adults rather than children. However, Etgar Keret has chosen to poke holes in the presumed privilege. He doesn't exclude the minority voices, but includes them in "the mix." These tales are poignant, absurd, real, and postmodern.
In the four-and-one-half pages of "Loquat," Keret sums up the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in a bizarre little tale of children playing in a loquat tree and then confronted by the owner of said tree at the behest of his obstinate grandmother. Mayhem ensues.
Identities shift. Games are played. Mortality catches up and claims the already dead.
These brief stories stand alone and work together. I highly recommend them.
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