A prose poem in 39 parts, which takes the reader through the narrator's youth, from the small child on his grandfather's knee to the young man who finished his army-duty and makes plans to marry and settle down. Hoffmann has a fantastically evocative language mixed with an eye for descriptive detail, which is quite breathtaking at times. I'm not surprised he has been described as "Israel's avant-garde genius." Be prepared for lovely passages such as this one, where growing up (and hormones) has changed a young boy's view of his every-day surroundings:

"Girls now have bras, and cotton under-
pants have been replaced by silk.
The school is full of naked bodies (if
one subtracts the clothes from the sum
total) and sometimes, when there's an
assembly and everyone is gathered inside
the gymnasium, apocalyptic visions take
shape (on account of the myriad limbs)."

Even in translation (from Hebrew by Peter Cole), Hoffmann manages to conjure images of youth and growing up which are quite astute. Not an easy read, but quite rewarding once comfortable with the narrator's voice. ( )