Powerful, unique, fresh, invented....,and just damn good!!!!!

After last week’s somewhat disappointing snatch of Keret’s non-fiction it was fun to read him back in top form. I’m honestly shocked that Keret isn’t more popular than he is already—not only are his stories funny, poignant, and original, but they’re also simple and short. One of those rare books that can be enjoyed by people who like to read and people who don’t really like to read.

It's definitely different, and some of the stories are great, but there are a lot of mediocre ones too. Kneller's Happy Campers – like the film adaptation, Wristcutters – is really wonderful.

Imaginative tales with plenty of metaphors.. I don't think I was able to make 100% of it but would like to read from Edgar Keret again. It reminded me of Ali Smith's short stories somehow.

The only reason I picked up this book was to read "Kneller's Happy Campers", because I LOVE Wristcutters so much. "KHC" is an amusing and quite interesting story, (although the story of the film version is much better because it has a funnier, more intelligent plot and because it cuts out all the racist crap). I give "KHC" a 3/5 stars, but the rest of the book overall deserves 2/5.All the other stories in the book are mostly bad attempts at absurdist writing. Most of them are way too abrupt, (I

How can you not want to read a book with that title? Unfortunately, “The Story about a Bus Driver Who Wanted to Be God” is the first story and probably the best, so it’s all a slight downhill journey from there. That story stars a bus driver who’s weighing justice versus mercy in his response to one lovelorn passenger, and retribution is a recurring element in the remainder of the book. Most stories are just three to five pages long. Important characters include an angel who can’t fly, visitors

A collection of Jewish, Israeli and surreal short stories sounded just like my kind of thing. Etgar Keret's The Bus Driver Who Wanted to Be God & Other Stories stings and thrills with fierce fables of modern life. And I had no idea going into this, but it turned out that I was already familiar with the author's writing from school back when we'd read "Breaking the Pig." So when I stumbled upon said short story in here, I was beyond joyful to have everything come back.The author, without a doubt,...

I don't think that this book should be read in one or two sittings. Reading these very short stories one right after another starts to take something away from the stories. Since most of the stories are only a couple of pages long, there is only so many times in a short period of time when I could enjoy ironic twists. I wanted to throw myself on the ground and beg for no more irony.

Great collection of short, weird stories. I liked all of them except the last, which was the longest. Most of them involve conflict and death, and yet they're funny. Like a modern-day Israeli Roald Dahl.

Read this a long time ago I used to love the story pipes and I recently reread it after thinking of it at a sculpture park in Ghent and it wasn’t as meaningful as it was to me when I was in college. I guess it’s cool that I have less ennui than before idk

Short story collections are tricky. Rarely is there a collection where all the stories included are good. At least, not outside of Hemingway, Raymond Carver, and the best of Alice Munro. And I'm sorry to say that most of the stories in "The Bus Driver Who Wanted To Be God" aren't very good at all, just very boring.Etgar Keret has been getting a lot of attention in light of his recently released collection, Fly Already: Stories. Since I didn't want to plunk down the $27 retail price on the new co...

just finished reading the 1st book of 2016. another work by my newly fav author, Etgar Keret.compared to the previous work of him that i've read, 'the girl on the fridge', this one is more surreal, more serious, much weirder, more hilarious, and yet also more subtle.i'm really into his stories and looking forward to read all of his works!

The stories by Etgar Keret are great, hate the quality of the translation though.

It was very different. Here's a quick like/ dislike breakdown though, in case anyone is interested: dislikes:1. Some of the stories just ended abruptly. I think this is really Keret's style and it is intentional more than it is lazy. But a lot of times a story would be over and I would feel like, "...SO??"2. Some of the language in the book sounds racist or homophobic. I don't think Keret himself is racist or homophobic, but he feels the need to portray a lot of "macho" guys in his stories, and

Perhaps if this was my first exposure to Etgar Keret I would have enjoyed it more. I'm not sure. Earlier this year I nearly swooned over his latest release Suddenly, a Knock on the Door. I fell sideways for his absurd sense of humor. Even the more serious stories were well crafted and poignant. Sadly there are only mild glimpses of that genius here. I'm not necessarily saying this is a bad book at all. It is just not anywhere on the same level as Suddenly, a Knock on the Door. There are a couple...

The first collection of short stories by Israeli writer Etgar Keret published in English starts out brilliantly, with several surreal and fantastic tales that seem to be a witches' brew of the best of Jorge Luis Borges, mixed with a splash of Julio Cortázar and José Donoso. In the title story, a principled but misunderstood bus driver invokes a higher calling to serve one of his passengers, though with an unexpected result. In "Uterus", a young man despairs when his mother's organ, preserved for...

There is a direct path between Keret's fevered imagination and his written page. There are no speed limits or detours. The stories won't be inhibited by oppressive laws of physics, or even by reality. These are short intense bursts of 'what ifs'. In "One Last Story and That's It", a demon shows up to the house of a writer, to take away his talent. The writer begs him to let him do just one more story. Well, ok, the demon agrees, and so he just hangs out for a bit, watching tv and drinking lemona...

I'm not generally a reader of short stories. They leave me feeling like I've had a snack when I'd rather have a meal. But when I watched the movie Wristcutters and saw that it's based on an Etgar Keret short story called "Kneller's Happy Campers," I was intrigued enough to give this collection a try. I'm glad I did. The stories are all a bit cracked, and deal with dark topics in a matter-of-fact and funny way.My personal favorites were the title story, "Breaking the Pig," and "The Mysterious Dis...

Etgar Keret has been decorated the prestigious title of Israel's hippest young writer, and from what I’ve read by his books, The Bus Driver Who Wanted to Be God, The Nimrod Flip Out, and Gazza Blues, he's worthy of the title. His work is, as noted on Amazon, snapshots that illuminate with intelligence and wit. Hilarity and anguish are the twin pillars of his work. Keret covers a remarkable emotional and narrative terrain - from a father's first lesson to his boy to a standoff between soldiers ca...