The Man Who Sold Air in the Holy Land

Stories

By: Omer Friedlander

Narrated by: Assaf Cohen, Gilli Messer

Length: 7 hrs and 15 mins

Publisher's summary

From “a marvelous new voice” (Rebecca Makkai), these “extraordinarily imaginative” (Sigrid Nunez), “revelatory” (Nicole Krauss), “superb” (Kiran Desai) stories transcend borders as they render the intimate lives of people striving for connection.

WINNER OF THE AJL JEWISH FICTION AWARD • FINALIST FOR THE WINGATE PRIZE

The Man Who Sold Air in the Holy Land announces the arrival of a natural-born storyteller of immense talent. Warm, poignant, delightfully whimsical, Omer Friedlander’s gorgeously immersive and imaginative stories take you to the narrow limestone alleyways of Jerusalem, the desolate beauty of the Negev Desert, and the sprawling orange groves of Jaffa, with characters that spring to vivid life. A divorced con artist and his daughter sell empty bottles of “holy air” to credulous tourists; a Lebanese Scheherazade enchants three young soldiers in a bombed-out Beirut radio station; a boy daringly “rooftops” at night, climbing steel cranes in scuffed sneakers even as he reimagines the bravery of a Polish-Jewish dancer during the Holocaust; an Israeli volunteer at a West Bank checkpoint mourns the death of her son, a soldier killed in Gaza.

These stories render the intimate lives of people striving for connection. They are fairy tales turned on their head by the stakes of real life, where moments of fragile intimacy mix with comedy and notes of the absurd. Told in prose of astonishing vividness that also demonstrates remarkable control and restraint, they have a universal appeal to the heart.

©2022 Omer Friedlander (P)2022 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

“In these wise, capacious, achingly beautiful stories, Omer Friedlander maps the hidden geography of the human heart like a young Chekhov. Each one feels like a fresh new discovery, and collected together, The Man Who Sold Air in the Holy Land becomes a sustained feat of imaginative compassion.”—Anthony Marra, New York Times bestselling author of A Constellation of Vital Phenomena

“Friedlander blends fable and realism in extraordinarily imaginative ways. Again and again, he achieves a fine balance between the tragic and the absurd. Every one of these stories moved me and taught me something I did not know before.”—Sigrid Nunez, National Book Award-winning author of The Friend

“Innovative in conception, classical in spirit, these stories, set largely in Israel, resonate with international ramifications. Rarely do we encounter a writer so young but also this wise. . . . A splendid literary debut.”—Ha Jin, National Book Award-winning author of Waiting

Story and narration

I was impressed by messages hidden in some of the stories. Giving expression to sentiments and thoughts the young generation in Israel may have in regards to Israel’s creation and some of the policies vis Avis the Palestinians . I was moved by Gili Messer’s reading and linguistic acumen. She brought to life the stories so nicely written by this young author.

Do not touch the Holocaust

Loved Assaf Cohen and Gilli Messer narration! The brought the stories to life! The way they jumped between English, Hebrew and Farsi is remarkable.

As a book with short stories I loved some more than others. I found myself listening to it in an uncle near way… jumping from one story to the other.

The story about the Holocaust made me cringe and uncomfortable.

As a doughier of Holocaust survivors, I felt that the author was condescending. Sense of humor? Experimental writing? Really did not sit great with me.