Critics' Opinion:
Readers' rating:
Published in USA
Mar 2013
352 pages
Genre: Novels
Publication Information
An aging Israeli film director has been invited to the pilgrimage city of Santiago de Compostela for a retrospective of his work. When Yair Moses and Ruth, his leading actress and longtime muse, settle into their hotel room, a painting over their bed triggers a distant memory in Moses from one of his early films: a scene that caused a rift with his brilliant but difficult screenwriter - who, as it happens, was once Ruth's lover. Upon their return to Israel, Moses decides to travel to the south to look for his elusive former partner and propose a new collaboration. But the screenwriter demands a price for it that will have strange and lasting consequences.
A searching and original novel by one of the world's most esteemed writers, The Retrospective is a meditation on mortality and intimacy, on the limits of memory and the struggle of artistic creation.
Click to the right or left of the sample to turn the page.
(If no book jacket appears in a few seconds, then we don't have an excerpt of this book or your browser is unable to display it)
"Starred Review. Yehoshua's intelligent and refined novel...about an aging Israeli director reviewing both his films and his life..recalls once again Faulkner's famous dictum that 'the past isn't dead. It isn't even past.'"- Kirkus
"In interviews, Yehoshua has mentioned Faulkner as an influence, and it shows. Some sentences are daunting in length and indicate the self-indulgence of the work as a whole. The author's insights into realism and surrealism, religiousness and secularism, and the creative process deserve greater exploration." - Publishers Weekly
"Fascinating...beautiful." - Ha'ir, Israel
The information about The Retrospective shown above was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's online-magazine that keeps our members abreast of notable and high-profile books publishing in the coming weeks. In most cases, the reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author of this book and feel that the reviews shown do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, please send us a message with the mainstream media reviews that you would like to see added.
Photo: Dina Guna
One of Israel's preeminent writers, Abraham B. Yehoshua was born in Jerusalem in 1936 and today lives in Haifa. He is among the most widely recognized Israeli authors internationally, and is best known as a novelist and playwright. He has been awarded the Israel Prize, the Koret Jewish Book Award, and the National Jewish Book Award. Yehoshua's works include A Late Divorce, The Lover, Mr. Mani, and Open Heart.
Name Pronunciation
A. B. Yehoshua: Y-HOE-shua (the A is for Abraham, but he is always referred to as A.B.)
Become a Member and discover books that entertain, engage & enlighten!
An eye-opening and riveting look at how how medicine can not only improve life but also the process of its ending.
About the book
Love and Other Consolation Prizes
by Jamie Ford
Inspired by a true story, about a boy whose life is transformed at Seattle's epic 1909 World's Fair.
Reader Reviews
The Twelve-Mile Straight
by Eleanor Henderson
An audacious epic set in rural Georgia during the years of the Depression and Prohibition.
Reader Reviews
If the Creek Don't Rise
A debut novel bursting with heart, honesty, and homegrown grit.
Visitors can view some of BookBrowse for free. Full access is for members only.
Your guide toexceptional books
BookBrowse seeks out and recommends books that we believe to be best in class. Books that will whisk you to faraway places and times, that will expand your mind and challenge you -- the kinds of books you just can't wait to tell your friends about.
Subscribe to receive some of our best reviews, "beyond the book" articles, book club info & giveaways by email.
