These three short novels share a common theme of heartbreak and I found each to be frightening and upsetting and yet was totally engrossed reading it during a long airplane flight. For many English readers, this book is an introduction to the Israeli "30-something". The most notable difference from the American counterpart of the "30-something" population is the lack of emphasis on career. Housebroken is a must-read for those who want to understand a microcosm of Israel in a way that is significantly different from what we read in the newspapers or see on our tourist visits.

In the title story, Housebroken,, the tale is told from the point of view of a stray dog that is taken in by a just-forming couple. The story of the romance from its unhopeful beginning to its predictable, but sad end, parallels the life of their dog. The dog's own feelings and thoughts reflect the moods, hopes and despairs of the unnamed man and woman. The lack of names throughout the story frightened me. The pervasive insistence on anonymity extends to the lack of names of streets, cities, and holidays, and makes it impossible to identify the locale as Israel. The man is even told, "Your children probably won't have names either", and the dog is named `Anonymous'. I found myself desperate to locate the story in familiar territory and decided that it took place in Tel Aviv based on the constant traffic jams, meetings in cafes, and proximity of apartments to the beach. It is the specter of emptiness, loneliness, desperate sex, depression, acts of kindness that resolve grotesquely, and the lack of any spark of joy that made me feel like there is an entire and vast segment of Israeli society whom the average non-Israeli reader will not have met before. This is the strongest and most compelling of the three novellas and well worth reading for its intimate insights.

The second novella, The Happiness Game, was more recognizably Israeli because of certain reference points: going to the Rabbinate for a divorce, Purim masquerade parties, and Hebrew names. The story is about the effects that emotional withdrawal have on relationships but it concludes optimistically that relationships can be repaired, and that it is never too late to grow up.

Matti, was a little hard to follow because of its many voices. However, the many "I"s speaking, are a way to let the reader see the same events from several points of view. The story of a man's infatuation with an underage girl, his compromise marriage to a woman he doesn't love and his death from cancer is again a side of Israel that we don't often think about.

On the whole, Housebroken turns Israelis into 3-dimensional people from the somewhat static image many non-Israelis may have of a society focused to a large extent on political, military, and religious issues. The characters in Housebroken are secular and apolitical, thereby enlarging the non-Israeli reader's picture and understanding of life in Israel.
Reviewed by D. Rosenbloom.

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