Yossi Waxman

"In the beginning, God created the Heaven and the Earth. In the beginning, God created Chaos. And Chaos flew around the city streets in his black Citroen…"

 

This is the opening line of Yossi Waxman's amazing story. Presenting a fascinating and colorful mosaic that is almost surreal - but isn't, and actually is realistic to tears - the book tells the story of three women and a single deity, three women and a sole destiny, three women and one bond. They are Ditza, Solange, and Odette - two are local: they walk among us and visit our beauty parlors; one is distant, coming from an ancient book, an old world. One's husband is missing, one wants to be a Frenchwoman, and the third is a promiscuous woman who became a lady. Three strong women and an old and bankrupt god who died laughing.

 

And there is a girl - or actually, a half-girl - little Zohara, the prophet-girl who is damaged on Earth but a queen in Heaven. She has two brothers, Spring and Autumn, who found God while following their father, a charlatan with a trail of misdeeds, countries, and women behind him.

 

There are many other characters in this book and they are all portrayed artistically, uniquely, and with a melody that carries the reader through the plot: a love triangle; the loves of two women, of children, of two men; and each love story has a dark side, a hatred, and great passions.

 

This realistic madness reflects Israel - with its ethnic groups, religious and secular communities, beauty and ugliness. And there is the driver of the black Citroen that flies through the streets of Tel Aviv and whose role in the story becomes only clear at the end.

 

It is a breathtaking book with a tearful ending. 

 

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From the Press:

 

"Let There Be a Story is tight and ironic, critical, and rich with observations… The book may be read like a critical description of reality, certainly as a witty satire… Waxman's writing is brilliant and the result is rich enough to generate a discussion, or at least to wake readers from their zapping slumber."

 

Yoram Meltzer, Maariv