"Musical Moment and Other Stories" by Yehoshua Kenaz ****

• Summer Reads with Beth
• Israeli author
• Short Stories
• Originally published in 1980
• "The Three Legged Chicken":
• Young boy's heightened sensitivity when grandfather dies
• Listens to woodworm at night
• The "loathsome thing" in his room at night that terrified him
• the three-legged chicken....a fake.....disillusionment, loss of innocence
• "...like awakening from a dream into a new dream".   p.12
• "Hendrik's Secret":
• secret desires
• His older sister sneaks to bars to dance and flirt with young men....his secret
• His friend's secret desires for the sister
• "Musical Moment":
• a singular, unique moment hearing a violinist play a piece which spoke to his young soul
• "...have never forgotten the aroma of colophony".  (substance rubbed on bow strings to stick them together
• blinking problem which faded as he moved into adolescence
• "between night and dawn":
• the seemingly overnight tranformation into young adults, with all the requisite intensity and volatility
• Pesach, the red-headed, handsome outsider, a scapegoat, a rebel, a man more quickly, inspired fear, hatred, passion, boys wanted to love and fight him, girls wanted him
• Review: Yehoshua Kenaz is an exceptional author.  He writes with great clarity and somehow also with great subtlety.  This collection of short stories are bound together by a common thematic denominator of youth and the rite of passage into adulthood. Each of the four stories tackle an aspect of the passage to adulthood and it's revelations about death, love, beauty, and sexual awakening. A very male perspective coupled with Israeli cultural norms make this very interesting and enjoyable reading!