View source for My Michael by Amos Oz

{{infobox1
|title=My Michael
|author=Amos Oz
|reviewer=Louise Laurie
|genre=Literary Fiction
|summary=This book was first published in 1972 to great acclaim.  Concentrating on the love between a wife (Hannah) and a husband (Michael) during the turbulent 1950s in Jerusalem.
|rating=4
|buy=Maybe
|borrow=Maybe
|pages=240
|publisher=Vintage Classics
|date=July 2011
|isbn=978-0099529057
|cover=009952905X
|aznuk=009952905X
|aznus=0156031604
}}

The Introduction to this book has a lovely sub-heading - ''Forty Years Later'' where Oz admits freely that now, today, he wouldn't attempt or ... ''dare write an entire novel in a female voice.''  But I found his open telling of why and how he came to write the book in the first place interesting and rather enchanting and whetted my appetite to get on and read the book.  For example, Oz wrote most of the book in the cramped confines of a toilet, would you believe.  But for me what caught my attention was the fact that he tells his readers that Hannah, the central character, was in his head and determined to he heard.  ''Just shut up and write'' she tells him.  A Translator's Note follows before we get to the story proper.
 
Hannah tells her story of life and love in the first person.  She starts by telling us how she met Michael.  It was a chance meeting between two young, rather shy people which then turned into courtship and marriage.  Michael is the quieter of the two and admits freely that up until now ''I've never had a regular girlfriend before.''  Perhaps that's partly due to him being a serious academic.  Geology is his area of interest and he wants to take his studies even further.
 
Hannah is also well-educated, interested in many things - art, culture etc.  Both people are articulate and questioning human beings and are acutely aware of the deeply unsettling times that they live in.  ''We passed the wall of the Schneller army camp'' leaves the reader in no doubt.
 
Oz's style is lyrical with plenty of poetic descriptions.  The book has an almost timeless feel to it in that it's not rushed or hurried in any way. 
 
Hannah and Michael have very little money to throw about.  Their wedding was a low-key affair and their married accommodation is quite basic.  As the story develops, it appears that Hannah is in awe of her clever husband and tip-toes around the home at times, so as not to disturb his brain-cells.  So, you could reasonably ask, what's in it for Hannah?  Security and the love of a good man perhaps.  But, not everything is perfect.  Hannah has these dreams ...  And when she becomes a mother, after a difficult pregnancy these dreams seem to escalate.  She is not the same bubbly person.  Something has changed.  She's in retreat as Michael's star shines ever brighter but together they give the outward appearance of a happy couple and small family unit.
 
I was expecting to thoroughly enjoy this book.  I don't feel that the title has time-travelled particularly well.  The first portion of the novel was good but for me, it then fell a little flat and I lost some interest.  It then redeemed itself somewhat in the closing pages which were superb.  But averaging out, the book was just that, an average read as far as I personally was concerned.  My initial lofty expectations were not met, I'm afraid.

I'd like to thank the publishers for sending a copy to the Bookbag.
 
If this book appeals then you might like to try [[There's No Home by Alexander Baron]].

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