Keret on Nextbook

I love Etgar Keret’s dispatches for Nextbook. Here’s his latest one, about how he reacted to a beloved neighborhood tree coming under threat.

When I got home, I saw one of the workers already checking out the designated victim with the tired eyes of an experienced butcher. As I always do at times of distress, I pulled a pad and pen out of my pocket and tried to look like an investigative reporter. I said hello to the tree butcher and inquired whether I might ask his name and the purpose of his visit to the neighborhood. “My name’s Eli and I work with the Electric Company,” the butcher muttered with practiced indifference. “May I ask what your surname is?” I wondered out loud. “No,” Eli replied with surprising honesty, “now scram.” “I am not scramming,” I replied, trying to sound threatening and even wrote on my pad, “Answers rudely.” And I underlined it. Already as a child, I understood that there were kids who threatened to bring their big brothers and there were others who had no big brothers or had completely non-scary big brothers, like mine. Those were the kids who had to make do with a weenie threat like they’d snitch, and they were the ones who, when they get older, like me, turn into the type that threatens to write about it in the papers.

Read all about it here. If you’ve never read the brilliant Keret, might I suggest you read his graphic novel Pizzeria Kamikaze, illustrated by Asaf Hanuka. (Here‘s the Moorishgirl.com review.) If your taste is more literary, then check out Keret’s The Nimrod Flipout, which will be reissued in paperback by FSG next month.