It's rare to read a collection of short stories by a hitherto unknown author (to me) and be blown away. As I was reading Fly Already, I was already beginning to draw similarities between Keret and George Saunders — high praise indeed. You can also find the influence of Kafka present in this collection (especially in the tale where a dad is turned into a rabbit). At heart in Fly Already is an inherent playfulness and willingness to subvert conventional (literary) boundaries as a way of drawing attention to the excesses and absurdities of the modern world. Politics is there as an undercurrent — perhaps inevitable since Keret is an Israeli — but he is perhaps better (and more darkly dystopian) when imagining a third term Trump presidency. When reading Keret, there is an alternation between being shocked by and then marvelling at his audacity. I particularly liked “Tabula Rasa”. 9/10.
By Etgar Keret