A review by michellehogmire
Muck by Dror Burstein, Gabriel Levin

4.0

First book I've read by this author, and I'd certainly read another. By setting the novel in an odd hybrid of ancient and modern Israel, Burstein deftly points out repeating cycles of history--a sad warning about the future. We get prophets dueling it out on public transport, dogs that selectively talk and serve as angels, a brash literary critic who beats poets over the heads with their keyboards and volunteers for the cops, a stadium-sized bowl of hummus, and some expertly crafted scenes of marriage, suicide, siege, and apocalypse. Good slow burn built by establishing a sympathetic character, and then making him King of Judah--doesn't take long for greed, corruption, and forced plastic surgery to take over. Tons of laughs, but the ending is dour, as should be expected: this is based on the book of Jeremiah, after all. In other words, the main character here also lands in a pit. (Pub Date Nov 13)