And the Bride Closed the Door Lib/E
A young bride shuts herself up in a bedroom on her wedding day, refusing to get married. In this moving and humorous look at contemporary Israel and the chaotic ups and downs of love everywhere, her family gathers outside the locked door, not knowing what to do. The bride's mother has lost a younger daughter in unclear circumstances. Her grandmother is hard of hearing, yet seems to understand her better than anyone. A male cousin who likes to wear women's clothes and jewelry clings to his grandmother like a little boy. The family tries an array of unusual tactics to ensure the wedding goes ahead, including a psychologist specializing in brides who change their mind and a ladder truck from the Palestinian Authority electrical company. The only communication they receive from behind the door are scribbled notes, one of them a cryptic poem about a prodigal daughter returning home. The harder they try to reach the defiant woman, the more the despairing groom is convinced her refusal should be respected. But what, exactly, ought to be respected? Is this merely a case of cold feet? A feminist statement? A mourning ritual for a lost sister? This provocative and highly entertaining novel lingers long after its final page.
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Ronit Matalon (1959-2017) was the author of nine novels and a liberal social activist. The daughter of Egyptian immigrants to Israel, she worked as a journalist for the newspaper Haaretz and reported from the West Bank and Gaza. Her last book, And the Bride Closed the Door, was awarded Israel's prestigious Brenner Prize the day before her death at age fifty-eight.
Jessica Cohen was born in England, raised in Israel, and now lives in the United States. She has translated contemporary Israeli fiction, nonfiction, and other creative works, including David Grossman's To the End of the Land and A Horse Walks in to a Bar, which was shortlisted for the Man Booker International Prize.
"Refreshingly audacious and stirringly sophisticated...Jessica Cohen's masterful translation further enhances the rare and intricate voice of Ronit Matalon."
-- "Ruby Namdar, author of The Ruined House""Matalon is a unique literary stylist whose pitch-perfect novel focuses on the spectacle of the big day...Matalon nails how families relate to each other. Her scenes are cinematic and evocative...Jessica Cohen's translation gives Matalon's winding sentences the easy, metrical rhythms of speech, and Matalon's layering of language, emotion, scene, and cultural references comes through. This novel is a masterful rendering of a failed wedding day and the embedded failures that individuals, a family, and a culture accrue in the process of trying to manage their circumstances. As complex and chaotic as life."
-- "Foreword Reviews (starred review)""Reminiscent of My Big Fat Greek Wedding, but Jewish, and backwards...Family secrets bubble to the surface in this deeply felt comedy."
-- "Kirkus Reviews""Funny, moving and deeply real."
-- "Dara Horn, author of Eternal Life""With seductive wit and light pathos, this brilliant novel makes the reader privy to the inner thoughts of a comically messy family. From there, bigger truths about personal life and the wider culture are exposed and explored."
-- "Bethany Ball, author of What to Do about the Solomons""A triumph, at once humorous and profound, richly imagined and deliciously grotesque...This book is a marvel, a stunning display of Matalon's virtuosity."
-- "Ayelet Tsabari, author of The Art of Leaving"
