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Ratings: ★★★★★ (5/5)
Genre: Fiction / Literary Fiction / Drama / Contemporary Fiction / Psychological Fiction

Book Review:
''A Horse Walks Into a Bar'' by David Grossman is a short, shocking masterpiece that won the Man Booker International Prize in 2017. A comedy club in a small Israeli town. An audience has come expecting an evening of amusement. Instead, they see a comedian falling apart on stage—an act of disintegration, a man crumbling, as a matter of choice, before their eyes.

Dovaleh G, a veteran stand-up comic—charming, erratic, repellent—exposes a wound he has been living with for years: a fateful and gruesome choice he had to make between the two people who were dearest to him. Flaying alive both himself and the people watching him, Dov provokes revulsion and empathy from an audience that doesn't know whether to laugh or cry.

Grossman's writing is virtuosic and deeply affecting. This is a work of sombre brilliance and disquieting rage, a writerly tour de force that is unbearably painful yet generously humane. If you enjoy literary fiction, character-driven dramas, or award-winning novels, A Horse Walks Into a Bar is a must-read. Highly recommended!