About this ebook
After her father’s death, a musician must go home to Israel to confront the relationships she left behind in this novel by the author of The Retrospective
Noga, forty-two and divorced, is a harpist with an orchestra in the Netherlands. Upon the sudden death of her father, she is summoned home to Jerusalem by her brother to help make decisions in urgent family and personal matters. Returning also means facing a former husband who left her when she refused him children, but whose passion for her remains even though he is remarried and the father of two. For her imposed three-month residence in Israel, her brother finds her work as an extra in movies, television, and opera. These new identities undermine the firm boundaries of behavior heretofore protected by the music she plays, and Noga, always an extra in someone else’s story, takes charge of the plot. The Extra is Yehoshua at his liveliest storytelling best—a bravura performance.
“Engaging…Yehoshua is a master in his visual sketches of scenes.”—The New York Times Book Review
“[A] finely etched new novel…A marvel of a book.”—Haaretz
“Four and a half decades after his first book’s publication, his twentieth shows Yehoshua’s writing chops are undiminished and his content fearlessly topical.”—New York Journal of Books
“Rich in reflection and personal truth…Masterful.”—Kirkus Reviews, starred review
“Award-winning Israeli novelist Yehoshua gives moral force, even grandeur, to the inevitable push-pull of one family’s life.”—Library Journal, starred review
Noga, forty-two and divorced, is a harpist with an orchestra in the Netherlands. Upon the sudden death of her father, she is summoned home to Jerusalem by her brother to help make decisions in urgent family and personal matters. Returning also means facing a former husband who left her when she refused him children, but whose passion for her remains even though he is remarried and the father of two. For her imposed three-month residence in Israel, her brother finds her work as an extra in movies, television, and opera. These new identities undermine the firm boundaries of behavior heretofore protected by the music she plays, and Noga, always an extra in someone else’s story, takes charge of the plot. The Extra is Yehoshua at his liveliest storytelling best—a bravura performance.
“Engaging…Yehoshua is a master in his visual sketches of scenes.”—The New York Times Book Review
“[A] finely etched new novel…A marvel of a book.”—Haaretz
“Four and a half decades after his first book’s publication, his twentieth shows Yehoshua’s writing chops are undiminished and his content fearlessly topical.”—New York Journal of Books
“Rich in reflection and personal truth…Masterful.”—Kirkus Reviews, starred review
“Award-winning Israeli novelist Yehoshua gives moral force, even grandeur, to the inevitable push-pull of one family’s life.”—Library Journal, starred review
About the author
A. B. YEHOSHUA is the author of numerous novels, including Mr. Mani, Five Seasons, The Liberated Bride, and A Woman in Jerusalem. His work has been translated into twenty-eight languages, and he has received many awards worldwide, including the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and the National Jewish Book Award. He lives in Tel Aviv, Israel.
Rate this ebook
Tell us what you think.
Reading information
Smartphones and tablets
Install the Google Play Books app for Android and iPad/iPhone. It syncs automatically with your account and allows you to read online or offline wherever you are.
Laptops and computers
You can listen to audiobooks purchased on Google Play using your computer's web browser.
eReaders and other devices
To read on e-ink devices like Kobo eReaders, you'll need to download a file and transfer it to your device. Follow the detailed Help Center instructions to transfer the files to supported eReaders.
