In The Flesh: Ten Comic Stories Of Twisted Love

How do you think Koren Shadmi means “comic”? Does he mean graphic? Or does he mean comic as in the comic tradition that spans everything from knockabout to black comedy a la Beckett? It could go either way. There are nine stories here, nine savage stories that make you wince. Would you, as a bodacious woman, have sex with a fat man who plays a dog on a children’s show? And if you would, would you ask for him to wear his costume? You would but why? That would be telling. And what happens if you get knocked down on the road by a truck and the guy hands you a paper bag of pastry and leaves you with an uncontrollable desire to eat everything sweet and chemical in sight? Some of the less successful stories are the straight-out surreal. I mean, haven’t you gone out with the kind of woman who carries her head under her arm. Really, like what’s new in that one. And if an aged relative takes a lot of photographs”¦ You get the drift. The drawing is high-class and the stories work, when Shadmi is not struggling to push the envelope. Some of the simplest stories are the least strained; you get what’s happening, and you weep for the frailty.