To be a Princess By Nimrod Liram
Gefen Publishing House
Paperback. $16.95

Reviewed by Mike Porter

There are 10 short stories in this book, and each one has a date – the year in which the event described takes place; one concludes therefore that the hero (even though he gives himself a different name each time) is, in the main, the author himself.

The stories begin in 1969 when a young man in an American college meets a princess. The last story of the book (The Maths Teacher) is dated 2009. The protagonist of the story has taken early retirement, goes back to studying an old love of his – mathematics – and decides to become a teacher of mathematics.

Generally the stories are good: Nimrod Liram has a deceptive reportorial style – his words are dry, sharp and as precise as a Swiss watch. I thought the first story the weakest in the book, whereas the two war stories (Beirut, 1982, and more especially the 1973 battle of Tel Shams) are in a class of their own. They take the reader into the midst of dust, battle and sudden death – so much so that it is with  shock that we begin to read the story which follows (A Paris, 1974): “Tarzan’s dark blue boiler suit was in sore need of washing …” - a far cry indeed from the overwhelming experiences  we  underwent  only a few minutes earlier.

The war stories, written in the first person, show masterful writing. It will be interesting to see how Nimrod Liram develops.