Amos Oz's Scenes from Village Life

Scenes from Village Life contains eight short stories of villagers living in Tel Ilan in the Manasseh Hills. This is the second book from Amos Oz which I have read.

In the story "Waiting", the village is thus described in the opening paragraph, "Tel Ilan, a pioneer village, already a century old, was surrounded by fields and orchards. Vineyards sprawled down the east-facing slopes. Almond trees lined the approach road. Tiled roofs bathed in the thick greenery of ancient trees, Many of the inhabitants still farmed, with the help of foreign labourers who lived in huts in the farmyards. But some had leased out their land and made a living by letting rooms, by running art galleries or fashion boutiques, or by working outside the village. Two gourmet restaurants had opened in the middle of the village, and there was also the winery and a shop selling tropical fish. One local entrepreneur had started manufacturing reproduction antique furniture. At weekends, of course, the village filled with visitors who came to eat or hunt for a bargain. But every Friday afternoon its streets emptied as the residents rested behind closed shutters." The story continued with how Benny Avni, the village mayor,  went searching for his wife, Nava, after receiving a note from Nava. The note said, "Don't worry about me." It was delivered by Adel, who saw Nava sitting on a bench near the Memorial Garden. By the end of the day, Nava did not come home, and Benny had no conclusion on what, if anyhting, had happened to her.

The first story is "Heirs". Arieh Zelnik had a visitor, Wolff Maftsir the lawyer. Maftsir claimed to be a relation, knew the family history of Zelnik, and proposed that both of them realise the value of the property that Zelnik stayed with his sick and deaf mother by appointing themselves as her guardian and sending her to a home. 

In the second story, "Relations", Gili Steiner, a family doctor at Tel Ilan, waited in vain for her nephew, Gideon Gat, at the bus stop where the bus from Tel Aviv arrived. Gideon's mother had sent him to convalesce for a few days with Steiner in the country. Steiner anxiously asked the passengers and the bus driver if they had seen her nephew, but no one had paid any attention to the few passengers that fit her nephew's description. Steiner was going home when she detoured to check again with Mirkin, the bus driver, to ensure that no passenger had dozed off and was locked up in his bus.  Mirkin let her have an overcoat which might be Gideon's and was left in the bus. She went home, called Gideon's and her sister's phone, and got no answer. She threw away the food she had prepared for Gideon, waiting with disappointment, and recalling more of the time that her nephew had spent with her at her home. 

In "Digging", the third story, Rachel Franco, a widow, looked after her eighty-six-year-old father Pesach Kedem. Kedem was bitter about life and full of complaints and criticisms for everyone. He was also untidy in appearance and sloppy in his habits.  He bore a grudge against Rachel who looked after him irreproachably every day, and he mixed her up with his wife Abigail, or his mother Hinde, both dead. He was suspicious of Micky the vet who visited occasionally. He was also prejudiced against the Arab student, Adel, who stayed in a shed which was part of the property Pesach and Rachel lived in, and who offered labour around the house in exchange for the free lodgings.  Pesach insisted that he heard digging under the ground at 2am. Rachel usually slept heavily, but she finally heard the digging at the end of the story.

In "Lost", an estate agent visited The Ruin, which used to belong to the late Eldad Rubin, who was a pride of the villagers for being a famous writer. Rubin's mother and wife had refused to sell the property, but Batya Rubin, Eldad's wife, had called the estate agent.  The estate agent visited The Ruin without making an appointment. Yardena Rubin opened the door and invited him in. Her mother and grandmother had gone to Jerusalem. She showed him around the enormous property, and at the end, left him in the cellar. 

In "Strangers", a seventeen-year-old young man, Kobi Ezra,  was in love with Ada Dvash, a woman in her thirties and deserted by her husband. She worked at the post office during the day and in the library from 7pm to 9pm. He waited for her outside the post office and walked with her to the library. At the library, he revealed his feelings for her, and she turned him down very gently. He left the library, certain that both of them would not want to speak to each other again and would avoid each other.
     
In "Singing", some of the residents, including the protagonists in the previous stories, gathered to sing at the Levin's home. Dalia and Avraham Levin had a son who had hidden himself beneath his parents' bed and shot himself in his head. One of the guests wandered around the Levin's home, and entered the bedroom where the tragedy had happened. 

The location of "In a faraway place at another time", the last story in the collection, is unknown. The settings is a swampy area in which the population was in decline, people interbred, were crippled and suffered from deformities and mental deficiency. The protagonist was sent there twenty or twenty-five years ago by the authorities, the Office for Underdeveloped Regions. He administered drugs and antiseptics, he disinfected the swamp, he distributed chlorine and DDT. He was the pharmacist, teacher, nurse, arbitrator. He waited in vain for his replacement to arrive.  His appeals to the governor went unheeded. One day, on top of the hill far away, the villagers saw a healthy and handsome strange man. He generated much curiosity, excitement, and then suspicion. This man disappeared shortly, and the story ended. I wonder if the strange man was some sort of Messiah.

Memorial Garden was mentioned in a few stories. Some of the characters reappeared or were mentioned in more than one stories. All the stories speak of loneliness or estrangement. Even if the character has someone to keep him or her company, the companion really wished to be elsewhere. The memories of the past and the routines of everyday life keep them going and bearing with the question of whether to be resigned with their lives.