Julia Fermentto Tzaisler

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Julia Fermentto Tzaisler was born in 1984 and raised in Kfar Saba, a suburb of Tel Aviv. She has been heralded by the Israeli press as "a brave new voice" (Haaretz), and "if not the voice of her generation, then at least one of its chroniclers" (Prof. Eva Illouz, Hebrew University). Safari, her debut novel, was an Israeli bestseller. Her short stories have been translated and published in several languages. A journalist, essayist and critic, Fermentto Tzaisler has a Ph.D. in Jewish American Literature from UC San Diego. Julia Fermento Tzaisler has been nominated Artistic Director of the prestigious Jerusalem Writers Festival at Mishkenot Sha’ananim

 

Title: Kfar Saba 2000

Literary Thriller

Publisher: Yediot Books/Penn

Year: 2017

264 pp.

 

Translation rights: World

Audio visual rights: World

Translation: Partial English translation by Yardenne Greenspan

 

 

"Can you believe it? Kfar Saba has turned into Twin Peaks! I always told you this place is infested with murderers."

 

December 2000, Kfar Saba. An unsolved murder case erupts, shattering the peace of the sleepy suburb north of Tel Aviv. Lior Oppenheim’s body had been found in a nearby forest four years earlier. Now, his killers have been revealed: bright and engaging teenagers, the pride of the nation. The news coverage captures the imagination of students in the film department of the town's high school– especially Daphne and David, best friends from a long way back. With Guy, an enigmatic classmate, they start to shoot a film about the murder case. But the homework assignment spins out of control, turning their world upside down...

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The Second Intifada humming in the background, Kfar Saba 2000 captures the ominous violence that lies just beneath the surface of small-town Israel. Daphne and David are drawn to the sensation of the moment, an exciting contrast to the mundanity of everyday life. But the unfolding spectacle demands a price from the gawping onlookers–a high price, the teenagers will discover…

 

Kfar Saba 2000 won the 2016 Ministry of Culture Award for Young Authors; it was selected as 2018's "One Book, One Tel Aviv" by Tel Aviv Municipality and Time Out magazine.

 

 

Critical Praise

 

From the Ministry of Culture Award for Young Authors Committee: "With impressive virtuosity, [Kfar Saba 2000] balances savageness, pathos and parody. Fermentto uses her language efficiently– close to the surface of her characters' souls, yet also flexible, full of context and allusions. With it, she creates an intricate plot that captures her characters' longing for violence.

 

In her new novel, Julia Fermentto sends two teenagers on a search for their identity – in a land still searching for its own.

Die Welt

 

In spite of the reader shaping a good idea of where the plot is heading – and possibly because of this – it is hard to put the book down.

Haaretz

 

Kfar Saba 2000 tricks the reader into thinking it is a lightweight coming-of-age novel – until the glass of black poison poured into it drags to the surface sinister waves of confused and dark passion. Fermentto's depiction of adolescence is startlingly realistic and gloomy – full of suppressed anger and disturbing yet seductive sexuality, all written in her singular style.

Yedioth Aharonot

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