The author of four best-selling collections of short stories in Israel, Etgar Keret is a zany, inventive, and profoundly interesting writer who steers clear of the overtly political matter of his literary elders to probe the complexity of individual experience. His canvas is a society undergoing dramatic change, and if his paintbrush is dipped in the half-tones of ordinary men and women overwhelmed by desire, confusion, or powerlessness, his sense of humor turns even mundane events into occasions of bright colors. Think Woody Allen, not Leo Tolstoy. In just one or two pages Keret can turn the world upside down.