The first thought I remember from my first visit to New York was ‘it’s all so familiar.’ It felt like I had already been there, not like a sense of déjà vu. I realized how much being a film buff had shaped and fixed New York in my mind. The classic films of Breakfast at Tiffany's With Audrey Hepburn, my love, or as the rising spring With Howard Rourke, the architect of skyscrapers or A day in New York With Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra to the music of the legendary Leonard Bernstein. And so many others followed, culminating in When Fashion Met Manhattan on the HBO series sex and the cityOn my first visit, I persuaded my best friend, who was born in the city, to join me on a tour in the footsteps of Carrie Bradshaw and the other stars of the series. When you know such a good movie and get to the locations where it was filmed, it's an exciting experience that only being on the set itself can match.
So I had no choice, as I examined the pile of books awaiting me and the title "Nora Ephron's Cafe" of Vered Schnabel She invited me to visit the location where the movie was filmed. You have a message. Starring Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan. What's more, the book's heroine, Liv, films behind the scenes of films in New York. Sold, sold, sold. Well, for the first third of the book, I walked home with a melancholy that came from the characters. This is something I never like. It's basically about Israelis in New York. Liv fled to New York after losing her lover, leaving behind a worried father with whom she hasn't communicated for 4 years.
Not because he is unsupportive or unloving, simply because the bereavement has worn her out. And I imagine this poor father and think of a friend who lost his father that same week and I want to go into the book and shake Liv! But the thing is, she is suffering so much that there is nothing to add to her miserable inner life. I have noticed that somehow bereavement always has something to do with sleep – either you are too absorbed in it or it is crushed by grief. This is how Liv describes her relationship with sleep after the death of a loved one:
"And since then she's gone from a sleepy teddy bear to a girl who gets by on very few hours of sleep and wakes up at dawn. That was one of the first things Moody's death did to her. He took away her sleep. And her dreams. As crazy as it may sound. Since Moody died she hasn't dreamed. Not about him. Not even about her mother, who always appeared in her dreams. Since then she's had an empty sleep. Black. As if someone put her to sleep and then woke her up." (p. 75).
Besides Liv, there is Nissan, who runs the famous cafe from the movie You Have a Message, which Nora Ephron used to frequent in her life. Nissan hasn't visited the country in 30 years and he's lonely too, except for Liv who adopted her to work at the cafe and has a warm spot in his heart for her. Into the mix lands Island, who was abandoned on the beach and a YouTube video of his despair humiliated him until he was forced to flee to the city he was born in but never visited. In this book, we go on a trip to various locations and there is a love for the camera and even famous speeches. However, the sadness that the characters caused me made me consider abandoning it.
What kept me going was the unique description of the characters. They're not really pretty, but I found beauty in them, they're strange in the normal sense of a person who is rarely described in books unless they want to describe something disgusting. But somehow Liv's mole became an interesting part of it. In the end, the reading was smooth and the conclusion came, albeit with difficulty, like a good polish. I didn't connect with the twist at the end, because it was unnecessary to write such a name for a book and chase after filmed love stories and then try to be "realistic", but I'll let you judge for yourself when you read.
Regarding the question whether remaining או loose From my private library – I was interested in Schnabel's writing at the time and I'm glad I read the book, but there's nothing left of the story that I'd like to keep and refer to in the future. Therefore, releasing You Nora Ephron's Cafe To the kibbutz library and makes room on the shelf for the next adventure.
Book details:
Nora Efron's Cafe by: Vered Schnabel, Kinneret Publishing, Zmora-Bitan, Dvir, 2016.
Pleasant reading and may good words be by your side always,
Lily
I love you a lot.
Among other things: the ease with which you describe yourself in writing.
It's so fun and pleasant to read you.
Good afternoon, dear friend.
Ease comes after years of practice and writing,
As the scout said, "With training comes strength" 😉
Happy Shabbat and Happy Holidays, my dear Ofer,
Waiting for a visit🤍