existentialist style to works by Ernest Hemingway, Cesare Pavese, Joan Didion, and Albert Camus's The Stranger and Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar. Addressing the Arab-Israeli allusions in the book, especially the relationship between Hannah and the Arab twins, Locke surmises: "Amos Oz is suggesting that in her heart Israel is going mad dreaming of Arabs, while on the surface emotionally stunted 'new Israelis' are going about their nation's business cut off from self and history. It's hardly surprising that the book caused controversy and was a best seller in Israel". Joshua Leifer praised Oz's skill in depicting the city of Jerusalem between the 1948 and 1956 wars, but called the characterization of Hannah "unconvincing", in line with what he calls Oz's tendency to portray women in his fiction as "promiscuous, selfish, and untrustworthy". The Cincinnati Enquirer concurred, calling the character of Hannah "not interesting, [but] merely tiresome. She is afflicted with terribly tame erotic fantasies, blatant childhood holdovers, and very trite philosophical reflections". However, this review praised Oz's writing skills for "making her a believable neurotic. … The end result is a very good writer in search of a better character". Accolades In 1999, My Michael was named "one of the 100 great novels of the 20th century" by the Bertelsmann publishing house of Germany. Film adaptation The novel was adapted by Israeli director-screenwriter Dan Wolman as the 1974 release Michael Sheli (released in the U.S. in 1976). The Hebrew-language film was submitted as the Israeli entry for Best Foreign Language Film for the 48th Academy Awards, but was ultimately not accepted as a nominee. References Sources Further reading External links Amos Oz discusses My Michael on the BBC World Book Club 1968 novels 20th-century Israeli novels Novels set in Jerusalem Jewish novels Novels by Amos Oz Fiction set in the 1950s Am Oved books