Kfar Saba 2000

Kfar Saba 2000

Julia Fermentto

“Can you believe it? Kfar-Saba had turned into Twin Peaks! I always told you this place is infested with murderers.”
In December 2000 a murder case is unraveled and shatters the lives of the residents of Kfar Saba, a suburb of Tel Aviv; the killers of Lior Oppenheim, whose body was found at Ussishkin forest in 1996 are uncovered and appear in the media as bright, fluent teenagers, the beautiful flowers of the Sharon district. The sensational news sparks the imagination of the students at the Film department at Rabin high school in town, and especially those of Daphne and David, best friends from previous lives. Together with Ziv, an intriguing boy they met at the department, they set out to shot a film following the murder case. But what starts as a homework assignment will turn their worlds upside down,

Kfar Saba 2000 tries to capture the violence that bubbles underneath the surface in the small city. With news about suicide bombings and good kids turning into murderers in the background, Daphne and David stroll around the city parks, hangout at the mall, read too many books and constantly fantasize about parallel lives that will take them as far as possible from Kfar Saba.

From the Ministry of CultureAward for Young Authors committee:
“With impressive virtuosity, Kfar Saba 2000 balances savageness, pathos and parody. Fermentto uses efficient language – very close to the surface of the souls of her characters, and yet also flexible and full of contexts and allusions – and with it creates a dense plot the captures her characters’ longing for violence.”

Praise for Safari:
“Safari is a fireworks novel… you can’t stay indifferent to it because every paragraph bursts with adrenalin.” (Ynet)

“With her first novel, Fermentto is becoming if not the voice of her generation, than at least one of its documenters.” (Eva Illouz, Haaretz)

Safari, Julia Fermentto’s debut novel, was published in 2001 by Agam publishing and marked her as a “brave new voice” in Israeli literature (Haaretz). Kfar-Saba 2000, her second novel, won her the Ministry of Culture Award for Young Authors. Fermentto was born and raised in Kfar-Saba.

Kfar Saba 2000 - In the press

Julia Fermento discusses her acclaimed new book Kfar Saba 2000 in an interview with Die Welt.

Julia Fermento discusses her new novel Kfar Saba 2000 with Yaron London on Channel 10.

Julia Fermento discusses Kfar Saba 2000 in Yedioth Aharonot literary supplement.

Kfar Saba 2000 - Reviews

“Fermentto’s treatment of her protagonists is neither condescending nor demeaning, but it recognizes the fact that youth violence in Israel has been overblown, not least by the young ge...

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Yuval Avivi

“Fermentto’s characters have fresh and clear voices. This is a unique book, it captures the reader’s attention with its youthful pathos and is a welcome addition to the mosaic of ...

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Noa Susana Morag

“If you wish to understand the failure of the Israeli elite you need to read Fermentto’s novel. Fermentto caresses her protagonist but she doesn’t spare them her venom. She explains to us tha...

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Oded Carmeli

“‘Kfar Saba 2000’ misleads the reader into believing it is a light-weight coming of age novel until the glass of black poison that was poured into it hauls to the surface a sinist...

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Ran Ben non, Yedioth Aharonot

“In her second novel Julia Fermento displays true talent as a storyteller (confirming what was previously revealed in her debut novel, Safari)… readers are guaranteed a fluent read of an inte...

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Arik Glasner, Free Critic

“In spite of the reader having a good idea where the plot is heading, and possibly because of that, it is hard to put the book down.”

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Haaretz

“Most of the book is written in the present tense, but clarifies in a number of ways that the story is an interpreted adaptation. Similar to a forensic reconstruction in which the crime scene is th...

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Yedioth Aharonot

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

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מירנה פונק, Die Welt

“In a reality in which readers prefer to read translated works, or to complain about contemporary literature being worthless, it is to necessary to state unequivocally – there are young and s...

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Yiftach Ashkenazi