David Grossman Standalone Novels books in order

David Grossman's standalone novels span four decades of Israeli fiction, from early fabulist experiments to the Booker-winning A Horse Walks into a Bar, with recurring themes of memory, grief, childhood, and the costs of conflict.

Reading order

# Title Published Author Buy on Amazon
1 Duel 1982 David Grossman Buy
2 The Smile of the Lamb 1983 David Grossman Buy
3 See Under: Love 1986 David Grossman Buy
4 Be My Knife 1988 David Grossman Buy
5 The Book of Intimate Grammar 1991 David Grossman Buy
6 The Zig Zag Kid 1994 David Grossman Buy
7 Someone to Run With 2000 David Grossman Buy
8 To the End of the Land 2008 David Grossman Buy
9 Falling Out of Time 2014 David Grossman Buy
10 A Horse Walks into a Bar 2016 David Grossman Buy
11 More Than I Love My Life 2021 David Grossman Buy

Grossman published his first novel, Duel, in 1982, and his second, The Smile of the Lamb, in 1983, a novel set in the occupied territories that anticipated many of the debates that would dominate Israeli society for the following four decades. See Under: Love (1986) brought him international recognition with its formally daring treatment of the Holocaust and the children of survivors.

His fiction from the 1990s includes The Book of Intimate Grammar (1991), which follows an adolescent boy through 1960s Jerusalem as he finds language inadequate to everything happening around him, and The Zig Zag Kid (1994), a more playful novel about identity and family. More recent work includes To the End of the Land (2008), a long novel built around a mother’s walk through the Galilee while her son fights in Lebanon, and Falling Out of Time (2014), a genre-defying work about parental grief written after the death of Grossman’s son Uri.

A Horse Walks into a Bar (2017) won the Man Booker International Prize. Set in a single evening at a comedy club in the Israeli city of Netanya, it follows a stand-up comedian as his performance collapses into a raw account of a choice he made as a boy. More Than I Love My Life (2021), his most recent novel, continues his exploration of how violence and trauma cross generations.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many books are in the David Grossman Standalone Novels series?

There are eleven books in the David Grossman Standalone Novels series, published between 1982 and 2021.

What is the first book in the David Grossman Standalone Novels series?

The first book in the David Grossman Standalone Novels series is Duel, published in 1982.

Which of David Grossman's novels is considered most accessible for new readers?

A Horse Walks into a Bar (2017) is often recommended as an entry point because it is short, self-contained, and immediately gripping. Set during a single stand-up comedy performance in an Israeli club, it follows a comedian who begins dismantling his own act to confront a painful memory from childhood. The Zig Zag Kid (1994) and Someone to Run With (2000) are also very readable and were written with younger audiences in mind, though both work for adult readers.

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