Hachayim Kemashal = Live Like a Fable / "I wish to tell about my life as it progressed through what is called good and what is called bad; through love, loneliness, anger, grace, sin, contemplation, happiness and torment... Comprised chiefly of pictures from the author's life, the novel draws on sources ranging from the New Testament to Dostoyevsky. The parable of the title is God, but Sadeh's concern is with man alone facing God.
Pinhas Sadeh combines in one person the childish innocence of the archetypal poet and the crabbed anger of the archetypal prophet.
Commentary
This novel has become a chapter in the personal biography of all who have read it. It is difficult to explain the profound effect this book has had on its readers.
Yedioth Ahronoth
