tells the story of the assistant to a well-known literary critic who suffers from the dominance of the critic and from the critic's practice to "borrow" abundantly from the assistant's work and publish it under his own name. After the critic's sudden death, the assistant believes he has been freed, finally, from the critic's dominance. However, when the critic's widow -- the beautiful Victoria -- asks him to complete an unfinished novel written by her late husband, the assistant finds himself still under the influence of the critic, as well as his wife. Although set in Israel, the novel is appealing to the international reader because of its universality of plot, literary background, sharp and witty dialogue, and humor. Philip Roth meets Woody Allen. A book worthy of the ' recommended reading list.