When I Lived in Modern Times

By Linda Grant

Winner of the Orange Prize for Fiction

In the spring of 1946, Evelyn Sert stands on the deck of a ship bound for Palestine. For the twenty-year-old from London, it is a time of adventure and change when all things seem possible.

Swept up in the spirited, chaotic churning of her new, strange country, she joins a kibbutz, then moves on to the teeming metropolis of Tel Aviv, to find her own home and a group of friends as eccentric and disparate as the city itself. She falls in love with a man who is not what he seems when she becomes an unwitting spy for a nation fighting to be born. When I Lived in Modern Times is "an unsentimental coming-of-age story of both a country and a young immigrant . . . that provides an unforgettable glimpse of a time and place rarely observed" (Publishers Weekly, starred review).

• Language: English
• Publisher: Penguin Group
• Release date: Dec 31, 2002
• ISBN: 9781101563397

Linda Grant

Linda Grant is a novelist and journalist. She won the Orange Prize for Fiction in 2000 and the Lettre Ulysses Prize for the Art of Reportage in 2006. Her most recent novel, The Clothes on Their Backs, was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize in 2008. She writes for The Guardian, The Telegraph, and Vogue.

Reviews for When I Lived in Modern Times

[mirrani_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This book won the Orange/Women's Prize for fiction and it is easy to see why. The writing completely drew me in to a world that I never would have visited before. There are stories out there about Israel and Palestine, but few have had the power to pull me to one side of the issue without making me wonder what happens to the other side. That, of course, sounds bad, as if this book isn't well rounded or is one sided, but it is the type of story that really has to be one sided in order to be properly told.I don't know that there is a way for me to properly describe the writing or how it was so powerfully true that you felt as if you honestly were the main character, going through life in a new country, fighting a struggle that she wasn't quite aware of until the end. When I put the book down I felt as if I had traveled to Israel in the time of the story, which is something that is sometimes very hard for writers to do. Getting the reader to a country is easy, getting them to that country through time itself isn't always as simple as it sounds. This book truly felt like a time machine. It is something that everyone should experience.

[astrologerjenny · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I loved this book and recommend it whole-heartedly. I think it should take its place among the classics of English-language Jewish literature. It’s written beautifully: thoughtful, wry, occasionally poetic.

It’s the story of a young British woman coming to Israel after the war, before it was called Israel, before it was a country, when the British were running around in khaki shorts trying to govern it. The heroine, Evelyn Sert, is young, orphaned, and used to being different from the people around her. She’s not only Jewish, but illegitimate, with no clear family history. In order to reinvent herself, she goes to a country which is also in the process of inventing itself.

The atmosophere in this book is so powerful that you feel that you’re eating, drinking, smelling and touching Tel Aviv. Besides being a love song to the city, this novel has a gripping plot. And the author has a way of sketching a character in just a few words and making the person come alive.

[brenzi_3 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Is there any end to the history of which I am completely unaware? Linda Grant’s evocative and fascinating coming of age story of both 20 year old Evelyn Sert as well as the state of Israel, had me furiously turning pages as I learned, at the feet of a masterful storyteller, about one year (1946) in the history of the country carved out of British-run Palestine after WWII.Sert leaves Britain posing as a Christian tourist, visiting the Holy Land, because it’s the only way she can get a passport as the UK has severely limited the number of passports available to Jews headed for Palestine. After finding the grueling life on the kibbutz not to her liking, she ends up in the teeming metropolis of Tel Aviv where she takes on a job as a hairdresser utilizing the only skills she possesses. To appeal to the British nationals who frequent the shop, she assumes the identity of Priscilla Jones, and gives up her Jewish identity. Meanwhile, after work, she is Jewish Evelyn Sert and she hooks up with a Jewish man who is not exactly what he seems and soon involves Evelyn in providing information about the salon’s British customers. Her role as a spy in this underground army, fighting for the nation that is about to be born, results in circumstances that put her life in danger.Grant is so adept at evoking this time and place in history that it proves to be quite breathtaking. Her description of Tel Aviv suggests the birth of a brand new city:”I saw apartment buildings of two or three or occasionally four stories, all white, dazzling white, and against them the red flowers of oleander bushes. Flat-roofed white boxes, I saw, though sometimes their corners curved voluptuously like a woman’s hips and two buildings facing each other like this, on a corner, reminded me of a pair of ship’s prows sailing out into the dry waters of the street. They were houses like machines, built of concrete and glass, not houses at all, they were ideas. I saw walls erected not for privacy but as barriers against the blinding light; windows small and recessed, each with a balcony and each shaded by the shadow cast by the balcony above it; stairwells lit by portholes, reminding me that we were by the sea.” (Page 71)Grant has written a book, in luminous prose, that is first and foremost a pursuit for understanding---of culture, of race, of patriotism, of sexuality---and has placed it side by side with a setting of raging chaos that grabs you by the throat and drags you along to witness the birth of Israel under a fading British regime. The fact that I knew so little about this bit of history was just icing on the cake. Very highly recommended.

[1morechapter · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Winner of the Orange Prize, 2000I didn’t have any idea what this book was about when I started reading it. I sort of like it that way sometimes because it doesn’t color my view of the book at all.I always love it when I read a novel in a historical context and learn something that I didn’t know before. I had only a minimal clue of Israel’s beginnings and the struggle for Israeli independence. This book enlightened me on that front, and I appreciated it for that aspect. The story takes place before, during, and after World War II.When the novel begins, Evelyn Sert is just a young girl with a young, single mother. They are lucky to be in the Soho area of London, because they are Jews. As the war begins and progresses, Evelyn’s mother has an increasingly difficult time dealing with the atrocities. After a series of events, Evelyn is persuaded to emigrate to Israel.She begins her time in Palestine in a kibbutz, but soon leaves for Tel Aviv. Evelyn soon becomes involved in the political turmoil of the time, becoming conflicted because she feels ‘at home’ with the British occupiers but at the same time, resents their presence. She is definitely caught in the middle.I really liked the book up unto that point, but I ended up not caring for the ending. I feel the book would have been much stronger if it had gone in another direction. Regardless, I did enjoy learning about this period in history and would probably read another Linda Grant novel at some point.2000, 260 pp.

[alythgrant · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Readable, but somewhat wooden. Interesting for the historical background, though with little feeling for the Palestinian situation. Characters are mouthpieces for ideas, groups, phases rather than interessting in themselves. But she does describe places vividly

[rainpebble_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I won't attempt a review on this book as there are already several quite good ones on the book page. I will say that I really liked the book. Read it in one sitting. I loved the story; thought the writing could have been a bit better. Some of the characters I quite liked; others I wondered why they were even there. I really liked the main character and could understand, at times, her wishi-washiness. I did not, however, understand why she allowed that couple to basically abduct her and remove her from Tel Aviv and take her back to England or wherever. I liked the description of her marriage and think a lot of marriages are actually like that. I also loved that she returned to Tel Aviv when she was able to upon the death of her husband. I will most likely read it again because I loved the story-line so much. And I definitely am going to creep into clueless's library and see what books they followed this one up with. I recommend When I Lived in Modern Times to those who are truly interested in the cause of Israel becoming a nation in it's own right and I gave it 3 1/2 stars.

[mrstreme · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Winner of the Orange Prize for Fiction in 2000, When I Lived In Modern Times is the story of Evelyn, a young Jewish woman from London who emigrated to modern-day Israel in 1946.  While the story was a coming of age tale (of sorts) for Evelyn, at the heart of the novel was the beginning of a new nation, struggling to survive in a hostile land.Evelyn, like so many European Jews after World War II, was displaced, though her circumstances were different from other D.P.s (displaced persons). She was raised in London by her single mom, and after her mom's death, Evelyn was looking for a fresh start. She eventually settled in Tel Aviv - a modern city with new buildings - and quickly made friends with the Jewish residents and British colonists who lived there. Evelyn was unique because she encompassed both worlds - a Jew who wanted a free country who was just as comfortable talking to the Brits. She eventually had to pick a side, and thanks to a relationship with a Jewish freedom fighter (or terrorist, depending on what side you're on), she began to help the Zionist movement in small ways.The beginning and end of When I Lived in Modern Times were engaging, but overall, the book was an average read for me. The highlight of the story was learning about the creation of Israel. While I am familiar with this nation's early history,  it came alive in Grant's writing. What didn't come alive for me, though, were the characters. They seemed flat and one-dimensional, and for a reader like me who enjoys character-driven fiction, I was disappointed by this aspect of the book.Obviously, something about this story appealed to the Orange Prize judges at the time, so if you like award-winning books, then give When I Lived in Modern Times a go. Perhaps it will engage you more than it did me.

[polaris4_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Brings to life the glistening Bauhaus 'White City' of 1940s Tel-Aviv like no other book I've yet read. Grant's story-telling is excellent and I was gripped by her protagonist's plight from start to finish.

[lauralkeet · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I felt as if we were all half here and half somewhere else, deprived of our native languages, stumbling over an ugly ancient tongue. We knew that we were to be remade and reborn and we half did and half didjn't want to be. We were caught up in a plan to socially engineer our souls ... to emerge as molten, liquid, golden Jewish humanity. (p. 105)In 1946, Evelyn Sert left London for Palestine, to be part of Israel's formation. Her first few weeks were spent on a kibbutz, but she quickly tired of the menial labor. She befriended a young man named Johnny, who took her to Tel Aviv. Once there, Evelyn found work as a hairdresser and moved between the Jewish and British communities, feeling uncomfortable in both. Meanwhile, as political events intensified, so did her relationship with Johnny. Evelyn lived in denial of Johnny's involvement in the political movement, unwittingly contributing information to support his cause and ultimately getting in over her head. I enjoyed the first half of this book as Evelyn settled into a new life in a new country. But my enthusiasm waned as she moved aimlessly from one situation to the next. I found Evelyn & Johnny's relationship a bit of a stretch. It was not clear what she saw in him, or why he would be devoted to her. This book would be interesting to those wishing to learn more about the birth of Israel, and it puts today's events in historical context. However, I was hoping for a more character-driven novel and in that respect I was disappointed.

[clueless_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This book launched me into an investigation of how the heck Israel got started. What an eye opener!

[suesbooks · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is the 2nd time I've read this, both times for book groups. It's ok; the story is a little better than the writing, although once in a while a gem of a thought appears.