cover image My Enemy, My Self

My Enemy, My Self

Yoram Binur. Penguin Books, $9.95 (256pp) ISBN 978-0-14-012985-4

To find out how Arabs undergo daily life in Israel and the occupied territories, Israeli journalist Binur adopted the clothes and manners of a Palestinian Arab for six months. ``His odyssey is especially revealing in its visceral portrayal of how Arabs experience discrimination and intolerance as second-class citizens or outcasts,'' commented PW. (July) FICTION REPRINTSFICTION REPRINTS LOCOS: A Comedy of Gestures Felipe Alfau. Vintage International, $8.95 * ISBN 0-679-72846-5* In a surreal fable that takes place in Spain in the years preceding the fascist takeover, bizarre characters and sundry misfits hang out at the Cafe of the Crazy in Toledo, searching for exploitable characters; mistaken identities, outlandish situations, interchangeable roles abound. ``Alfau neatly skewers Spain's fatalism, its obsessions with death and sin,'' noted PW. (July)