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A couple, long married, are spending an unaccustomed week apart. Amotz, an engineer, is busy juggling the day-to-day needs of his elderly father, his children, and his grandchildren. His wife, Daniella, flies from Tel Aviv to East Africa to mourn the death of her older sister. There she confronts her anguished seventy-year-old brother-in-law, Yirmiyahu, whose soldier son w...more
Hardcover, 400 pages
Published
November 10th 2008
by Harcourt
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"Do everything possible to leave this world without complaints or bitterness." So says Amotz Ya'ari in this kind and gentle book.It is Hannukkah, and Amotz's wife, Daniela, a high school English teacher in Tel Aviv, is off to Tanzania to visit her brother-in-law. Daniela's sister has died recently and the brother-in-law, a retired Israeli diplomat, has decided not to return to Israel, but stay behind in East Africa. Amotz does not accompany Daniela, remaining in Tel Aviv to deal with f...more
I have never read anything about this author before, and I have to say that I was delighted with his work. I enjoyed this novel a lot, and it gave me a good glimpse of what life can be for a well-off older couple in modern Israel. How they cope with everyday life, family issues, death, mourning, separation, etc. It was a slow read, but not boring at all. It all happens during an eight-day holiday; Hanukkah. And with the lighting of each candle we get to see how the past and present of this famil...more
I can't say that I loved reading this book. I didn't want to give up on it, but I felt like I was working very hard to get through it, and I wasn't certain that I was grasping all the symbolism. Maybe that's the feeling Yehoshua was trying to create? After all, this is a book about life in Israel.
Joy
is currently reading it
A really slow read. Many contemporary Israeli authors delve into the stoic at times obstinate psyche of what it means to be an Israeli and that narrative carries on for chapters. It's emotionally exhausting. I'll continue to slog through, waiting for a breakthrough.
This book explores the power of grief and bitterness in a drama encompasing political, historical and religious significgance. It is a dual-sided character driven novel. I found the goinging back and forth between the rwo main characters a little tiring.
This is a family story about Israelis. It did well to demonstrate tensions in a family around military service, war, and the loss of a soldier in the family. Also sparked themes of secular and religious life. Caution: this is a book about Israel and it does contain content about Israeli-Palestinian distrust and anger.
Way too indulgent literature of decadence. Very weak. Yehshoua has apparently taken his status as grand old man of hebrew letters and ran with it as the entire novel feels phoned in. The narrative is lackluster and boring, the characters one dimensional and unsympathetic (and all slight variations of the same voice) and Yehoshua paints with such broad strokes (regarding Israel and ALL of Africa) that at times the story becomes nearly impossible to take seriously. The author's views apart fro...more
This was an Honorable Mention for the Sophie Brody Award for 2009. For the complete list, go to http://ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/rusa/award...
Sex, death, love, infidelity, parents, children, Jews, Arabs, family, loss, howling winds and an elephant with a mysterious blue eye. Loved it.
Yehoshua writes about ordinary, likable people leading ordinary lives sometimes disrupted by events. Sort of an Israeli Anne Tyler, and Israel itself is important to the book. I enjoyed this book very much.
A hard book about people in difficult life moments. Very well developed characters.
an amazing read loved the characters, although they are not lovable
takes place over several days.. and over several lives
Couldn't finish it...and I am a big fan of his.
Terrific book about modern Israel.
Loved this book.
Loved this story of one family in two places: Africa and Israel. I was moved and entranced by the story when it took place in Africa and less interested in the Israeli side of the story. An interesting book about how we deal with grief and secrets in relationships.
the story is compelling, the writing was not as I had hoped. Perhaps its the translation? Agai, it's difficult to read author's whose point of reference is not the US as I am basically ignorant of Israeli geography and current culture.
Highly recommended author from one of the ladies in my bookclub. Next bookclub meeting January 12. a difficult topic even more difficult as I am not familiar with Israeli geography or day to day life as I've not travelled there.
Wonderful richly described characters....set in Israel and Africa...the story of a family's attempt to cope with the tragic death of Eyali by "friendly fire" - one of his own men.
Very disappointing. I have loved Yehoshua's previous work. I couldn't engage with his characters and the story seemed contrived.
Didn't like this as much as others. HIs protrait of marriage was a bit sappy.
Molly
is currently reading it
So far it's beautifully written and I'm enjoying it.
Jenny Whitaker
is currently reading it
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