A Palestine Affair

by Jonathan Wilson

In British-occupied Palestine after World War I, Mark Bloomberg, a beleaguered London painter, and Joyce, his American wife, witness the murder of a prominent Orthodox Jew. Joyce, a non-Jew and ardent Zionist, is drawn into an affair with the British investigating officer, while Mark seeks solace in the exotic colors and contours of the Middle Eastern landscape. Each of the three has come to Palestine to escape grief, and yet—caught in the crosshairs of history—they will all be forced to confront the very issues they hoped to leave behind in this swift and sensuous novel of artful concealment and roiling passions.

Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction, Literature, Jewish, Israel, Middle East

272 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2003

About the author

Jonathan Wilson is a British-born writer and professor who lives in Newton, Massachusetts.

Jonathan Wilson is the author of seven books: the novels The Hiding Room and A Palestine Affair, a finalist for the 2004 National Jewish Book Award, two collections of short stories Schoom and An Ambulance is on the Way: Stories of Men in Trouble, two critical works on the fiction of Saul Bellow and most recently a biography, Marc Chagall, runner-up for the 2007 National Jewish Book Award. His work has appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine and Best American Short Stories, among other publications, and he has received a Guggenheim Fellowship. He is Fletcher Professor of Rhetoric and Debate, Professor of English and Director of the Center for the Humanities at Tufts University.

Wilson also writes a column on soccer for the Internet Newspaper, The Faster Times.

Reviews

[Vivian · Rating 2 out of 5]

Note to male authors…what you describe as love at first sight is almost always lust at first sight or desire at first sight. Kirsch did not know Joyce before he decided he was in love with her. In fact, I don’t think he knew her at the end of the book either. Bloomberg was a bore. Not sure what Joyce saw in him. She seemed to have terrible taste in men and had no morals whatsoever. The entire story was a mess…nothing got resolved. Saud was left for the reader to imagine where he ended up. Not a fan. Two stars because the descriptions of the scenery were good.

[Kay · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well, I reviewed this for The Small Press Review UK, so if you want to read my complete thoughts on the book, you'll have to order a copy of the magazine. If, like me, you're fairly ignorant about Palestine between the two world wars, this book cleverly unravels some of the bitter complexity we are still trying to understand and deal with today.

But on the wider note, I know that sex is supposed to sell things, including books, but I struggled with this narrative where two different men had sex with the same woman (on different occasions to be clear!) and then one of them had sex with another woman, and both women reacted to both men with exactly the same responses ...

I simply can't suspend my disbelief when a writer can't vary the emotional or physical content of his sex scenes as though the sex is constant but the personalities are interchangeable.

[JoanE Radoll · Rating 2 out of 5]

Such a fascinatine part of history, and I was really interested in that. The story? - was OK. It was the setting that impressed me the most.

[Marisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Didn't hate it, but I didn't love it. The writing itself is beautiful and the plot fascinating, but I felt I didn't have enough historical background knowledge to really feel immersed in the novel's universe. The author does a little bit of setting the scene but not a lot, and so what you don't know about 1920s British occupied Palestine you have to look up for yourself, and that's not exactly a quick dictionary.com word definition you're looking up.

Furthermore, the characters weren't quite the kind I find myself relating to. None of them captured my interest for too long. Joyce did at first, but her odd back and forth between her husband and her younger lover made her hard to sympathize with, and it was difficult to tell what she really wanted. Her indecisiveness also didn't even feel too much like her character but rather how the author felt towards her when writing her. But that's my just my irrelevant and small opinion.

If you're interested in Jewish history or history about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, I would definitely recommend this book. However, I'd recommend it only to people who have a strong interest as well as extensive background knowledge on British occupied Palestine.

[Nancy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really 3 1/2 stars. The story takes place in Palestine after WWI, when the Jews and the Arabs are under British rule (pre-Israel, as in Exodus). Mark, an English painter and Joyce, his non-Jewish American wife, have come to Palestine seeking some kind of relief, him from a bad review and she to help the Zionist cause. Mark has been a terrible husband for years, ignoring his wife and her needs, to focus on his painting.
As soon as they arrive, an Orthodox Jew stumbles into their yard, and dies in their arms after having been stabbed. A police investigation ensues and a homosexual boy is suspected of the crime. But the government has a problem; if they arrest the boy the Arab community will riot, and if they arrest a Jew, there will be violent protests. Politics always play a big part in the Middle East, even in a murder.

I don't want to give the whole plot away, but suffice it to say, Joyce's Zionism plays a part. There is love and sex and guns, religion and politics involved throughout. Pretty good stuff! I liked the writing style and it was an easy read that held my attention. The Goodreads description is a good plot summary.

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Setting is Palistine shortly after the end of the Great War. Jerusalem has attracted Jews from Europe who are "pioneers", Orthodox Jews who don't want an Israeil state, British police officers, and, of course, the Arabs who have lived there for centuries. The plot circles a young British Jewish policeman, a British Jewish artist, his American non-Jewish but Zionist wife. There's a lot of sex and violence, some humor, some grief. But an interesting introduction in fictional form of the early history of the State of Israel and the complexities in its formation.

[Linda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Set in Palestine after WWI, a couple witness the murder of a prominent Orthodox Jew near their Jerusalem cottage. Joyce, his wife begins an affair with the British police officer investigating the crime, while her husband a disillusioned painter discovers the beauty of the desert light. The author writes of the relationships of the various people who are living in Palestine at this time.

[Mary Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting read to learn more about the British occupation and early settlers in Israel/Palestine in the 1920s.

[Kim · Rating 2 out of 5]

Historical....Palestine 1924....Murder intrigue, British Jews as police, Zionist Jews as a movement, people being played, gun running. Was not compelling to read.

[Mindy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ending was confusing
Nothing gets resolved

[Robin · Rating 4 out of 5]

A National Jewish Book Award Finalist about Palestine in the 1920s. Interesting, flawed characters at a crossroads in history.

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really loved this story set in 1921 in British Mandate Palestine. The characters and setting are so layered and complex and Wilson's writing is a lot like Graham Greene's.

[Igal · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book because my ancestors on my father's side lived in the Middle East and in Jerusalem since forever, so I have a taste for stories that take place there.

It's a technically accomplished book by a writer that obviously knows how to put a story together, although a little too often he's a little over the top with the similes and metaphors. The story, which takes place in the British Mandate era in what is today Israel, follows some English folks (and one English wannabe) as they navigate through their personal demons in a land they're not quite sure they belong in. What brings them together is a murder that's connected to the politics that were taking shape at the time, the implications of which are still being felt today.

Unfortunately, like many Europeans and their descendants (and some Middle Easterners), the author seems to have no knowledge of nor interest in including Middle Eastern Jews in his story. They were there (since forever, as I said), but, sadly, and like the rest of the world, they remain invisible in his story as in most others.

The book is a sort of mystery, a sort of love-triangle story, and a sort of historical novel. Which left me a little lost. If not terribly interesting, it's a fast read by a proficient writer.

[Denis · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this book by chance, and read it not sure what to expect. I was immediately charmed by the writer's voice, who manages to avoid the pitfalls of exoticism easily associated with such books to narrate an intimate story of love and politics that does portray the Middle-East at a specific time of its history in very convincing and multi-layered ways. Wilson's storyline is not really original, but his characters are complex enough to make you care about them and, more than that, to make you believe in them: therefore, the apparent simplicity of what unfolds actually allows the author to go beyond the surface, to reveal the real emotional depth of his heroes - and to depict the different realities of Palestine with flair and knowledge. It's not a spectacular book in the sense some best-selling books about foreign countries and past years can be, but it's probably much better - and it does linger within you, as if you had made a trip far away and still could smell the warm sand you were walking on.

[Scilla · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book takes place after WWI during the British occupation of Palestine. British artist Mark Bloomberg goes to Palestine with his American wife, Joyce, who is a Zionist in spite of not being a Jew. A prominent Jew is murdered in their yard; a young homosexual Arab, Saud, is being charged; and the police have a problem whether they arrest an Arab or a Jew. Joyce has an affair with a Jewish British policeman investigating the murder, and then disappears with an American movie maker. The governor sends Bloomberg to paint Petra with Saud as his assistant (to get him away from Jerusalem). You definitely get a sense of the tension and political problems of the time and place.

[Laura · Rating 2 out of 5]

Wilson wrote a book that, except for the locale, could have been written about anyone, anytime. There was nothing special or redeeming about the characters, and the plot just... happened. Many reviewers say that this "spare" writing style is elegant and compelling... I say it's somewhat boring, and I was glad it was a short book. Maybe someone else would have a different impression, but this just wasn't my favorite book of the summer.

[Marina Menchero · Rating 1 out of 5]

Este livro tem um fraco arranque. Temos um casal um pouco peculiar e para ajudar a essa mistura um homicídio mesmo no jardim dos mesmos. Bloomberg é um artista assombrado pela guerra e pelo fracasso das suas obras. Joyce quer fazer algo para mudar o mundo e acabar por fazer a coisa errada pelo “bem maior”. Traições e muitas mortes. Pelo menos o Kirsch acaba feliz. MM

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I particularly enjoyed this book after having visited Israel earlier this winter. I thought the characters were interesting, and the description of Israel between World War I and World War II very fascinating.

[Hermien · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting story starting with the murder of an orthodox jew in 1924 Jerusalem. It is a period in Middle Eastern history I was not familiar with and the relations between the British, Arabs and Jews is very interesting.

[Zac Matlock · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this book to be intriguing, suspenseful, historically and culturally accurate, well balanced, and deeply sensual. Jonathan Wilson did an amazing job of putting the reader in the very tense world of those inhabiting 1920’s British occupied Palestine and all those living there.

[M · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an interesting book. The history of Palestine when run by the British is interesting. So is the affair!

[Beatrice · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting twists and turns in the plot.

[Cknot1sk · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed learning more about Palestine under British rule. Additionally I was anxious to get to the end, but I'm now wondering whether or not the character dynamics make a lot of sense.

[Joseph · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book about pre-Israel Palestine and the building of the country in its early days of British occupation. I enjoyed it.

[Chloe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Have not decided yet - but I was very impressed.