To the End of the Land
Book - 2010
Set in Israel in recent times, this epic yet intimate novel places side by side the trials of war and the challenges of everyday life. Through a series of powerful, overlapping circles backward in time, it tells the story of Ora's relationship with her husband, from whom she is now separated, as well as the tragedy of their best friend Avram, a former soldier -- and her son's biological father. When her son Ofer rejoins the army for a major offensive, Ora is devastated and decides to hike in the Galilee, leaving no forwarding information for the "notifiers" who might deliver the worst news a parent can hear. She phones Avram, whom she has not seen in 21 years, and convinces him to go with her. As they journey together, Ora unfurls the story of her family, and gives Avram the gift of his son -- a telling that keeps the boy alive for both his mother and the reader.
Never have we seen so vividly the surreality of daily life in Israel, the consequences of living in a society where the burden of war falls on each generation anew. David Grossman's rich imagining of a family in love and crisis makes for one of the great anti-war novels of our time.
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Add a SummaryISRAIL - Israeli novelist Grossman returns with an epic yet intimate story of an Israeli family and the shadow of war that haunts it.
AnneDromeda
Nov 01, 2010
David Grossman's _To the End of the Land_ is a heart-rending, kaleidoscopic look at the ongoing situation in Israel and Palestine experienced from the vantage point of one unconventional family. The tenuous marriage between Ora and Ilan finally fractures under the weight of what happened to their best friend - and Ora's former lover - Avram, when he was taken as a POW as a young man serving in the IDF. When Ora's youngest son elects to extend his service to participate in a dangerous operation, she knows his chances are slim. She performs a "soft kidnap" on Avram, and embarks on a secular pilgrimage through the wilderness in a superstitious push to keep her son alive by avoiding those who could bring the news of his death.
The novel's lush tone and the narrator's unusually empathic voice provide deeply multidimensional characters. The narrative itself has a stream-of-consciousness feel that is deceptive - for all the lovely flow and music of the writing, every word in the book is obviously weighed, and chosen carefully. The writing is so powerful and playful one can hardly imagine _To the End of the Land_ is a translation; but it is, and the translator (Jessica Cohen) has outdone herself. Grossman uses double and triple meanings as well as clever puns and dark humour to layer shades of humanity into a complex and inhumane situation. These shades of meaning provide stunning insights into the creeping, cumulative way the ongoing conflict infects every aspect of life for Israelis and Palestinians, creating tiny flashes of extremism and empathy by turns among even the secular and apolitical. _To the End of the Land_ is a beautiful, deeply moving book recommended for anyone desiring a deeper understanding of the conflict in Israel and Palestine.
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Add a CommentA fantasticly told, heartbreakingly epic story. Recommended for anyone who is a mother, has a mother or knows a mother.
Set in Israel, this is about the friendship of two men and a woman. The woman undertakes a hike in Galilee with her old friend, believing that if she is unreachable, news of her son who is in the army cannot reach her. While this is a good book, it is definitely too long.
This was a beautiful book.
Chosen as his book of the year by Adam Hochschild: "David Grossman's To the End of the Land is that rare literary achievement: a fine, moving novel that is deeply political without being in any way strident. Grossman is a peace-minded Israeli who lost his own son in combat several years ago, and his cry from the heart is not so much about the dead or the injured, but about what a state of endless war does to the minds of those who wage it. The novel is also brilliantly, inventively structured, with several suspenseful back stories that unfold hauntingly, in pieces, against the strange journey that is the main action."
David Grossman's _To the End of the Land_ is a heart-rending, kaleidoscopic look at the ongoing situation in Israel and Palestine experienced from the vantage point of one unconventional family. The tenuous marriage between Ora and Ilan finally fractures under the weight of what happened to their best friend - and Ora's former lover - Avram, when he was taken as a POW as a young man serving in the IDF. When Ora's youngest son elects to extend his service to participate in a dangerous operation, she knows his chances are slim. She performs a "soft kidnap" on Avram, and embarks on a secular pilgrimage through the wilderness in a superstitious push to keep her son alive by avoiding those who could bring the news of his death.
The novel's lush tone and the narrator's unusually empathic voice provide deeply multidimensional characters. The narrative itself has a stream-of-consciousness feel that is deceptive - for all the lovely flow and music of the writing, every word in the book is obviously weighed, and chosen carefully. The writing is so powerful and playful one can hardly imagine _To the End of the Land_ is a translation; but it is, and the translator (Jessica Cohen) has outdone herself. Grossman uses double and triple meanings as well as clever puns and dark humour to layer shades of humanity into a complex and inhumane situation. These shades of meaning provide stunning insights into the creeping, cumulative way the ongoing conflict infects every aspect of life for Israelis and Palestinians, creating tiny flashes of extremism and empathy by turns among even the secular and apolitical. _To the End of the Land_ is a beautiful, deeply moving book recommended for anyone desiring a deeper understanding of the conflict in Israel and Palestine.