if he thinks about it, Dori has to admit that he has been feeling diminished by his life lately — disconnected from his wife, possibly over-connected with his son Netta, and unrecognized for his passion for teaching history to the next generation. That is, until he is called upon by his sister to travel from Israel to South America to search for their father, who has just disappeared. During the course of this search, he encounters Inbar, a young woman who is embarking on a journey of her own, as she seeks to distill her own trauma and sort out her own way forward. As their paths converge, they bond almost inadvertently and what they discover is quite startling on many levels.
This book was initially hard work. At least for me, it took about 250-300 pages to become engaged in the lives of the characters enough to really and truly HAVE to see it through. Once I was there, however, it definitely reached that “page-turner” level. Moreover, it grew in complexity as it progressed It was as if the seeds had to be planted and given time for the roots to take hold. Once they were firmly embedded, the story was then able to branch out, creating a complex plot line that fully blooms.
One of my favorite characters is Lily, Inbar’s grandmother. We meet Lily as a grandmother, whose memory is failing. And we meet her in glimpses of her memories of her younger self, making the arduous trek to Palestine from Europe just before the war. We see the hopeful young pioneer with a dream of what Erez Yisrael, the Land of Israel, will be: the homeland of the Jews, the refuge for those with no other place to go. And we see her own personal struggle with choices she makes for herself, for her country, and for her ideals.
There is a lot to digest here in these pages. There is a lot of discussion about the land of Israel, where the Jewish homeland should really be and if what is happening now is actually working. Is Israel today a failed experiment? Who has the right to make that decision? Are there too many people in Israel broken by wars there to make these decisions?
This would be a fantastic book for a book club, were it not for the length of the book. (This tiny review does not at all do it justice. ) On the other hand, since we’re all still pretty much stuck at home anyway, we have time to read very long books! Maybe give this one a try. I”d be curious to hear what others think about it. We’ll have a mini-book club discussion right here on this blog…
kindread spirits 