Details Books To To the End of the Land
| Original Title: | אישה בורחת מבשורה |
| ISBN: | 0307592979 (ISBN13: 9780307592972) |
| Edition Language: | English |
| Characters: | Ora, Adam, Avram, Ilan, Ofer |
| Literary Awards: | National Jewish Book Award for Fiction (2010), BTBA Best Translated Book Award Nominee for Fiction longlist (2011), Independent Foreign Fiction Prize Nominee for Longlist (2011), Prix Médicis Etranger (2011), National Book Critics Circle Award Nominee for Fiction (2010) Jewish Quarterly-Wingate Prize (2011), Grand prix de l'héroïne Madame Figaro for Roman étranger (2012) |
David Grossman
Hardcover | Pages: 581 pages Rating: 3.97 | 5905 Users | 876 Reviews
Identify Appertaining To Books To the End of the Land
| Title | : | To the End of the Land |
| Author | : | David Grossman |
| Book Format | : | Hardcover |
| Book Edition | : | Special Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 581 pages |
| Published | : | September 21st 2010 by Vintage Books (first published 2008) |
| Categories | : | Fiction. Cultural. Israel. Historical. Historical Fiction. War. Literature. Jewish |
Chronicle As Books To the End of the Land
From one of Israel’s most acclaimed writers comes a novel of extraordinary power about family life—the greatest human drama—and the cost of war. Ora, a middle-aged Israeli mother, is on the verge of celebrating her son Ofer’s release from army service when he returns to the front for a major offensive. In a fit of preemptive grief and magical thinking, she sets out for a hike in the Galilee, leaving no forwarding information for the “notifiers” who might darken her door with the worst possible news. Recently estranged from her husband, Ilan, she drags along an unlikely companion: their former best friend and her former lover Avram, once a brilliant artistic spirit. Avram served in the army alongside Ilan when they were young, but their lives were forever changed one weekend when the two jokingly had Ora draw lots to see which of them would get the few days’ leave being offered by their commander—a chance act that sent Avram into Egpyt and the Yom Kippur War, where he was brutally tortured as POW. In the aftermath, a virtual hermit, he refused to keep in touch with the family and has never met the boy. Now, as Ora and Avram sleep out in the hills, ford rivers, and cross valleys, avoiding all news from the front, she gives him the gift of Ofer, word by word; she supplies the whole story of her motherhood, a retelling that keeps Ofer very much alive for Ora and for the reader, and opens Avram to human bonds undreamed of in his broken world. Their walk has a “war and peace” rhythm, as their conversation places the most hideous trials of war next to the joys and anguish of raising children. Never have we seen so clearly the reality and surreality of daily life in Israel, the currents of ambivalence about war within one household, and the burdens that fall on each generation anew. Grossman’s rich imagining of a family in love and crisis makes for one of the great antiwar novels of our time.Rating Appertaining To Books To the End of the Land
Ratings: 3.97 From 5905 Users | 876 ReviewsWrite Up Appertaining To Books To the End of the Land
I feel a bit guilty about not having become more absorbed in this novel. Several of my friends, whose taste in literature I respect, felt Grossman's "To the End of the Land" was the best thing since sliced bread (since I have started spending time in France, this expression baffles me--was sliced bread really a step forward? Anyway . . . ) . It was for me slow and even at times tedious. The premise is enticing. A young Israeli, who has already fulfilled his compulsory military service,Despite Nicole Krausss ridiculously glowing review, I never felt this book was powerful, shattering or unflinching. Ora is a middle-aged Israeli mother of two who flees to the Galilean countryside when her youngest son Ofer volunteers for combat in a conflict taking place in 2000. She is desperate to escape any news of the battle and her sons fate, so she brings an old friend Avram along with her on a trek through the wilderness. The entire novel is basically Oras reflection on her son, her
This may be one of the best books I've ever read. No, that seems to contain some doubt. This IS one of the most amazing books I've ever read. I have been sleep deprived for a week because I could not put it down until long after exhaustion set in. It is set in Isreal (it's translated from Hebrew) and is about Ora, whose son's military service is extended a month just as a campaign against Lebanon begins. Ora makes a pact, a deal, where if the notifiers can't find her, then her son can't die-- so
I really struggled with this one, and to a certain extent I feel like I am giving four stars because respect must be paid, to Grossman as a novelist at the height of his powers using all his craft to create a formally perfect and emotionally searing masterpiece, to Grossman as a father who somehow managed to take some small piece of his loss and transform it into art, to Grossman as a rational thinking caring man in a place where rationality and caring are at best perilously endangered. And so
Had you known what would happen, which name would you have wanted to pick?The novel opens in 1967 with a lengthy prologue set in the isolation ward of a Tel Aviv hospital during the Six Day War. Three sick teenagers: the girl Ora, and the two boys Avram and Ilan, are terrified that Israel has already fallen to the Egyptians. They try to comfort each other: Ora is already falling in love with the artistic and romantic Avram; it seems possible that Ilan may not survive.But forty years later, just
David Grossman, one of Israels most acclaimed writers, has written a novel of extraordinary power about family lifethe greatest human dramaand the cost of war.Three people meet in 1967, with injuries suffered in the Six Day War.Thirty three years later there is another war and the son of Ora has served his time but re-enlists. She leaves her home because she does not want to be there if THEY come (THEY would tell her that her son has been killed). She decides to leave home for a month-long hike
This novel has been praised by commentators of all stripes, from the odious Jeffrey Goldberg to the righteous Gideon Levy. I'd like to concur that it is in fact a beautiful work of art. Politically, David Grossman seems to consider himself something of a liberal Zionist (an oxymoron in my opinion, but never mind that for now); this is very far from a didactic book, however. I'd even say its wisdom exceeds the opinions of its author. Grossman has no particular case to make here. Mostly this is a
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