To the End of the Land
By David GrossmanFrom 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.
show more
Book details
- Hardcover
- 575 pages
- English
- 0307592979
- 9780307592972
About David Grossman
leading israeli novelist david grossman (b. 1954, jerusalem) studied philosophy and drama at the hebrew university of jerusalem, and later worked as an edi Read More about David Grossman
More Books By David Grossman
People who bought this also bought
Dining in the Kingdom of God: The Origins of Eucharist according to Luke
Used Book
Bull by the Horns : Fighting to Save Main Street from Wall Street and Wall Street from Itself
Used Book
Reclaim the State: Experiments in Popular Democracy book by Hilary Wainwright
Used Book
Molecules at an Exhibition : Portraits of Intriguing Materials in Everyday Life
Used Book
Rediscovering Kingdom Worship :The Purpose and Power of Praise and Worship by Myles Munroe
New Book
Unplugged: My Journey into the Dark World of Video Game Addiction
Used Book
Gift Giving from Him to Her: What Every Woman Wishes He Knew about Gifts
Used Book
San Francisco Flavors: Favorite Recipes from the Junior League of San Francisco
Used Book
No Surrender: A Father, a Son, and an Extraordinary Act of Heroism That Continues to Live on Today
Used Book