This novel is absolutely moving and completely heartbreaking. It's the kind of story that sticks with you, long after you've put it down for the final time. It was the kind of book that, while I was reading it, I couldn't put it down - I'm pretty sure I read it during lecture because I physically could not let it go when there was still so many things unresolved. Moriel Rothman-Zecher tackles pretty heavy topics, and accomplishes so much.
Moriel Rothman-Zecher is an Israeli-American novelist and poet whose work has been published in The New York Times, The Paris Review and Haaretz. Rothman-Zecher says he came across this novel idea almost by accident - that he was trying to write something else, but it wasn't working but then all of a sudden, during a period of fasting, he realized he was writing the wrong book. No matter what brought on this realization, I'm glad it allowed this book to be born. It's definitely the kind of eye-opening novel the world needed.
The story opens with Jonathan, who is in military prison for something readers don't quite yet know. But he's reflecting and all of a sudden telling us about his summer. Of being excited to join the Israel Defense Forces. Of meeting two Palestinian citizens of Israel - the twins, Laith and Nimreen. Becoming friends with them, loving hanging out with them and then loving them. The summer is full of love and confusion as Jonathan grapples about what this friendship means for who he believes he is.
There seems to be no happy ending here, cruelly reminding us of the first word of the title: sadness. But the story is so clever, so well-written, that even readers are caught between this debate with Jonathan. Urging him to understand, falling in love with Laith and Nimreen the same way Jonathan is. There's this false hope that maybe everything will be okay, because it has to be. The story is intense, and sometimes I felt lost in the politics I didn't quite understand, but the heart was so large, and the desire to share this story was so profound. Even if you're not familiar with the politics, I heartily recommend this novel, because it is and it isn't about the politics - it's truly about the ways in which is affects the people caught within the politics.
The ending is not satisfying. But the characters are so rich in complexity, the prose so lyrical and searing, the plot so revealing in what war can do to people, that this book is well, well worth the read.
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