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reflectiverambling_nalana's review
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Reading a book focusing on Israeli characters given the current world tensions was something I went into with trepidation. What we read or chose not to can be a form or statement. I also think it is important to read works that challenge us, that are difficult to swallow. It can even reaffirm why we might not agree with something.
I did not go into reading this text frivolously. It is one of the titles listed in "Read Dangerously" and toyed with the idea of reading all the works I was not familiar with or wanted to revisit in order to revisit that work. I do not want my review to be seen as taking any particular political stance. I will only go as far to say that I do not condone actions that do not recognize the humanity of others, in particular when it is means for a personal goal. I understand if someone may choose not to read this. Readers should be warned that as this is a largely faith based conflict there are expressions by characters that may be unsettling. I do believe the given the continued conflict is central to the lives of the main characters the novel does its best to treat it as an influence on daily life rather than being a piece meant to sway opinion of righteousness. I have done my best to view this experience as one of someone analyzing a story's form and core messaging. I do believe if you are able or willing to do something similar, I believe you will find a story that has very little to do with a particular grievance or atrocity to find one that is very deeply human.
"To the End of the Land" is a very heavy novel. Not only because of everything that modern readers will come into it with, but because it is full of heartache and worry. It is about the way trauma and grief shift us. It's about the bargains we make because we can't bare reality. It's about how a person shifts and how they are hollowed when they realize that they have defined their lives through others. It's about the uncanny way we form bonds, how living is messy and our relationships acutely unpredictable.
It's about living grief, of dread, of mistakes made. It's about a mother, a friend, it is about brothers, it's about bonds that don't have names. It's about searching for purpose and self. The application of the hike, one that is sometimes cylindrical, is reminiscent of how much life is a drudging of patterns and behaviors and how long it takes to learn some lessons. It is about the power of words to tether and to even completely create impressions, emotions, and bonds. While it is centered around the worries and love of a mother, I did not have to be one to feel her desperation.
While I made a huge preamble of how this isn't as political as it could be-- I actually was surprised to see how much in early sections it displayed how the tensions grew for Palestinians. Our central character has a long time near friend and go to taxi driver and seems ambivalent of his faith. In fact, at one point when her son begins a spiral of fear, she even thinks of showing him that as individuals there is no threat, that there can be coexistence. While it's never fully realized she also has an eye opening moment where it really seems to hit home for her what he goes through on a regular basis-- the same fear. She also sees how the border conflict starts to change how people see friends, neighbors. War was the enemy itself.
When there is a tirade against Muslims it comes in a time of high anxiety, of fear, and comes across more against the political structures than people. In fact, she expresses her second greatest fear is that her son might kill as it will change him, his soul, his spirit. Again, I am not expressing sympathy with an ideology, but is easy for me to see that worry and fear for a loved one can affect what someone might say.
I can't say I enjoyed this book. I can say that i thought it tackled a lot of heavy topics, including mental health and being a prisoner of war, with grace. I think that it was ambitious. I do think that it was rather long and that my soul felt exhausted by the time I finished.
I did not go into reading this text frivolously. It is one of the titles listed in "Read Dangerously" and toyed with the idea of reading all the works I was not familiar with or wanted to revisit in order to revisit that work. I do not want my review to be seen as taking any particular political stance. I will only go as far to say that I do not condone actions that do not recognize the humanity of others, in particular when it is means for a personal goal. I understand if someone may choose not to read this. Readers should be warned that as this is a largely faith based conflict there are expressions by characters that may be unsettling. I do believe the given the continued conflict is central to the lives of the main characters the novel does its best to treat it as an influence on daily life rather than being a piece meant to sway opinion of righteousness. I have done my best to view this experience as one of someone analyzing a story's form and core messaging. I do believe if you are able or willing to do something similar, I believe you will find a story that has very little to do with a particular grievance or atrocity to find one that is very deeply human.
"To the End of the Land" is a very heavy novel. Not only because of everything that modern readers will come into it with, but because it is full of heartache and worry. It is about the way trauma and grief shift us. It's about the bargains we make because we can't bare reality. It's about how a person shifts and how they are hollowed when they realize that they have defined their lives through others. It's about the uncanny way we form bonds, how living is messy and our relationships acutely unpredictable.
It's about living grief, of dread, of mistakes made. It's about a mother, a friend, it is about brothers, it's about bonds that don't have names. It's about searching for purpose and self. The application of the hike, one that is sometimes cylindrical, is reminiscent of how much life is a drudging of patterns and behaviors and how long it takes to learn some lessons. It is about the power of words to tether and to even completely create impressions, emotions, and bonds. While it is centered around the worries and love of a mother, I did not have to be one to feel her desperation.
While I made a huge preamble of how this isn't as political as it could be-- I actually was surprised to see how much in early sections it displayed how the tensions grew for Palestinians. Our central character has a long time near friend and go to taxi driver and seems ambivalent of his faith. In fact, at one point when her son begins a spiral of fear, she even thinks of showing him that as individuals there is no threat, that there can be coexistence. While it's never fully realized she also has an eye opening moment where it really seems to hit home for her what he goes through on a regular basis-- the same fear. She also sees how the border conflict starts to change how people see friends, neighbors. War was the enemy itself.
When there is a tirade against Muslims it comes in a time of high anxiety, of fear, and comes across more against the political structures than people. In fact, she expresses her second greatest fear is that her son might kill as it will change him, his soul, his spirit. Again, I am not expressing sympathy with an ideology, but is easy for me to see that worry and fear for a loved one can affect what someone might say.
I can't say I enjoyed this book. I can say that i thought it tackled a lot of heavy topics, including mental health and being a prisoner of war, with grace. I think that it was ambitious. I do think that it was rather long and that my soul felt exhausted by the time I finished.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Genocide, Violence, Mental illness, War, Medical trauma, Torture, Antisemitism, Colonisation, Death, Forced institutionalization, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Xenophobia, Gore, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Grief, Medical content, Sexual content, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Islamophobia, and Kidnapping
nothingforpomegranted's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
The book begins in an isolation ward in an Israeli hospital in 1967. Teenage patient Ora develops a friendship with Avram, who shares her curiosity and challenges her cynicism with creativity and questions. Together, they wonder about fellow patient Ilan and how to support him before the plot flashes forward thirty years to the era of the second intifada in the early 2000s. Now reeling from the dissolution of her marriage to Ilan and the discovery that her son Ofer, whose army service was days from ending, volunteered to participate in a West Bank invasion with his unit, Ora decides to embark on a backpacking trip in the Galilee, hoping to escape both the realities of her life and the terror of her premonition of grief. To keep her company, she invites Avram, with whom her relationship has shifted dramatically over their decades of friendship and trauma.
The narration is complicated, shifting between perspectives, ample use of free indirect discourse, and snippets of dialogue.
The first section of the book was perhaps the most experimental, embracing a sort of shared stream of consciousness that was a bit disorienting to read and didn’t feel sufficiently developed or explained in the rest of the novel to justify it. However, only a few pages into the hike, I was fully immersed.
Slowly, decades of memories and tension are revealed as Ora and Avram make their way through the wilderness of northern Israel, described stunningly and meaningfully in Grossman’s text and Cohen’s translation. (Indeed, I was generally impressed with the translation, which managed to effectively capture several different moments of wordplay and exploration of language without feeling forced or false.)
The story was gripping and suspenseful, filled with complicated characters that all felt truly human. There was a depth to every one of the moments that honestly spoke to the complicated landscape—natural, political, emotional—of Israel that was thrilling and familiar.
The narration is complicated, shifting between perspectives, ample use of free indirect discourse, and snippets of dialogue.
The first section of the book was perhaps the most experimental, embracing a sort of shared stream of consciousness that was a bit disorienting to read and didn’t feel sufficiently developed or explained in the rest of the novel to justify it. However, only a few pages into the hike, I was fully immersed.
Slowly, decades of memories and tension are revealed as Ora and Avram make their way through the wilderness of northern Israel, described stunningly and meaningfully in Grossman’s text and Cohen’s translation. (Indeed, I was generally impressed with the translation, which managed to effectively capture several different moments of wordplay and exploration of language without feeling forced or false.)
The story was gripping and suspenseful, filled with complicated characters that all felt truly human. There was a depth to every one of the moments that honestly spoke to the complicated landscape—natural, political, emotional—of Israel that was thrilling and familiar.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Abandonment, War, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
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