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Dinner at the Center of the Earth
A prisoner in a secret cell. The guard who has watched over him a dozen years. An American waitress in Paris. A young Palestinian man in Berlin who strikes up an odd friendship with a wealthy Canadian businessman. And The General, Israel's most controversial leader, who lies dying in a hospital, the only man who knows of the prisoner's existence.
From these vastly different lives Nathan Englander has woven a powerful, intensely suspenseful portrait of a nation riven by insoluble conflict, even as the lives of its citizens become fatefully and inextricably entwined--a political thriller of the highest order that interrogates the anguished, violent division between Israelis and Palestinians, and dramatizes the immense moral ambiguities haunting both sides. Who is right, who is wrong--who is the guard, who is truly the prisoner?
From these vastly different lives Nathan Englander has woven a powerful, intensely suspenseful portrait of a nation riven by insoluble conflict, even as the lives of its citizens become fatefully and inextricably entwined--a political thriller of the highest order that interrogates the anguished, violent division between Israelis and Palestinians, and dramatizes the immense moral ambiguities haunting both sides. Who is right, who is wrong--who is the guard, who is truly the prisoner?
254 pages, Hardcover
First published September 5, 2017
About the author
Nathan Englander
56 books390 followersNathan Englander is a Jewish-American author born in Long Island, NY in 1970. He wrote the short story collection, For the Relief of Unbearable Urges, published by Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., in 1999. The volume won widespread critical acclaim, earning Englander the 2000 PEN/Faulkner Malamud Award and the American Academy of Arts and Letters Sue Kauffman Prize, and established him as an important writer of fiction.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 425 reviews
October 20, 2017
Modern day Israel can sometimes feel like a recent bruise. It can hurt to brush up against it. Occasionally someone with experience in the region writes a new melody that is both beautiful and plaintive, and perhaps the saddest sound ever heard, a sound from the other side of a wall.
Englander’s new novel might be that new music, filled with regret for the wasted time and wasted lives, for what could have been, and what has not come to be. He points out that the time to settle state issues have come many times, and each time something more dangerous, deadly, and self-defeating was chosen. What is there to lose now? How can “even-ing the score” help in any way? Haven’t we been here before all the deaths?
The novel describes a twelve year period beginning in 2002, a year of enormous instability and fear throughout the Middle East, on every side a battle. Spies were everywhere, and some were looking not just for weaknesses but for opportunities. What Englander reminds us again and again in this novel is how close the Palestinians and Israelis are, how well they have studied each other. Their hate is more like love.
During eight of those twelve years 2002-2014, ‘the General’ Ariel Sharon lie in his bed, in a waking coma, able to hear, apparently, though perhaps unable to make sense of what he heard. While the General remained alive, hope for peace remained among his supporters because Sharon alone had shown willingness to withdraw from Gaza. Though Sharon led some of the most decisive attacks against Palestinian aggression anywhere, he understood that he was responsible for Israel’s future, which meant peace. Military ends had not brought the stability he’d sought. Every year he lay in bed, the hope dimmed further.
The story’s other individuals are connected in some way with a couple degrees of separation. All appear to have been spies at some time or other, so the tension starts strong and never really abates. One is continually aware when a conversation is intended to communicate far more than casual niceties about work, weather, or sports. In Berlin, a Palestinian operative gathers the money and resources he will need to make a difference. Approached by an American Jew working for Mossad, a connection is made.
In counterpoint to Sharon’s story and that of the American spy in Europe, is another story told some years later of a man, Prisoner Z, being held in an Israeli dark site in the desert, a disappeared man we initially assume to be Palestinian. But no, he is one of their own, which means a crime of treason. He's held twelve years already, by the same jailor. They have become friends, these two lonely disappeared men, and more perhaps. Brothers.
Englander’s characters are believable—they are not better nor more evil than anyone else in the world. That is his point, after all. It may be illegal, treasonous, monstrous to suggest that Israelis would be safer if they had less protection, less surety, but that may be what it will take to get where they claim they want to go. The Palestinians are going to want parity, so if parity is not what one is willing to give, then one will always be looking over one’s shoulder at what could have been.
A beautiful small novel that feels European, filled with hope and despair, possibility and its opposite. And love.
I listened to the Penguin Random House audio production of his novel read by Mark Bramhall. Bramhall does an Oscar-worthy Jewish mother talking on the telephone to her son, the spy. It can’t be beat, his impersonation. Listening is a fine way to enjoy this novel.
Englander’s new novel might be that new music, filled with regret for the wasted time and wasted lives, for what could have been, and what has not come to be. He points out that the time to settle state issues have come many times, and each time something more dangerous, deadly, and self-defeating was chosen. What is there to lose now? How can “even-ing the score” help in any way? Haven’t we been here before all the deaths?
The novel describes a twelve year period beginning in 2002, a year of enormous instability and fear throughout the Middle East, on every side a battle. Spies were everywhere, and some were looking not just for weaknesses but for opportunities. What Englander reminds us again and again in this novel is how close the Palestinians and Israelis are, how well they have studied each other. Their hate is more like love.
During eight of those twelve years 2002-2014, ‘the General’ Ariel Sharon lie in his bed, in a waking coma, able to hear, apparently, though perhaps unable to make sense of what he heard. While the General remained alive, hope for peace remained among his supporters because Sharon alone had shown willingness to withdraw from Gaza. Though Sharon led some of the most decisive attacks against Palestinian aggression anywhere, he understood that he was responsible for Israel’s future, which meant peace. Military ends had not brought the stability he’d sought. Every year he lay in bed, the hope dimmed further.
The story’s other individuals are connected in some way with a couple degrees of separation. All appear to have been spies at some time or other, so the tension starts strong and never really abates. One is continually aware when a conversation is intended to communicate far more than casual niceties about work, weather, or sports. In Berlin, a Palestinian operative gathers the money and resources he will need to make a difference. Approached by an American Jew working for Mossad, a connection is made.
In counterpoint to Sharon’s story and that of the American spy in Europe, is another story told some years later of a man, Prisoner Z, being held in an Israeli dark site in the desert, a disappeared man we initially assume to be Palestinian. But no, he is one of their own, which means a crime of treason. He's held twelve years already, by the same jailor. They have become friends, these two lonely disappeared men, and more perhaps. Brothers.
Englander’s characters are believable—they are not better nor more evil than anyone else in the world. That is his point, after all. It may be illegal, treasonous, monstrous to suggest that Israelis would be safer if they had less protection, less surety, but that may be what it will take to get where they claim they want to go. The Palestinians are going to want parity, so if parity is not what one is willing to give, then one will always be looking over one’s shoulder at what could have been.
A beautiful small novel that feels European, filled with hope and despair, possibility and its opposite. And love.
I listened to the Penguin Random House audio production of his novel read by Mark Bramhall. Bramhall does an Oscar-worthy Jewish mother talking on the telephone to her son, the spy. It can’t be beat, his impersonation. Listening is a fine way to enjoy this novel.
April 8, 2020
A stupendous novel about global awareness. Or rather, the lack thereof.
These stories of individuals stuck in limbo (one of them is literally THERE!) and are betrayed or loved, or themselves betray or hate, are infinitely alive. The merging of different factions is like a series of battle royale vignettes, each with its own singular effect. Summed together, it's all the theme of war causing rifts through the years, and in this case, destroying poor lives. Englander opens our eyes in his very frugal but powerful anecdotes--like in concentric circles, round & round, and there is no beginning nor end...
These stories of individuals stuck in limbo (one of them is literally THERE!) and are betrayed or loved, or themselves betray or hate, are infinitely alive. The merging of different factions is like a series of battle royale vignettes, each with its own singular effect. Summed together, it's all the theme of war causing rifts through the years, and in this case, destroying poor lives. Englander opens our eyes in his very frugal but powerful anecdotes--like in concentric circles, round & round, and there is no beginning nor end...
November 9, 2017
Quite a story to read during 10 days mostly in the West Bank and East Jerusalem helping Palestinians with their olive harvest and seeing and hearing the truth of their plight. The book mimics the crazed paranoia and equally crazed reality/surreality of the Israel-Palestine situation. I was told if the bag checkers in Tel Aviv saw what could be considered an anti-Israel book I'd be given a score that wouldn't allow me back if I choose to come, so I gave it to an American Lutheran minister who helps run the YWCA here. How surreal that we were asked to hid conference folders organized by the YWCA of Palestine and the YMCA of East Jerselum - hardly subsersive organizations? I resented the paranoia that created, but saw for myself how crazed are the Israeli setters and soldiers. The tale's suspense was delicious as well as painful at times, and the various endings points are comparable to the lunacy the occupation has created for many.
July 12, 2017
"Should we not, then, just meet in the middle?"
"Yes," she says. "In the middle of our middle. In the centre of the earth."
What a frustrating book this is! - frustrating because it could, and should, have been more coherent and integrated. Englander contemplates the complications of Israel in fine fashion but it's difficult to get hold of a narrative thread to navigate the book.
In an uneasily fractured narrative (and is anyone else yearning for a straightforward story, starts at the beginning, ends at the end, with no jumps in time, place and POV?) we skip between Prisoner Z, his long-term guard (complete with Jewish mother), a young Palestinian fund-raising in Berlin, and the memories of an infamous Israeli general who is now in a coma.
There's lots of vivid writing, play-like scenes of just dialogue between the mother and son, the charged relationship between guard and prisoner - so much good stuff but its also very jumpy and, with a couple of romances thrown in, a bit dishevelled.
There are some haunting scenes here which Englander delivers without overstatement but the book just never quite comes together into an organic whole - sharp, astute but oh so frustrating.
Thanks to the publisher for an ARC via NetGalley
"Yes," she says. "In the middle of our middle. In the centre of the earth."
What a frustrating book this is! - frustrating because it could, and should, have been more coherent and integrated. Englander contemplates the complications of Israel in fine fashion but it's difficult to get hold of a narrative thread to navigate the book.
In an uneasily fractured narrative (and is anyone else yearning for a straightforward story, starts at the beginning, ends at the end, with no jumps in time, place and POV?) we skip between Prisoner Z, his long-term guard (complete with Jewish mother), a young Palestinian fund-raising in Berlin, and the memories of an infamous Israeli general who is now in a coma.
There's lots of vivid writing, play-like scenes of just dialogue between the mother and son, the charged relationship between guard and prisoner - so much good stuff but its also very jumpy and, with a couple of romances thrown in, a bit dishevelled.
There are some haunting scenes here which Englander delivers without overstatement but the book just never quite comes together into an organic whole - sharp, astute but oh so frustrating.
Thanks to the publisher for an ARC via NetGalley
April 9, 2019
Dinner at the Center of the Earth shifts about in time (2002-2014) and place - Paris, Berlin, Italy, Israel, Gaza. I had no idea where this novel was going so I just surrendered to the pages - hoping the fractured narrative strands would come together. Englander writes clear, funny, wonderful prose that is a pleasure to read. Even though I liked this novel very much, it left me wishing for a resolution. But that would be a different novel. Englander doesn't lead the reader to any answers - he just raises doubts and questions and lets us imagine a meeting in the middle.
May 25, 2018
Dinner at the Center of the Earth is a thriller and a love story, told by brilliant best selling author Nathan Englander. A Long Island, Jewish American man is a spy for Israel, becomes a traitor, and ends up in a one man prison in the Negev desert with his guard for a dozen years. We learn all that leads up to the imprisonment, the emotional rollercoaster he experiences with his love for his country, a beautiful relationship with a Palestinian woman and a tricky friendship with a boating companion/business partner, all challenged by the Israeli – Palestinian conflict and the violent discourse in the Middle East.
Although the spy’s actions categorizing him as a traitor were against Israel, he was only supporting the Palestinians in order to stop the cycle of violence, which ultimately would benefit the country he fought for. His decisions were well meaning in his mind and complex, but with the countries in question, once innocent people die, there is no conceding on either side for fear of seeming weak.
For much of the time the traitor is imprisoned, the Israeli leader, The General, (representing Ariel Sharon) remained in a coma, while his followers prayed for peace. So much regret mixed with unending violence and pride perpetuate the scheming and fighting, and Englander’s characters gives us an overview of points of view from the constant and never ending battles in a region where they have what seems like a pipe dream for peace.
Dinner at The Center of The Earth is a thriller with undercover spies, a love story and secret escape routes. This laugh out loud funny, brilliant and insightful approach makes for an absorbing and exciting read despite the gruesome realities of an ongoing and devastating war and any background knowledge of the Middle East conflict, opinions and emotions the reader may carry into it.
I highly recommend this book, especially for book clubs and people interested in Israel. Nathan Englander is a brilliant speaker, and his life experiences have shaped his thoughts and opinions so strongly; combined with his talent for storytelling, he is an exceptional writer. Englander wants people to be empathetic and to think of others, to just be kind. Unfortunately, war does not have much room for empathy, and although some of the Israelis and Palestinians want to be kind and caring, there are enough decision makers and leaders who are warriors – who will not allow deaths of their people to go without retaliation, vengeance or repercussion. He conveys his ideas on the Israeli – Palestinian war through this fictional thriller with multiple layers. He shows us that the pursuit of peace is not simple and human nature can be consumed by “an eye for an eye”, but for love, it may just be possible to set vengeance aside…and go out for dinner.
Follow me for all reviews and recommendations on https://booknationbyjen.wordpress.com. Book Nation by Jen
Although the spy’s actions categorizing him as a traitor were against Israel, he was only supporting the Palestinians in order to stop the cycle of violence, which ultimately would benefit the country he fought for. His decisions were well meaning in his mind and complex, but with the countries in question, once innocent people die, there is no conceding on either side for fear of seeming weak.
For much of the time the traitor is imprisoned, the Israeli leader, The General, (representing Ariel Sharon) remained in a coma, while his followers prayed for peace. So much regret mixed with unending violence and pride perpetuate the scheming and fighting, and Englander’s characters gives us an overview of points of view from the constant and never ending battles in a region where they have what seems like a pipe dream for peace.
Dinner at The Center of The Earth is a thriller with undercover spies, a love story and secret escape routes. This laugh out loud funny, brilliant and insightful approach makes for an absorbing and exciting read despite the gruesome realities of an ongoing and devastating war and any background knowledge of the Middle East conflict, opinions and emotions the reader may carry into it.
I highly recommend this book, especially for book clubs and people interested in Israel. Nathan Englander is a brilliant speaker, and his life experiences have shaped his thoughts and opinions so strongly; combined with his talent for storytelling, he is an exceptional writer. Englander wants people to be empathetic and to think of others, to just be kind. Unfortunately, war does not have much room for empathy, and although some of the Israelis and Palestinians want to be kind and caring, there are enough decision makers and leaders who are warriors – who will not allow deaths of their people to go without retaliation, vengeance or repercussion. He conveys his ideas on the Israeli – Palestinian war through this fictional thriller with multiple layers. He shows us that the pursuit of peace is not simple and human nature can be consumed by “an eye for an eye”, but for love, it may just be possible to set vengeance aside…and go out for dinner.
Follow me for all reviews and recommendations on https://booknationbyjen.wordpress.com. Book Nation by Jen
September 30, 2017
This book is a collection of characters as puzzle pieces, surrounding a series of events in the Middle East. Fair warning: the reader needs to do some work to understand how the pieces fit. I liked the air of heightened reality but how it was also not written as a thriller.
I received this as a review copy.
I received this as a review copy.
January 29, 2019
The summer of 2014 that I spent in Israel is an indelible period in my life. This book, set in that exact window, took me back to it with a sense of intense familiarity. Englander writes Israel as few people can, both an insider and outsider. He lived there for a decade in the 90s before returning to the US and speaks fluent Hebrew. The specificity of his descriptions show his love for the land and its people. At the same time, the schizophrenic form of the novel and the collection of its different parts, all depressing and somehow fateful, show a writer (and a nation) trapped and being driven crazy.
Depressing as it is, you'll still be entertained. Englander creates the slightly wonky, often funny, tangle of impossibility that is the Israel/Palestine conflict though a few story-lines and time periods that connect. One is a spy-thriller of conflicting loyalties and good intentions gone deadly wrong. Here the much hackneyed "cycle of violence" chugs along. This thread is the narrative engine in the book, briskly advancing to its predictably depressing end via espionage-genre staples like fake passports and escape-by-yacht to five star hotel suites.
The second takes the form of subconscious associations in the head of comatose Ariel Sharon as he lies in a hospital bed, recalling key moments in Israel's decades-long fight for survival, most of which he was a key part of. The third is an account of the imprisonment of prisoner Z, a seditious former spy who is being held by his own government at a black site in the desert, totally off the record. Englander changes the dates of the real events these stories are based on to bring them together in the book: the actual prisoner X drama took place in 2010 and unfolded in the Israeli media in 2013. After 8 years in a coma, Ariel Sharon died in January of 2014, some months earlier than the summer that the book takes place, during the 2014 Gaza conflict (tzuk eitan).
These second two threads are harder to read, and initially seem like an odd combination, but I think they're really quite masterful. Both the prisoner and the General inhabit liminal states where memory, myth, and imagination dominate. In both the hospital bed and the secret jail, the hope to emerge from memory and myth back into real life and agency just barely still exists. After waiting, and hoping, we ultimately find out that this redemption doesn't happen and there's no escape. Why is the redemption denied though? For prisoner Z, it's people that deny it. For the General, it's natural causes, dumb luck. Combined I think they form an amazing metaphor for Israel's paralyzed situation (its endless matzav) where people's contemporary apathy, evilness, and haplessness combines with the historical and mythological 'natural causes' which together damn us to a state of paralysis.
In fact Englander directly recalls three near-misses where Israel was almost within grasp of peace. Rabin was murdered, Olmert was taken down for unrelated corruption, and Sharon was felled by a stroke just as each of them was ready to do what it would take. Throw in the willfully bad stuff - violence, retaliation, undermining by extremists, and internal politics, and you've got a problem with a seemingly clear solution that is yet somehow impossible to reach. For the General and Prisoner Z, the stasis goes on for a long time, and eventually the only escape is death. For the rest of us, who knows.
Shira's story near the end of the book was a bit half-baked, though still well written and important for a bit of optimism (though it's such a dark optimism that it might be a stretch to even call it that). One of my favorite descriptions in the book is from this part:
Depressing as it is, you'll still be entertained. Englander creates the slightly wonky, often funny, tangle of impossibility that is the Israel/Palestine conflict though a few story-lines and time periods that connect. One is a spy-thriller of conflicting loyalties and good intentions gone deadly wrong. Here the much hackneyed "cycle of violence" chugs along. This thread is the narrative engine in the book, briskly advancing to its predictably depressing end via espionage-genre staples like fake passports and escape-by-yacht to five star hotel suites.
The second takes the form of subconscious associations in the head of comatose Ariel Sharon as he lies in a hospital bed, recalling key moments in Israel's decades-long fight for survival, most of which he was a key part of. The third is an account of the imprisonment of prisoner Z, a seditious former spy who is being held by his own government at a black site in the desert, totally off the record. Englander changes the dates of the real events these stories are based on to bring them together in the book: the actual prisoner X drama took place in 2010 and unfolded in the Israeli media in 2013. After 8 years in a coma, Ariel Sharon died in January of 2014, some months earlier than the summer that the book takes place, during the 2014 Gaza conflict (tzuk eitan).
These second two threads are harder to read, and initially seem like an odd combination, but I think they're really quite masterful. Both the prisoner and the General inhabit liminal states where memory, myth, and imagination dominate. In both the hospital bed and the secret jail, the hope to emerge from memory and myth back into real life and agency just barely still exists. After waiting, and hoping, we ultimately find out that this redemption doesn't happen and there's no escape. Why is the redemption denied though? For prisoner Z, it's people that deny it. For the General, it's natural causes, dumb luck. Combined I think they form an amazing metaphor for Israel's paralyzed situation (its endless matzav) where people's contemporary apathy, evilness, and haplessness combines with the historical and mythological 'natural causes' which together damn us to a state of paralysis.
In fact Englander directly recalls three near-misses where Israel was almost within grasp of peace. Rabin was murdered, Olmert was taken down for unrelated corruption, and Sharon was felled by a stroke just as each of them was ready to do what it would take. Throw in the willfully bad stuff - violence, retaliation, undermining by extremists, and internal politics, and you've got a problem with a seemingly clear solution that is yet somehow impossible to reach. For the General and Prisoner Z, the stasis goes on for a long time, and eventually the only escape is death. For the rest of us, who knows.
Shira's story near the end of the book was a bit half-baked, though still well written and important for a bit of optimism (though it's such a dark optimism that it might be a stretch to even call it that). One of my favorite descriptions in the book is from this part:
She knows that those children that remain belong to the stalwart and the stubborn, to those whose jobs - skilled or unskilled - demand that they stay, and also those with no other options from which to choose.For me, this book hit intimately familiar notes from that summer of 2014: the resigned despair, deja vu, normality-amid-the-sirens, Liftah, the desert, the intensity of love when a war is happening. I remember being on the verge of tears constantly, and when I was on the kibbutz not wanting to go to bed alone at night. Hence the falling in love - imprinting onto this innocent young man so absolutely as all hell broke loose that it took nearly a year back in Canada to get over a five week relationship. Point is, this all hits very close to home. Yet, this is a complicated project to pull off, and Englander doesn't manage to do it quite perfectly. The fact that he's tried and nearly succeeded in putting this content into literary form is a major accomplishment. The depression and frustration of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a rut that's so worn, that we're so sick of hearing about, so sick of living and rehashing, and being disappointed, that we're just so over, but that refuses to be over. This book provides an artful way of thinking things over afresh, and I appreciate that invitation.
Shira also knows that one or two or three of these beautiful moppets belong to parents who are simply and amazingly unaware. Parents who suffer from an advanced sort of Israeliness. No matter the seriousness of a threat, they are constitutionally incapable of processing menace. Their lives, every day, continue as if nothing out of the ordinary is going on.
July 6, 2017
3.75, really, because Englander is incapable of writing anything mediocre. However, while I found myself turning the [digital] pages with interest, I never truly engaged with the book, at least not emotionally. Intellectually, though...
June 3, 2018
just couldn't get into this book maybe re read it at a later date
October 1, 2017
Great to see Englander eschewing the tempting pretentiousness of the 'literary' novel and going for a straight-up John Le Carré style thriller. Of course, it still is Nathan Engalnder so it's chock full of complex layers and beautiful writing but, damn, is it a fun ride! Coming from Australia, there is a weird sense of familiarity and discomfort as Prisoner Z's fate closely mirrors that of the infamous Prisoner X story - a young Australian former Mossad agent kept in secret solitary and ultimately left to die after he cracked on the job. An unsettling, challenging but ultimately enthralling rad.
August 17, 2018
Nathan Englander ha fatto un sogno
In questo sogno, forse un poco scucito - come si addice ai sogni - l'impossibile si potrebbe realizzare - la pace tra Israele e la Palestina. Ma, come i sogni ancora, finisce prima che questo progetto possa anche solo vagamente realizzarsi.
Ha scritto un bel libro, Englander, un poco folle - con spie, controspie, amori impossibili, personaggi travestiti da altri personaggi e un filo conduttore attraverso il prigioniero Z., accudito da quello che dovrebbe essere il suo torturatore.
E' un libro pieno di pietà umana, di desiderio, di consapevolezza. Un sogno, appunto.
In questo sogno, forse un poco scucito - come si addice ai sogni - l'impossibile si potrebbe realizzare - la pace tra Israele e la Palestina. Ma, come i sogni ancora, finisce prima che questo progetto possa anche solo vagamente realizzarsi.
Ha scritto un bel libro, Englander, un poco folle - con spie, controspie, amori impossibili, personaggi travestiti da altri personaggi e un filo conduttore attraverso il prigioniero Z., accudito da quello che dovrebbe essere il suo torturatore.
E' un libro pieno di pietà umana, di desiderio, di consapevolezza. Un sogno, appunto.
November 17, 2017
I thought this was very fine. Perhaps the most Israeli novel I have ever read, combining a deep love of the country with real ambivalence for the things such love demands of its people. It's a bold narrative choice to write a number of chapters from the POV of Ariel Sharon... while he was in permanent vegetative state, but that's just the kind of book this is. Probably not for everyone, but very definitely for me.
September 15, 2017
So, nu, how do we find peace in the Middle East?
One answer, at least as Nathan Englander imagines it in this generally masterful novel, is Ariel Sharon’s. “The General,” as we meet him here, never backed down. With him it was always about killing a dozen of them for every one of ours. When the PLO killed a mother and her children in a cross-border raid, he leveled an entire village.
With him, it is always go forward, but there is an end – at least as Ruth, his long-time aide, believes. She sees him readying a “peace bomb,” a plan to produce a lasting peace that would grow out of the military mercilessness to which he gave his life.
But, as is the case for most of the present-tense of this novel, he has given only half his life to that strategy. As in real life, the General suffers a debilitating stroke and remains barely alive. In his half-life, he relives much of the always-attacking nature of his life. At times, Englander’s prose is incandescent here. The scene where the General relives a moment when he and a radioman were blown into the air by a bomb is worth the whole of the novel. It’s horrible, gorgeous, and mystical. And unforgettable.
As it turns out, then, there’s no way to unleash anything like a peace bomb, no way to redeem the violence of the last generation. The most evocative sign of that stasis – aside from the General’s own “limbo” – is Ruth’s son, a guard assigned to look after Prisoner Z. If there’s a point-of-view character who earns my sympathy, it’s the guard. He spends his life pursuing the “request,” really an order, the General made of him. He looks after a man who is no longer a real person, waiting for an end that cannot come. (SPOILER: For me at least, his giving Z the means to kill himself is a hugely satisfying end point. It suggests a middle ground more appealing than the dinner of the title.) The guard simply waits, smoking his life away in the service of the never finished plans of his parents’ generation.
The other significant answer for how to find peace in this novel comes from Prisoner Z, whom, we learn, exceeded the parameters of his secret mission in an attempt to make peace with a Palestinian. The details get a bit blurry, but they turn on his being willing to trust someone, to try to make a human rather than a military connection.
That road fails as well, and he spends the rest of his life as a non-person, underground. It’s one more dimension in which the failures of the last generation limit the prospects of peace in this one.
There is a third approach to something like peace, and it’s where the title comes from. Shira and her Architect love each other across battle lines, and they are willing to seek a middle ground, a theoretically impossible one.
[SPOILER:] As beautiful as the final scene is, where the two of them enjoy a white-cloth meal in a tunnel beneath the battlefield, it comes without quite the build-up of the other possibilities. For most of the novel, Englander is brilliant in the way he bounces backward and forward in time, creating a welcome thriller feel in the way the different chapters of Z’s plot eventually come together.
Shira is a part of that story – though we don’t know it for a long time – but her romance seems to come to the fore too late for full satisfaction. I wish Englander had given us more glimpses of her early so that her love wouldn’t seem quite so out-of-the-blue at the end. I suspect there are scenes I didn’t recognize as hers early on, but it’s the one place I wish Englander had given more. (I’m also not a fan of Z’s Jewish mother – she’s stereotyped in ways that feel a bit lazy for such a gifted writer.)
All in all, this is a powerful look at the grip the last generation still has on today’s Israel. Englander is one of our absolute best short story writers. Here – after a good but not great first novel in The Ministry of Special Cases (also about a prisoner lost in the bureaucracy of a state) – he’s taken another step toward writing the great novel that seems like it’s coming from him.
One answer, at least as Nathan Englander imagines it in this generally masterful novel, is Ariel Sharon’s. “The General,” as we meet him here, never backed down. With him it was always about killing a dozen of them for every one of ours. When the PLO killed a mother and her children in a cross-border raid, he leveled an entire village.
With him, it is always go forward, but there is an end – at least as Ruth, his long-time aide, believes. She sees him readying a “peace bomb,” a plan to produce a lasting peace that would grow out of the military mercilessness to which he gave his life.
But, as is the case for most of the present-tense of this novel, he has given only half his life to that strategy. As in real life, the General suffers a debilitating stroke and remains barely alive. In his half-life, he relives much of the always-attacking nature of his life. At times, Englander’s prose is incandescent here. The scene where the General relives a moment when he and a radioman were blown into the air by a bomb is worth the whole of the novel. It’s horrible, gorgeous, and mystical. And unforgettable.
As it turns out, then, there’s no way to unleash anything like a peace bomb, no way to redeem the violence of the last generation. The most evocative sign of that stasis – aside from the General’s own “limbo” – is Ruth’s son, a guard assigned to look after Prisoner Z. If there’s a point-of-view character who earns my sympathy, it’s the guard. He spends his life pursuing the “request,” really an order, the General made of him. He looks after a man who is no longer a real person, waiting for an end that cannot come. (SPOILER: For me at least, his giving Z the means to kill himself is a hugely satisfying end point. It suggests a middle ground more appealing than the dinner of the title.) The guard simply waits, smoking his life away in the service of the never finished plans of his parents’ generation.
The other significant answer for how to find peace in this novel comes from Prisoner Z, whom, we learn, exceeded the parameters of his secret mission in an attempt to make peace with a Palestinian. The details get a bit blurry, but they turn on his being willing to trust someone, to try to make a human rather than a military connection.
That road fails as well, and he spends the rest of his life as a non-person, underground. It’s one more dimension in which the failures of the last generation limit the prospects of peace in this one.
There is a third approach to something like peace, and it’s where the title comes from. Shira and her Architect love each other across battle lines, and they are willing to seek a middle ground, a theoretically impossible one.
[SPOILER:] As beautiful as the final scene is, where the two of them enjoy a white-cloth meal in a tunnel beneath the battlefield, it comes without quite the build-up of the other possibilities. For most of the novel, Englander is brilliant in the way he bounces backward and forward in time, creating a welcome thriller feel in the way the different chapters of Z’s plot eventually come together.
Shira is a part of that story – though we don’t know it for a long time – but her romance seems to come to the fore too late for full satisfaction. I wish Englander had given us more glimpses of her early so that her love wouldn’t seem quite so out-of-the-blue at the end. I suspect there are scenes I didn’t recognize as hers early on, but it’s the one place I wish Englander had given more. (I’m also not a fan of Z’s Jewish mother – she’s stereotyped in ways that feel a bit lazy for such a gifted writer.)
All in all, this is a powerful look at the grip the last generation still has on today’s Israel. Englander is one of our absolute best short story writers. Here – after a good but not great first novel in The Ministry of Special Cases (also about a prisoner lost in the bureaucracy of a state) – he’s taken another step toward writing the great novel that seems like it’s coming from him.
August 24, 2017
I wanted to like this book way more than I did in the end. The plot sounds so intriguing: a prisoner being kept at a black site, his only friend a guard, and his only hope of survival an Israeli general who is in a coma. Other supporting stories add to the chaos of the heated conflict between Israel and Palestine. The story jumps around tons, both between perspectives and time periods. From before the capture of Prisoner Z, when he strikes up a fierce romance with an Italian woman in Paris, to being imprisoned for 12 years, we are filled in on the details of how it all came to be.
The issue I have is that nothing seemed to really fit together. Perhaps it was the constant time/character jumps, but the whole book felt disjointed. I would find myself getting lost as to what was going on, who was on what side, etc. I never found any of the relationships to be particularly believable, and some felt completely unnecessary to the plot. The character that I had the most connection to was Prisoner Z--his predicament was harsh and hard to not identify with.
Although I found it to be lacking in certain areas, I have to say that it made me want to learn more about the Israel/Palestine conflict. I found the writing itself to be great in some areas, and once I got into it, it was a page turner. It had so much potential but just never felt like it really came together for me. I would be interested in picking up one of Englander's other books, though!
The issue I have is that nothing seemed to really fit together. Perhaps it was the constant time/character jumps, but the whole book felt disjointed. I would find myself getting lost as to what was going on, who was on what side, etc. I never found any of the relationships to be particularly believable, and some felt completely unnecessary to the plot. The character that I had the most connection to was Prisoner Z--his predicament was harsh and hard to not identify with.
Although I found it to be lacking in certain areas, I have to say that it made me want to learn more about the Israel/Palestine conflict. I found the writing itself to be great in some areas, and once I got into it, it was a page turner. It had so much potential but just never felt like it really came together for me. I would be interested in picking up one of Englander's other books, though!
September 20, 2020
The two espionage plot lines with all of their double crosses and long cone are fantastic. The stories of Sharon were also very entertaining and broaden out the scope of the story in a a thoughtful way. Very well written, the end — which is described in the title — was smart and poignant but was the only part of the book I didn’t love. Probably because it’s too hard to believe.
December 17, 2020
3.5/5
Questo, oltre a essere un romanzo su Israele, sul conflitto palestinese, è un romanzo che tratta del Limbo. Ebbene sì, ci troviamo di fronte un Limbo che si dirama in tre direzioni: quella metafisica del Generale (dietro cui si nasconde Ariel Sharon), colpito da un ictus e intrappolato tra la vita e la morte in eterni istanti e miti biblici; quella dantesca, da primo girone infernale del prigioniero Z - spia israeliana cresciuta, però, in America, che per la sua etica paga con la damnatio memoriae le sue azioni - chiuso in una segreta del deserto del Negev ab aeterno; quella, infine, più profana, di Shira, ebrea e legata alla cattura di Z, e il mappatore palestinese senza nome (Che sia Farid, spia palestinese protagonista di un incontro-scontro con Joshua, una delle identità del proteiforme Z?), che cenano in un cunicolo al centro della terra mentre sopra di loro infuria la battaglia tra due popoli che potrebbero giungere a un compromesso anche domani mattina, ma che, per un motivo o per l'altro, procrastinano la pace.
Englander fa un grande lavoro nel delineare la geopolitica arabo-israeliana attraverso le vite di singoli personaggi che si attraggono e si respingono, anche se in certi casi essi mi sono apparsi sfuggenti, non delineati come avrei voluto (certo, le spie devono esserlo, ma qualche tratteggio in più non mi sarebbe dispiaciuto), e anche il fatto di far spostare il lettore in mezzo mondo ha reso più accattivante e scorrevole la lettura. I momenti in cui lo scrittore americano dà il meglio di sé sono quelli in cui sono presenti sulla scena Z e il sorvegliante, che altri non è che il figlio della donna che accudisce il Generale - nel Limbo anche lei, dunque, che non assapora più la vita di ogni giorno! - mentre questi vegeta tra la vita e la morte. Il Generale è inoltre l'unico a conoscere le sorti di Z insieme al sorvegliante e Ruthi, questo il nome di sua madre; la sua morte, dunque, significa l'affermazione definitiva del Limbo dantesco nella prigione al centro del deserto. Eppure il sorvegliante, anch'egli senza nome, non è crudele con Z e anzi lo tratta come un amico, gioca a backgammon con lui, lo aiuta a calmarsi e, infine, gli regala, come ogni anno, un'accappatoio che, però, questa volta ha una cintura...
A far da contorno vi sono, poi, le storie di spionaggio tra Parigi, Napoli e Berlino le quali non hanno di per sé uno spessore narrativo, ma fanno bene da cornice al vero nocciolo della vicenda: la situazione nel Vicino Oriente, con troppi fattori ancora in ballo per arrivare a una conclusione (e molti personaggi storici passano tra queste pagine, come Arafat, Abu Mazen e Netanyahu). Englander tiene bene i fili delle varie vicende, creando una lettura godibile e dal ritmo quasi sempre sostenuto, anche se, a mio parere, pecca a tratti per assenza di profondità e non ho apprezzato molto anche le scene col Generale sospeso tra la vita e la morte. Buona lettura, in ogni caso.
Piccola teoria personale: La lettere Z con cui è contrassegnato il prigioniero dalle tante identità potrebbe rifarsi allo Zohar, libro d'interpretazione della Torah - e, dunque, del mondo come gli Ebrei lo concepiscono - dal valore profetico; allo stesso modo, infatti, Q nel romanzo del collettivo Luther Blissett stava per Qoeelet, o Ecclesiaste, porzione della Bibbia in cui si tratta della dicotomia bene-male.
Questo, oltre a essere un romanzo su Israele, sul conflitto palestinese, è un romanzo che tratta del Limbo. Ebbene sì, ci troviamo di fronte un Limbo che si dirama in tre direzioni: quella metafisica del Generale (dietro cui si nasconde Ariel Sharon), colpito da un ictus e intrappolato tra la vita e la morte in eterni istanti e miti biblici; quella dantesca, da primo girone infernale del prigioniero Z - spia israeliana cresciuta, però, in America, che per la sua etica paga con la damnatio memoriae le sue azioni - chiuso in una segreta del deserto del Negev ab aeterno; quella, infine, più profana, di Shira, ebrea e legata alla cattura di Z, e il mappatore palestinese senza nome (Che sia Farid, spia palestinese protagonista di un incontro-scontro con Joshua, una delle identità del proteiforme Z?), che cenano in un cunicolo al centro della terra mentre sopra di loro infuria la battaglia tra due popoli che potrebbero giungere a un compromesso anche domani mattina, ma che, per un motivo o per l'altro, procrastinano la pace.
Englander fa un grande lavoro nel delineare la geopolitica arabo-israeliana attraverso le vite di singoli personaggi che si attraggono e si respingono, anche se in certi casi essi mi sono apparsi sfuggenti, non delineati come avrei voluto (certo, le spie devono esserlo, ma qualche tratteggio in più non mi sarebbe dispiaciuto), e anche il fatto di far spostare il lettore in mezzo mondo ha reso più accattivante e scorrevole la lettura. I momenti in cui lo scrittore americano dà il meglio di sé sono quelli in cui sono presenti sulla scena Z e il sorvegliante, che altri non è che il figlio della donna che accudisce il Generale - nel Limbo anche lei, dunque, che non assapora più la vita di ogni giorno! - mentre questi vegeta tra la vita e la morte. Il Generale è inoltre l'unico a conoscere le sorti di Z insieme al sorvegliante e Ruthi, questo il nome di sua madre; la sua morte, dunque, significa l'affermazione definitiva del Limbo dantesco nella prigione al centro del deserto. Eppure il sorvegliante, anch'egli senza nome, non è crudele con Z e anzi lo tratta come un amico, gioca a backgammon con lui, lo aiuta a calmarsi e, infine, gli regala, come ogni anno, un'accappatoio che, però, questa volta ha una cintura...
A far da contorno vi sono, poi, le storie di spionaggio tra Parigi, Napoli e Berlino le quali non hanno di per sé uno spessore narrativo, ma fanno bene da cornice al vero nocciolo della vicenda: la situazione nel Vicino Oriente, con troppi fattori ancora in ballo per arrivare a una conclusione (e molti personaggi storici passano tra queste pagine, come Arafat, Abu Mazen e Netanyahu). Englander tiene bene i fili delle varie vicende, creando una lettura godibile e dal ritmo quasi sempre sostenuto, anche se, a mio parere, pecca a tratti per assenza di profondità e non ho apprezzato molto anche le scene col Generale sospeso tra la vita e la morte. Buona lettura, in ogni caso.
Piccola teoria personale: La lettere Z con cui è contrassegnato il prigioniero dalle tante identità potrebbe rifarsi allo Zohar, libro d'interpretazione della Torah - e, dunque, del mondo come gli Ebrei lo concepiscono - dal valore profetico; allo stesso modo, infatti, Q nel romanzo del collettivo Luther Blissett stava per Qoeelet, o Ecclesiaste, porzione della Bibbia in cui si tratta della dicotomia bene-male.
November 4, 2017
Let me be clear right from the start that Nathan Englander is a mediocre writer. His descriptions, admittedly contrary to his dialogue, lack in authenticity - it is truly a pity as Israel is a feast of impressions. From the smell of pine trees and the taste of the dry desert air to the soft evening glow spearing across what seem as the never ending planes of the Negev. The same goes for Paris and Berlin, but Englander does not explore his setting there either - not even the "landscape of the mind" in The General's state of limbo creates a significant imagery.
*** SPOILERS, PROCEED WITH CAUTION ***
Nevertheless, these mind-set chapters offer something literature is not very keen on presenting and that is the insight into a “anti-hero’s” mind. The General is a standard archetype. He is a man who does terrible things for good reasons. Usually, these “villains” end up being overpowered by the moral good without every seeing their point of view and what shaped them from their own perspective. Englander offers us this insight and I have shamelessly enjoyed it as it makes the man relatable and admittedly human. No matter if he sees himself as a biblical hero, the reader sees him only as a dying man.
What is truly enjoyable however is Englander's use of time and labels rather than names. The General is, after all, never actively described as Ariel Sharon, even though the suggestions are plentiful enough to make the connection. It is the non-linear way of Englander's story-telling is really what makes this sad story of love, hope and loss thrilling to read as the way the story slowly falls together as if it was made from puzzles makes it, despite the mediocre writing, enjoyable. This also goes for what I would consider the true-climax of the story, that is when Joshua effortlessly transitions into Z and our blurry imagination of the two characters mashes together creating a less-blurry picture. Based solely on dialogue, that chapters stands as a confession to what Englander could do if he wrote plays not novels.
In the end, it is loose ends, that’s the main thing that troubles me about the story. Of course, no novel exploring a theme like this can tie them all up, but considering the novel’s title I have a hard time accepting at least two. First is the introduction of a new character, The Mapmaker, on the last fifty pages. Who is this man, where did he come from? To give the tragic story of two warring peoples hope? To invite a Jewish girl to a dinner in the tunnels under Sinai and make love to her so the readers have a vision of future reconciliation aka love conquers all? That is just a way too cheesy way out. Second, it is never explained why is Z transported to this special facility and while it might not be important as such, it does not really make sense. His own limbo between death and life should, I assume, mirror the one of The General. Unfortunately it does not work. His death at the end was to be expected, even if the friendship with his guard might have suggested otherwise. Point being, if Englander wanted to give us hope, he should have let Z escape with the idea that he will push for peace rather than weave a love story on the last fifty pages.
*** SPOILERS, PROCEED WITH CAUTION ***
Nevertheless, these mind-set chapters offer something literature is not very keen on presenting and that is the insight into a “anti-hero’s” mind. The General is a standard archetype. He is a man who does terrible things for good reasons. Usually, these “villains” end up being overpowered by the moral good without every seeing their point of view and what shaped them from their own perspective. Englander offers us this insight and I have shamelessly enjoyed it as it makes the man relatable and admittedly human. No matter if he sees himself as a biblical hero, the reader sees him only as a dying man.
What is truly enjoyable however is Englander's use of time and labels rather than names. The General is, after all, never actively described as Ariel Sharon, even though the suggestions are plentiful enough to make the connection. It is the non-linear way of Englander's story-telling is really what makes this sad story of love, hope and loss thrilling to read as the way the story slowly falls together as if it was made from puzzles makes it, despite the mediocre writing, enjoyable. This also goes for what I would consider the true-climax of the story, that is when Joshua effortlessly transitions into Z and our blurry imagination of the two characters mashes together creating a less-blurry picture. Based solely on dialogue, that chapters stands as a confession to what Englander could do if he wrote plays not novels.
In the end, it is loose ends, that’s the main thing that troubles me about the story. Of course, no novel exploring a theme like this can tie them all up, but considering the novel’s title I have a hard time accepting at least two. First is the introduction of a new character, The Mapmaker, on the last fifty pages. Who is this man, where did he come from? To give the tragic story of two warring peoples hope? To invite a Jewish girl to a dinner in the tunnels under Sinai and make love to her so the readers have a vision of future reconciliation aka love conquers all? That is just a way too cheesy way out. Second, it is never explained why is Z transported to this special facility and while it might not be important as such, it does not really make sense. His own limbo between death and life should, I assume, mirror the one of The General. Unfortunately it does not work. His death at the end was to be expected, even if the friendship with his guard might have suggested otherwise. Point being, if Englander wanted to give us hope, he should have let Z escape with the idea that he will push for peace rather than weave a love story on the last fifty pages.
October 16, 2017
I really wanted to give this 4 stars but the final third really let it down. Review to come soon in The Big Issue.
September 10, 2017
I very nearly gave up half way through this book, but I'm glad I didn’t. The first half is slow, mannered and rather uninteresting but it does become quite a gripping and thought-provoking read.
This is really a book about the Israel-Palestine conflict and how it really affects some individuals involved. It's a complex structure in which three seemingly unrelated narratives, separated in place and time, intercut with each other. For almost half the book I found this unengaging and frankly quite irritating; it seemed to be a lot of style for its own sake while telling us so little that it didn't make much sense. It's not helped by some lengthy recounting of the semi-hallucinatory recollections of an unconscious and dying man (a barely disguised Ariel Sharon) which is a device which almost never works for me.
However, when things finally begin to happen and the connections between the characters become a little clearer the stories really did engage me. There are some genuinely exciting espionage moments and also penetrating studies of people on both sides of the conflict, as well as those who are ideologically and emotionally caught between the two, raising some complex moral issues which are very well handled. There is also a touching and convincing love story and a remarkable account of the relationship between a long-term prisoner and his guard, including an extraordinarily moving dénouement, both of which I thought were exceptionally well done.
So, despite its flaws, I thought this was a good, worthwhile book in the end. It's worth persevering even if you find the first half rather tough going – it's worth it in the end, and I can recommend this.
(I received an ARC via NetGalley.)
This is really a book about the Israel-Palestine conflict and how it really affects some individuals involved. It's a complex structure in which three seemingly unrelated narratives, separated in place and time, intercut with each other. For almost half the book I found this unengaging and frankly quite irritating; it seemed to be a lot of style for its own sake while telling us so little that it didn't make much sense. It's not helped by some lengthy recounting of the semi-hallucinatory recollections of an unconscious and dying man (a barely disguised Ariel Sharon) which is a device which almost never works for me.
However, when things finally begin to happen and the connections between the characters become a little clearer the stories really did engage me. There are some genuinely exciting espionage moments and also penetrating studies of people on both sides of the conflict, as well as those who are ideologically and emotionally caught between the two, raising some complex moral issues which are very well handled. There is also a touching and convincing love story and a remarkable account of the relationship between a long-term prisoner and his guard, including an extraordinarily moving dénouement, both of which I thought were exceptionally well done.
So, despite its flaws, I thought this was a good, worthwhile book in the end. It's worth persevering even if you find the first half rather tough going – it's worth it in the end, and I can recommend this.
(I received an ARC via NetGalley.)
September 23, 2017
The blurbocracy embraces this book as if it were the second coming of ... of ... Nathan Englander! It ain't.
Think of this not as a novel, but as a series of interrelated short stories. Given Natan's career trajectory, it's becoming clear that he's a good short-story-teller, but not really a novelist. He develops scenes.
I wavered between 3 and 4 on the rating and decided to round up because we're in the month of Elul.
***
Update. Having passed Rosh Hashana, I rounded down to 3.
Think of this not as a novel, but as a series of interrelated short stories. Given Natan's career trajectory, it's becoming clear that he's a good short-story-teller, but not really a novelist. He develops scenes.
I wavered between 3 and 4 on the rating and decided to round up because we're in the month of Elul.
***
Update. Having passed Rosh Hashana, I rounded down to 3.
August 30, 2017
Deceptively complex. Smart. Entertaining. It takes a minute to find its rhythm, but when it does it's hard to put down.
December 7, 2020
Disappointed! questionable politics and questionable writing imo
October 24, 2017
The fractured narrative doesn't quite cohere, but the book explores some interesting themes and questions and Englander is a great writer. I did wonder why all the female characters had names (Shira, Ruth), and all the male characters did not (Z, the Guard, the General). Seemed like a weird gendered choice that didn't say anything in particular.
January 21, 2018
3.5 stars.
“Maybe our horrible, self-destructive peoples, maybe our brave soldiers always looking to die, maybe tonight they’ll all finally kill each other and see this conflict done.”
Centering around Prisoner Z, and how he came to be in a dank hole of a prison, guarded by a man who is his only friend in the world - if he can be considered that - who himself is the son of a woman who has always looked after her boss, a general who is now in a coma having fever dreams of the wars he has fought and the deaths he has dealt and come across. Somewhere, there is also a woman, who turns out to be more than she seems to be, and somewhere in the fray, is a love story that strives toward a peaceful understanding, and a dinner at the centre of the earth.
I liked and admired this novel. It was a slow burn, beautifully written, the kind you quietly enjoy and appreciate more once you’re done. The narrative was jarring, with viewpoints shifting quickly, jolting you from 2002 to 2014 in a matter of pages. I just went with it, and eventually formed a picture of what had happened, and how Prisoner Z ended up in prison. Somewhere in the looping, circular narrative, among the fantastical and probably unbelievable plot points, is the story of the Palestine-Israeli conflict, and the price of trauma wrought by the various wars/Intifada in the name of peace efforts.
One of my favourite scenes was when Ruthi, the woman who looked after the General as he lay in the hospital in a coma, reminisced about the time he had a guest over. The guest was Arafat, and I guess the General was meant to be Sharon. It did leave me with a lot of thoughts. Most of all, that we are all human in the end, and I just wish that we could all be kind to each other, that the world could truly know peace.
“Just picture it, the two of us in no-man’s land, on the blurry line beneath neither country. Me and you, eating together between worlds. A dinner at the center of the earth.”
“Maybe our horrible, self-destructive peoples, maybe our brave soldiers always looking to die, maybe tonight they’ll all finally kill each other and see this conflict done.”
Centering around Prisoner Z, and how he came to be in a dank hole of a prison, guarded by a man who is his only friend in the world - if he can be considered that - who himself is the son of a woman who has always looked after her boss, a general who is now in a coma having fever dreams of the wars he has fought and the deaths he has dealt and come across. Somewhere, there is also a woman, who turns out to be more than she seems to be, and somewhere in the fray, is a love story that strives toward a peaceful understanding, and a dinner at the centre of the earth.
I liked and admired this novel. It was a slow burn, beautifully written, the kind you quietly enjoy and appreciate more once you’re done. The narrative was jarring, with viewpoints shifting quickly, jolting you from 2002 to 2014 in a matter of pages. I just went with it, and eventually formed a picture of what had happened, and how Prisoner Z ended up in prison. Somewhere in the looping, circular narrative, among the fantastical and probably unbelievable plot points, is the story of the Palestine-Israeli conflict, and the price of trauma wrought by the various wars/Intifada in the name of peace efforts.
One of my favourite scenes was when Ruthi, the woman who looked after the General as he lay in the hospital in a coma, reminisced about the time he had a guest over. The guest was Arafat, and I guess the General was meant to be Sharon. It did leave me with a lot of thoughts. Most of all, that we are all human in the end, and I just wish that we could all be kind to each other, that the world could truly know peace.
“Just picture it, the two of us in no-man’s land, on the blurry line beneath neither country. Me and you, eating together between worlds. A dinner at the center of the earth.”
March 3, 2018
“Dinner At The Center of The Earth” is an Israeli spy novel about the ever changing world of politics, loyalty and love. The story shifts back and forth through time and takes place in Israel, Paris, Berlin and indirectly in America from 2002-2014.
The novel begins with an introduction to Prisoner Z and his guard. Prisoner Z, an American Israeli spy, is in a prison in the middle of the Negev desert. His guard is a spoiled mama’s boy, whose mother is the close assistant to “the General” and former Israeli Prime Minister (fashioned after Ariel Sharon). Prisoner Z has been secretly imprisoned by the General and no one knows he even exists except the guard, his. mother and the General. The novel tells the tragic story of Prisoner Z and how he ended up a prisoner, as well as the story of the General, the history of his renowned military actions and his change of heart as he neared death.
Prisoner Z starts out as a dedicated Israeli spy, but certain chance (or maybe not so chance) meetings and relationships cause him to rethink his loyalties. After engaging in traitorous activities, he is transferred to Paris and becomes romantically involved with a waitress there, who of course is in fact an Israeli spy. Ultimately his penchant to easily fall in love caught him out into his hopeless imprisonment. Throughout his imprisonment, Prisoner Z writes letters to the General. In the meantime, the General has a stroke which leaves him in what appears to be a permanently in between space, where he reflects on his life, both personal and nationalistic.
The waitress/spy disappears for a while, but reappears later in the novel after having fallen hopelessly in love with a Palestinian. This relationship, seemingly doomed yet fascinatingly strong and hopeful, is a metaphor for the rest of of the book. At the end, the general dies, Prisoner Z is forgotten and the waitress and her lover find a way to stay together at the Center of the Earth. The book is both hopeful and hopeless, but the ending left me feeling empty and unsatisfied. I think that might have been the point. This is a brilliant novel but it will not appeal to everyone. If you like this review, subscribe to www.frombriefstobooks.com for more!
The novel begins with an introduction to Prisoner Z and his guard. Prisoner Z, an American Israeli spy, is in a prison in the middle of the Negev desert. His guard is a spoiled mama’s boy, whose mother is the close assistant to “the General” and former Israeli Prime Minister (fashioned after Ariel Sharon). Prisoner Z has been secretly imprisoned by the General and no one knows he even exists except the guard, his. mother and the General. The novel tells the tragic story of Prisoner Z and how he ended up a prisoner, as well as the story of the General, the history of his renowned military actions and his change of heart as he neared death.
Prisoner Z starts out as a dedicated Israeli spy, but certain chance (or maybe not so chance) meetings and relationships cause him to rethink his loyalties. After engaging in traitorous activities, he is transferred to Paris and becomes romantically involved with a waitress there, who of course is in fact an Israeli spy. Ultimately his penchant to easily fall in love caught him out into his hopeless imprisonment. Throughout his imprisonment, Prisoner Z writes letters to the General. In the meantime, the General has a stroke which leaves him in what appears to be a permanently in between space, where he reflects on his life, both personal and nationalistic.
The waitress/spy disappears for a while, but reappears later in the novel after having fallen hopelessly in love with a Palestinian. This relationship, seemingly doomed yet fascinatingly strong and hopeful, is a metaphor for the rest of of the book. At the end, the general dies, Prisoner Z is forgotten and the waitress and her lover find a way to stay together at the Center of the Earth. The book is both hopeful and hopeless, but the ending left me feeling empty and unsatisfied. I think that might have been the point. This is a brilliant novel but it will not appeal to everyone. If you like this review, subscribe to www.frombriefstobooks.com for more!
October 28, 2017
As I read this novel, I was often reminded of the first season of the t.v. series "Homeland" and its Israeli prototype, "Prisoners of War." An idealistic Jewish American emigrates to Israeli and is recruited by the Mosad, but he is soon shocked by the brutality of his work, especially the collateral damage to civilians. He makes the mistake of trying to cut a deal on his own with a Palestinian operative in the forlorn hope that it will help to end the violence. Regarded as a traitor by the General (Ariel Sharon in all but name) who leads Israel, "Prisoner Z" is placed in perpetual solitary confinement; his only contact is with a cynical soldier who guards him. The story has a few frustrating gaps and the romantic subplot that gives the novel its title is underdeveloped. But overall it is a fascinating mix of espionage thriller and contemporary history and, to my surprise, the relationship between guard and prisoner ultimately brought me to tears.
January 13, 2020
This is a short novel with a slow build. It took me a bit to get into the structure, I wasn't sure of its rating until I finished. I ended loving it, but can see how people might struggle with it.
It's a spy novel, political, about war, suspense and a love story all within the confines of a novel about the Israel/Palestinian conflict.
Some of the writing was so clever ... "He is a human typo soon to be whited-out from his line."
And some entirely "on the nose" - "I'm only saying, the right has moved so far over that, from where you stand, I look left." and my favorite line of the book "Only that both sides will battle for justice, killing each other in the name of those freshly killed, honoring the men who died avenging those who, before them, died avenging."
I loved it, not everyone will.
It's a spy novel, political, about war, suspense and a love story all within the confines of a novel about the Israel/Palestinian conflict.
Some of the writing was so clever ... "He is a human typo soon to be whited-out from his line."
And some entirely "on the nose" - "I'm only saying, the right has moved so far over that, from where you stand, I look left." and my favorite line of the book "Only that both sides will battle for justice, killing each other in the name of those freshly killed, honoring the men who died avenging those who, before them, died avenging."
I loved it, not everyone will.
August 12, 2021
This time, as with every time, when the fighting starts it will be more terrible than the fight that came before. p4
So why don't we stop?
I say we, as if I had any say in it.
It's a tricky thing trying to touch the heart of a man who has towards you, been only heartless. p91
To keep an open heart, to cultivate lovingkindness and compassion; to not get sidetracked by despair or corralled by hopelessness: sometimes that's the most we can do. Great books do help point the way. They also can provide us with images of extravagant hope to replace the bleak chatter. The dinner at the centre of the universe provides such a vivid image as well as food for thought.
NE succeeds here in avoiding polemics and skillfully rotating points of view. If you have any interest at all in the situation with Israel and Palestine, this may add to your peace.
So why don't we stop?
I say we, as if I had any say in it.
It's a tricky thing trying to touch the heart of a man who has towards you, been only heartless. p91
To keep an open heart, to cultivate lovingkindness and compassion; to not get sidetracked by despair or corralled by hopelessness: sometimes that's the most we can do. Great books do help point the way. They also can provide us with images of extravagant hope to replace the bleak chatter. The dinner at the centre of the universe provides such a vivid image as well as food for thought.
NE succeeds here in avoiding polemics and skillfully rotating points of view. If you have any interest at all in the situation with Israel and Palestine, this may add to your peace.
December 7, 2020
I'm sure a lot of the International politics and related conflict was lost on me. But the book itself was very beautifully written.
Prisoner Z, held in isolation for many years in the Negev desert with a guard who's turned almost companion. Every time I imagine him, there's a futility that refuses to go away. Is anyone looking for him? Where do they ever begin? So lost.
Prisoner Z, held in isolation for many years in the Negev desert with a guard who's turned almost companion. Every time I imagine him, there's a futility that refuses to go away. Is anyone looking for him? Where do they ever begin? So lost.
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