To The End Of The Land by David Grossman

From The Week of October 10, 2010

To my knowledge, this is the first piece of fiction about Israel, written by an Israeli, I've ever read. And if Mr. Grossman is at all indicative of the quality of that country's authors, then it will definitely not be my last. For while To The End Of The Land can be, at times, overwrought and obvious, the vividness of its environment and the pain of its protagonists, both of which marinate in the hopelessness of the endless war with the Palestinians, cause it to stand out as a piece of exceptional fiction.

Ora, a middle-aged, Jewish mother of two sons, has been, for some time, planning a hiking trip with her youngest, Ofer, who is about to complete his mandatory military service. But while Ora has been dreaming about the trip as a means of re-connecting with the boy she feels like she has lost to army life, Ofer opts to remain with his army friends, choosing another tour of service over the hike with his mother. Devastated and newly divorced, Ora is aimless, purposeless, trapped in memories of the past which lead her to the home of the man who was once her best friend. Avram, once a proud and intelligent soldier, has been reduced to a debilitated shell of a man. His damaged body seems on par with his damaged mind which has a tendency to wander into his tortured past. Finding Avram in a terrible state, Ora decides that she will go ahead with the hike regardless of Ofer's re-enlistment, substituting her son for the crippled Avram for whom the journey might do some good.

Though the hike provides the narrative backbone, the bulk of Mr. Grossman's tale is taken up with numerous flashbacks, first from Ora's perspective and then from Avram's. In this way, To The End Of The Land acts almost like a mystery novel as the flashbacks provide the reader clues to the nature of the book's various relationships: Ora and Avram, Ora and her husband, Ora and her sons. Mr. Grossman deals out bits of vital information like precious candy which makes valuable nearly every one of these 590 some pages. But while the narrative is clever, its the emotion here which makes the story sing. Ora's pain, a son lost to mindless patriotism, a region divided by ethics and culture, a love broken by war, is palpably real. I can feel her anguish, her helplessness, and her desperate need to do something, to have some measure of control over her environment. She and Avram are intensely real.

For all its virtues, To The End Of The Land does not come home strong. This is perfectly understandable given the tragedy Mr. Grossman suffered during its writing. But in a way, knowing of that tragedy informed my reading of the book. It gave context to Ora's need for control and helped me to understand her parental terror which hangs over this book like a cloud. There's a sweaty, maternal desperation here which I haven't felt before and which I won't soon forget. Wonderful work, but Ora came close to wearing me out. (4/5 Stars)