Evoking the ever-present intrusion of war into the daily life of Israelis, Grossman’s novel tells the story of Ora, a woman whose son, about to leave the army, instead goes to the front. To endure the anxiety, Ora leaves home with an old friend, an artist turned recluse after a brutal POW experience. Together the two recall old times and slowly reaffirm the values that give their lives meaning.
From one of Israel’s most acclaimed writers, To the End of the Land is a novel 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, she sets out for a hike in the Galilee, leaving no forwarding information for the “notifiers” who could knock on her door with the worst possible news. Recently estranged from her husband, she drags along an unlikely companion: their former best friend and her former lover, Avram. 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.
Grossman vividly depicts the reality and surrealism of daily life in Israel, the currents of ambivalence about war within one household, and the burdens that fall on each generation anew. His rich imagining of a family in love and crisis makes for one of the great antiwar novels of our time.
underneath the file name (just above the picture). Spammers need not apply.
") are described as follows: