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Apeirogon by Colum McCann
The book,--can we call it a novel or is it a work of non-fiction?-- combines the True Crime genre, --the murder of two young children caught up in the fighting between Palestinians and Israel—with McCann’s reflections on the tragedies. It centers on the reactions of the children’s fathers: Rami Elhanan, an Israeli graphic designer and former soldier, and Bassam Aramin, a Palestinian Muslim who as a teenager spent seven years in an Israeli prison. Both men were radicalized into activism for peace by the murder of their daughters.
The book is structured in 1001 sections, some as short as a word or sentence, some much longer. The first 1 to 500 sections culminate in the story of Rami Elhanan, the father of Smadar, who was killed by three Palestinian suicide bombers in 1997. The second sections 500 to 1 concern Bassasm Aramin, whose daughter Abir was killed by an Israeli border guard ten years later.
You can, if you wish, begin reading with the two sections 500 and the section 1001 in between them to get the outlines of the men’s stories and then start at the beginning. But how much better if you read the novel as McCann would want you to from the beginning straight through. There were reasons why McCann did not tell a clear linear story and the reasons are there for us to discover embedded in the sections.
Some suggestions as you read: the arc of the book is circular not linear so look for resemblances, similarities , linkages, the same word used in different contexts, repetitions often so insistent that the images turn into symbols. If any section puzzles you, ask yourself why is it here ? and what did McCann want the reader to take away from this? And most of all monitor your feelings and reactions to what you are reading.
Or don’t do any of the above. Just read the book any which way and come to the Book Talk. Do, however, bring the book with you.
See you on Sunday, December 12, at the Hebrew Center at 10 am. I am looking forward to exploring this brilliant book with you.
Myra Stark
The book,--can we call it a novel or is it a work of non-fiction?-- combines the True Crime genre, --the murder of two young children caught up in the fighting between Palestinians and Israel—with McCann’s reflections on the tragedies. It centers on the reactions of the children’s fathers: Rami Elhanan, an Israeli graphic designer and former soldier, and Bassam Aramin, a Palestinian Muslim who as a teenager spent seven years in an Israeli prison. Both men were radicalized into activism for peace by the murder of their daughters.
The book is structured in 1001 sections, some as short as a word or sentence, some much longer. The first 1 to 500 sections culminate in the story of Rami Elhanan, the father of Smadar, who was killed by three Palestinian suicide bombers in 1997. The second sections 500 to 1 concern Bassasm Aramin, whose daughter Abir was killed by an Israeli border guard ten years later.
You can, if you wish, begin reading with the two sections 500 and the section 1001 in between them to get the outlines of the men’s stories and then start at the beginning. But how much better if you read the novel as McCann would want you to from the beginning straight through. There were reasons why McCann did not tell a clear linear story and the reasons are there for us to discover embedded in the sections.
Some suggestions as you read: the arc of the book is circular not linear so look for resemblances, similarities , linkages, the same word used in different contexts, repetitions often so insistent that the images turn into symbols. If any section puzzles you, ask yourself why is it here ? and what did McCann want the reader to take away from this? And most of all monitor your feelings and reactions to what you are reading.
Or don’t do any of the above. Just read the book any which way and come to the Book Talk. Do, however, bring the book with you.
See you on Sunday, December 12, at the Hebrew Center at 10 am. I am looking forward to exploring this brilliant book with you.
Myra Stark
