This is a striking text—one that, consciously and unconsciously, presents a complete and coherent world. Throughout many pages, we encounter robust Israeli prose: skilled (without showing off about it), flexible, lean, mature. And in the final section—prose of deep emotional power... The prose is simply well-written, with brilliant realism... I believe this novel presents the ideological foundation of a generation. Gavron is thus describing the generation of privatization. The generation that is liberal—economically and socially—marked by private initiative and a departure from collectivist ideologies. This generation also wrestles with its connection to the land (and it does wrestle—there are different viewpoints). Add to this the novel’s peculiar and consistent attraction to various forms of delinquency. The fascination with crime seems to reveal the “Americanness” of the novel’s spirit.
Arik Glasner, Yedioth Achronoth >>> (Heb)

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This book tells the story of four friends who grew up in a small village near Jerusalem in the 1980s—but in many ways, it tells the story of that generation, our generation, and the story of the country itself. Gavron takes us through their lives—they grow up, enlist, learn a trade, travel the world, fall in love, and sometimes fail—they fail quite a bit, actually.

But it should be said that there’s another protagonist. On the cover, we see a naïve, colorful drawing of Israel, and she, too, is a character in this book—perhaps the main character. Through the children and also through the other residents of the village, the story of Israel is told: a harsh story, one of occupation and death, but also of prosperity, passion, the pursuit of dreams, and entrepreneurial drive—from childhood through the rest of their lives.

And there’s a sense that Gavron is trying to do something here that Hebrew literature has been shying away from in recent years: to write the Great Israeli Novel—one that not only follows its protagonists across the span of their lives, crafting a long and layered narrative, but also tries to say something meaningful about the society and country in which it takes place, which happens to be our society and our country.

It’s been a long time since we agreed so enthusiastically about a book, but in this case, there was no choice: Assaf Gavron’s new novel is an Israeli achievement.

Maya Sela and Yuval Avivi, Under Cover, Kan National Radio >>> (Audio, Heb)

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Gavron manages to tell a multitude of meaningful stories that together form a deep, multilayered novel, fully Israeli, epic and sweeping: the story of a nation, the story of a village, a story about an unfulfilled youthful love that stretches across an entire lifetime, a story about masculinity and coming of age.
Of all of them, the most moving and profound is the generational story.  These members of Generation X have reached the stage where they are supposed to become the responsible adults of the world. The generation above them is not aging gracefully and seems intent on destroying the post-World War II order, leaving them as orphaned heirs.
From an Israeli perspective, however, their story is different—and heartbreakingly sad. The novel ends before the current war, but it’s impossible not to think of it—and of this generation, who bled in the territories during the First Intifada and in Lebanon during the First Lebanon War, only to see, a generation later, their children spilling blood on the same ground, in the same conflicts.
The novel closes with the protagonists’ personal sense of missed opportunities in their lives—but it naturally expands into a broader statement about the dream of living a life of personal fulfillment in a normal country: a dream that today feels like a distant fantasy, one that may never have had a real chance to begin with.

Tzlil Avraham, Haaretz Book Review >>> (Heb)

 

It starts a little like The Body, Stephen King’s story that became the basis for the movie Stand by Me. But this is an Israeli version—an epic tale about four friends from a small village near Jerusalem who find themselves caught in a tragic drowning incident at the muddy pond near their home. Assaf Gavron’s gripping new novel begins there, and unfolds the lives of four Israeli boys who later become men, each following his own path from that pivotal childhood event over the course of four decades. Gavron grew up in Motza, near Jerusalem, the village that inspired the novel. His sharp, realistic prose weaves together his protagonists’ life stories and the history of the small village—including Herzl’s visit to the site—echoing the broader Israeli story. 
Shiri Lev-Ari, Calcalist

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One of the truly, truly beautiful things about this novel is the realization that friendship is about being friends with impossible people. The power of friendship is being with someone whose flaws you see completely—and you're still their friend, you still love them… This book gave me two days of complete escape; highly recommended. 
Keren Neubach, Kan National Radio 2 >>> (Heb audio)

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A vivid, fast-paced, and deeply engaging novel, written by one of Israel’s finest contemporary storytellers. The book follows its protagonists for more than half their lives, through every imaginable hardship... A sweltering, masterfully told slice of history, penned by a fearless writer unafraid to be political... Gavron describes, in clear and direct language, a country where death is the central fact of existence—that's what's left of Herzl’s grand vision from the book’s early pages. Yet within this great sorrow, life moves on, diverging and intersecting again over the years, carried along by an effortless, lifelong friendship... It ends with a stunning romance, which Gavron spins with sweeping momentum, and frames the story, guiding it through time and placing it within an eternal context—an almost divine connection. Call me naïve, but if there’s one thing worth casting fear aside and truly living for, it’s love... A magnificent '80s Jerusalem mythology which is a remarkably smooth and enjoyable read.
Ran Bin-Noon, Ivrit editorial review >>> (Heb)

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Assaf Gavron is one of the few male authors to emerge in the Israeli literary scene of the 1990s who could craft a complete and compelling novel from the outset, as if he were born to write in this form... Early on in Gavron's impressive body of work, he was influenced by the alternative literature of the 1990s—stories of social apocalypse like American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis and Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk. Over time, Israeli realism found its way into his prose, softening it... The first chapter is well-written. Gavron signals to readers—and successfully—that this is the launchpad from which the characters leap into life... this isn’t only a coming-of-age tale—it’s also the story of a place, one that explores memory and the shifting, violent history interwoven with obsessive love... The themes are grand and weighty: growth and friendship, memory and death, history and identity.

Ran Yagil, Israel Hayom >>> (Heb)

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a sweeping, ambitious novel that moves across time periods, life events, historical moments, and subplots that branch off only to return to a central narrative spine. Although it’s based on real people and real events that happened to them, Gavron emphasizes that it should be regarded as a work of fiction.

Ronen Tal, Haaretz >>> (Heb)

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