David Grossman (1) (1954–)

Reason Read: reading Israeli authors, TIOLI challenge, Food in title
This is really a midrash or commentary on the story of Samson in Judges by David Grossman. The full title is Lion's Honey: the myth of Samson, so unlike myself, Grossman and maybe all Hebrew believe this is not a true story. I found it extremely interesting to read this story about a man who was born to a barren family for the purpose of freeing God's people from the Philistines. I've always viewed Samson as a spoiled only son but Grossman views him as a lonely man who never felt like he belonged.… (more)

This is a heartbreaking book that brings us three generations of a family most living on a kibbutz, struggling every day, drowning in the tributaries that have broken off from an devastating huge original river of trauma. That original river flows from Vera (who is a fictionalized version of a real person with whom Grossman had a long friendship and who asked him to write the book of her story but make it fiction) who was held in Tito's camps under the most horrifying of conditions accused of being a Russian agent. There is a lot that needs to be said to explain why all this matters and how it impacts others, but that is the story so I am not going to discuss it here. All I will say is that Vera made many decisions which sprang from love but which destroyed her daughter Nina, which in turn led to a life of loss for the man who loved her daughter and a life of disaffection for their daughter, Gili. When Nina returns to the kibbutz (for reasons I won't reveal) after having abandoned her husband and daughter many years ago she asks that a film be made about the family's story (the abandoned husband had, in the past, been a filmmaker, and the daughter had, also in the past, worked in film.) Can the making of that film help all reconcile their traumas or maybe provide a path forward, or will it be the thing that finally destroys their tenuous hold on life? Read and see. The book is fascinating, beautifully crafted and told with great compassion (as one expects from David Grossman) and it illuminates a historical moment many people are unfamiliar with while telling us things both beautiful and not beautiful about love.

There are a couple clunky parts of this that kept it from being a 5-star read. I feel the author should have spent more time talking about what happened to Nina while her mother was in the camp, and it should have been addressed earlier. Gili's relationship with her husband is introduced, but it just kind of hangs there -- she never really seems to think much about her husband beyond big existential issues regarding their relationship, and that is weird. Gili's mental health struggles are dropped on the reader like a bomb, and the evolution of her life, her ups and downs are missing. Either these things should have been left out, or more provided. Overall, though these were frustrating issues, they did not blunt the books impact.… (more)

La anécdota es simple: La esposa de Shaul se ausenta de casa cada tarde para ir a nadar, o eso es lo que ella dice. Deja el apartamento con una bolsa de gimnasia en bandolera y vuelve al cabo de una hora con el pelo mojado y el rostro relajado… A partir de ahí, Shaul imagina cosas bien distintas: ve a su esposa con otro hombre, nota sus caricias, oye sus palabras, sabe —como todos los seres celosos «saben»— que con ese hombre su mujer se atreverá a juegos que nunca ha experimentado con él. El delirio llega a tal punto que Shaul nos convence a todos de que el adulterio es real, y el lector sigue a ese marido despechado en un viaje nocturno que supuestamente le llevará al escondrijo donde se refugian los amantes. Puesto que Shaul no puede conducir porque tiene una pierna maltrecha, quien le acompaña y conduce el coche es su cuñada, una mujer de mediana edad que nunca tuvo mucho trato con él, y se embarca en esa aventura sin saber bien qué la espera. La mujer conduce de noche, el hombre está sentado en el asiento trasero, y así, sin mirarse, cada cual cuenta su historia con esa soltura con que a veces contamos nuestras intimidades a un viajero con quien compartimos un vagón de tren, sabiendo que nunca más volveremos a vernos. Al final de la novela, poco importa si de verdad Shaul encontrará a los amantes. La realidad pura y dura es lo de menos; lo que nos queda es la imagen de un hombre que necesita de lo «otro» para definirse a sí mismo y definir su mundo.… (more)