Apeirogon
a novel about Israel, Palestine and shared grief, nominated for the 2020 Booker Prize
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4.5 • 41 Ratings
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- $17.99
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- $17.99
Publisher Description
A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
LONGLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE
SHORTLISTED FOR THE DUBLIN LITERARY AWARD
SHORTLISTED FOR THE PRIX FEMINA AND THE PRIX MEDICIS
SHORTLISTED FOR THE GOLDSBORO BOOKS GLASS BELL AWARD
WINNER OF THE PRIX DU MEILLEUR LIVRES ETRANGER
WINNER OF THE 2020 NATIONAL JEWISH BOOK AWARDS
CHOSEN AS A BOOK OF 2020 BY THE SUNDAY TIMES, OBSERVER, GUARDIAN, i PAPER, FINANCIAL TIMES, NEW STATESMAN, SCOTSMAN, IRISH TIMES, BBC.COM, WATERSTONES.COM
'A wondrous book. It left me hopeful; this is its gift' Elizabeth Strout
'An empathy engine ... It is, itself, an agent of change' New York Times Book Review
'A quite extraordinary novel' Kamila Shamsie
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How do we continue living once we have lost our reason to live?
Rami and Bassam live in the city of Jerusalem – but exist worlds apart, divided by an age-old conflict. And yet they have one thing in common. Both are fathers; both are fathers of daughters – and both daughters are now lost.
When Rami and Bassam meet, and tell one another the story of their grief, the most unexpected thing of all happens: they become best of friends. And their stories become one story, a story with the power to heal – and the power to change the world.
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'The book goes anywhere and everywhere. It is a delirious and thrilling improvisation, a jazz solo spun out of that meeting … A spectacular structure of stories about everything' Bryan Appleyard, Sunday Times
Customer Reviews
Never ending story
4.5 stars
Author
Irish. Started out as a journalist in Dublin but now lives in NYC where he teaches writing at Hunter College alongside Peter Carey and Tea Obrecht. Has published three story collections and six novels, which have won numerous awards. Many have also been bestsellers. He's won just about every literary prize and honour you could name, apart from the Booker. Give him time.
Plot
A fictionalised story of a Palestinian Arab named Bassam Aramin and an Israeli Jew named Rami Elhanan, thrown together by the experience of losing a daughter to the violence that has long plagued, and continues to plague, the Middle East. They form an international organisation to campaign against such things. I've read about them and seen TED Talks. They're a couple of interesting, and admirable, guys. Migrating birds feature reasonably prominently as well.
Characters
As above plus a supporting cast of biblical proportions.
Narrative
Third person from multiple POVs. A series of looping vignettes that vary in length from a single line to several pages, and follow a loose progression from 1 to 500 starting with one protagonist then turn around and go backwards from 500 to 1 starting with the other. It adds up to 1001, like the Arabian nights.
Prose
To paraphrase Blackadder: clever as a fox who's just been appointed professor of clever at Oxford university. Remarkably easy to read for all that. An apeirogon, by the way, is a polygon with an infinite number of sides: an apposite metaphor for the Middle East.
Bottom line
This narrative style is not for everyone, but the way Mr McCann executes it is a thing to behold: a writer at the top of his game. I didn't give five stars because the story isn't his, just the telling.