Look for Me
-
- $13.99
-
- $13.99
Publisher Description
In a love story framed by the vivid realities of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Edeet Ravel tenderly explores the complicated ways people connect when violence touches every aspect of their lives
Dana Hillman is a young Israeli woman whose humanity and passion for justice are obvious to all who meet her. On peace missions, she and other activists act as human shields in situations where the Israeli army tries to displace Palestinians. A gifted photographer, she documents the protests, and the faces of women and children caught in the seemingly endless struggle. To make a living, though, she churns out junky historical romances, well aware of the irony of her situation. Her own love story has turned into a heartbreaking mystery: why did her husband, Daniel, suddenly disappear and where has he been for the last eleven years?
Every year Dana publishes a full-page ad addressed to her lost husband that says, “I will never ever ever ever . . . stop waiting for you,” with that “ever” multiplied to fill the whole page. Dana’s hope and constancy fill the novel in the way that her “ever” fills up the page, as she holds fast to trust, love and a vision for the future that seems magical in this fractured place.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
This follow-up to Ravel's much-admired Ten Thousand Lovers (2003) strikes many of the same notes as the previous novel, albeit with lesser force and resonance. Once again, love is at stake against the backdrop of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, as an impetuous young woman is separated from her older lover by violence and politics. Dana Hillman has been searching for her husband, Daniel, for 11 years, ever since he was horribly burned in an Israeli Army accident and subsequently disappeared. Believing him to still be alive, she searches for clues and takes out full-page ads in the newspapers asking him to return. To pay the bills, she writes romance novels in English. She also joins with other members of the Israeli left at demonstrations and engages in lukewarm affairs with fellow protestors Beatrice and Rafi. In Ten Thousand Lovers, Ravel a Canadian who grew up in Israel seamlessly wove Israeli culture and politics with details of the everyday lives of both Jews and Arabs. This time around, she achieves a less perfect union of ideas, plot and character; Dana's idealized, sometimes whiny search for Daniel is hard to applaud, and its resolution feels hurried and improbable. This is the second of three planned novels about war and its impact on the region, leaving open the possibility that Ravel will return to form in the next installment.
