Into the Heart of the Settler World
In her debut novel (preceded in 2003 by the story collection An Hour in Paradise), Joan Leegant has fashioned a hybrid work that begins as a sensitive exploration of the emotional plights of three troubled but otherwise disparate American Jews who happen to be in Israel and slowly evolves into a kind of action thriller in which their lives intersect. The Israeli setting is initially incidental, as the plot focuses on each protagonist’s deeply flawed familial relationships and consequent feelings of alienation, inadequacy and guilt. Yet as the story proceeds, far from using Israel merely as a backdrop, Leegant tackles one of the most sensitive problems plaguing its society: the extremism of a certain brand of Israeli settlers in the West Bank—and the appeal their hyper-nationalist views and vigilante style hold for a certain stripe of American Jew.
To read the rest of this review, and to read all of the magazine's first-rate content, subscribe to Moment's print or digital edition.
Ina Friedman, Israel correspondent for the Dutch daily Trouw, also reviews books for Haaretz and is co-author of Murder in the Name of God: The Plot to Kill Yitzhak Rabin.
|
