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To the End of the Land by David Grossman (view source)
Revision as of 09:17, 27 August 2020
, 09:17, 27 August 2020no edit summary
{{infoboxinfobox1
|title=To the End of the Land
|author=David Grossman
|publisher=Jonathan Cape
|date=September 2010
}}
In order to remain sane, she makes a sudden, out-of-character decision, enlisting her old friend Avram. Together they set out on a long walk in the Galilee area. Ora feels that she has to do something, anything, to stop her thinking about the current situation that she finds herself in. It would be easier to be dead, in truth. And if she thinks about things too much she'll probably go mad. Grossman painstakingly details exactly why this might happen.
And throughout this epic walk, Ora fills in Avram on her life over the past 20 years or so. There is an important reason for this as the reader discovers. Avram has been 'absent' and once again Grossman informs the reader in his beautiful prose where Avram has been and why. Tension and the threat of violence is are present in great, big dollops all over this novel, as you might expect. I could almost feel it seeping out of the pages as Grossman has done such as an excellent job.
And it didn't take me long to acknowledge that Ora is a devoted mother. She absolutely dotes on her two boys, even although they are now young men. Ora herself is now middle-aged and a shadow of her former, bubbly self. And as she tells various stories of family life to Avram, she wonders, perhaps for the very first time, where did the playful, optimistic Ora go. The poignancy of all of this is very strong indeed. I could have wept for Ora at times, I really could. She is present on almost every single page of this book and gradually she got under my skin. Even when I wasn't reading the book, I would find myself thinking about her; such was the power of Grossman's writing. He is poetic and moving in equal measure. In fact, I wondered how he could almost inhabit the characters and right at the end of the novel, in ''A Note About The Author'' my question was answered.
This is a serious work of literature about serious issues written with feeling and depth. A profoundly moving read. Recommended.
If you enjoyed ''To the End of the Land'', you'll also love [[The Butterfly Mosque by G Willow Wilson]] and [[Psalm 119 by Heather McRobie]]. We also enjoyed Grossman's [[Falling Out of Time by David Grossman|Falling Out of Time]]
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