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Croc Attack! (2006)

by Assaf Gavron(Favorite Author)

3.74 of 5 Votes: 3

ISBN

0007327463 (ISBN13: 9780007327461)

languge

English

genre

Fiction

publisher

Fourth Estate (GB)

review 1: While I have to give Gavron credit for taking on the frightful task of writing a novel about the suicide bombings of the second intifada (and one which incorporates both Israeli and Palestinian voices), I was kind of underwhelmed for most of this. He's obviously trying to depict an awful period without resorting to cheap political stances, but he ends up with narration that seems so listless, so hopelessly casual most of the time, that this reads more like an early draft of a better book that just never got written.The characterizations are weak and the development of them and the plot are a haphazard mess. He introduces far too many characters who revolve around Eitan and Fahmi's perspectives without having any sort of effect or real relevance within their points of view.... more In spite of that, Gavron does do an excellent job at hinting at a few things; the sheer mental exhaustion from fear that everyone in this society faced at this time, the ambiguity of being a first generation Israeli, of being rooted in places like Tel Aviv and Jerusalem without being truly 'rooted' there, and of the passive misery which the IDF can inflict without firing a single rubber bullet, but simply by disrupting the basic, meager infrastructure which Palestinians live under, and of the casual racism/anti-semitism that have sadly become common currency on both sides of an intractable divide.This might just be kind of an impossible topic to really write a solid novel about. Suicide bombings are already fraught with misery and hyperbolic emotions on so many levels, both direct and implicit, that trying to turn them into the centerpiece for literary fiction seems like a really dicey prospect, especially when the characters and plot are already on shaky territory to begin with.
review 2: This is a very good book. The plot unfolds from parallel accounts given from the Israeli and Palestinian perspectives. I found Mr. Gavron's account of the Palestinian perspective particularly sensative, informative and intriguing.Also a page turner. I actually tried to meet the author when we were in Israel in June to find out more about his insights, but he was in America at the time. I hope we see more of his work translated into English. less

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