To the End of the Land - David Grossman

I actually finished this book in December but was so busy with Christmas sales at the shop, I’ve only just managed to sit down and think about my reaction to it. I initially was drawn to the idea of someone believing that they could “will” something into not happening. Then, I became immersed in the story of a country which has been living in a war zone one way or another since 1948, told via the experiences of the book’s three main characters, Ora, Avram, and Ilan.


We first meet Ora, Avarm and Ilan as teenagers in a hospital in Israel during wartime in 1967, forging a friendship that would be tested and found wanting as the three friends undertake their compulsory military service during the conflict between Egypt and Israel in the 1970’s. Next we are taken to present day, this time the war is with Palestine and history is repeating itself with the new generation as Ora’s younger son, Ofer, signs up to extend his military service and Ora is alone with her fears for Ofer's safety, having recently separated from her husband, Ilan and who has taken their older son to South America on holiday.


Ora’s decision to undertake the hike she had planned to do with Ofer but to take the reclusive Avram with her instead, sets the scene for each character’s story to unfold. As they walk along the track with its picturesque scenery and tourist sights, Ora tries to “will” Ofer to stay alive by bringing him to his biological father who has hidden from the world after the torture he experienced as a prisoner of war, including the son who was conceived between friends so many years ago. We get a glimpse of how war changes a person as the gentle boy that Ora describes becomes a man who is anaesthetised to the violence of war. We get to know the strain that Ilan and Avram’s war experiences placed on Ilan and Ora’s relationship as young parents, but for me the hardest part of the novel to read are the scenes of Avram and Ilan as soldiers and friends in the conflict with Egypt, the strength of their friendship, and the horrors inflicted on Avram as a prisoner of war.


I found this a very moving novel, with lots of food for thought, and it did make me think how lucky I am to live in Australia where military service is one of choice rather than government decree and where conflict is many thousands of miles away and not on our doorstep. Sadly, David Grossman writes from first hand experience as he explains in a postscript to the novel that he lost his own son at the end of his son’s service in the Israeli military.


Some other reviews you might like to visit can be found here and here.