Exquisite language to the end

Author Colm Toibin hailed this novel as “a panorama of breathtaking emotional force, a masterpiece of pacing, of dedicated storytelling with characters whose lives are etched with extraordinary, vivid detail about the shapes and shadows that surround love and memory…” Nicole Kraus, author of the The History of Love wrote, “Very rarely you open a book and when you close it again nothing can ever be the same.” The accolades are endless for the novel published in 2010.

To the End of the Land is the story of Ora, a middle-aged mother recently estranged from her husband Ilan. Ora looks forward to spending a week’s vacation with her son Ofer, who has just finished serving his tour of duty in the Israeli army. Much to Ora’s horror, Ofer bails out of their vacation and re-enlists in the Israeli army when the government announces a new offensive. Unable to face the possibility of Ofer’s death, Ora decides to embark on the journey they had planned together because she feels if she’s not home, no one can deliver any bad news to her.

On the surface, To the End of the Land appears to be the story of how we cope with war, but in many ways, Ora’s story is an allegory for the agonising realisation that all mothers have when they realise they can’t keep their children safe.

Ora is a complex character – the kind of person who requires readers to examine both sides of the coin. Is her decision to embark on the journey that she planned with her son, a sign of fear or is it a sign of independence? And why does she embark on this journey with the family friend Avram, who served in the army with her former husband? Does this show her need to rewrite the past? While Grossman’s novel is exquisitely written with fine detail and rich descriptions, it is an undeniably challenging read mostly because of Grossman’s ability to create various tones and styles that capture Ora’s feelings. Grossman rarely tells the reader what to think. Instead he weaves a literary tapestry of emotions around Ora.

The story begins with a flashback from 1967 when Ora has been quarantined for what she describes as the plague. Here, the important people of her life – including Avram and her deceased childhood friend Ada penetrate her dreams and nightmares. This becomes a brilliant way of dealing with Ora’s past while Grossman gives Ora a sense of presence.

Each page of this novel presents a scene from Ora’s life that transports the reader to Israel and the conflict between Israel and the Arab world. Ora’s special relationship with Sami, her Arab driver, shows the complicated relationship between Arabs and Jews that cannot simply be reduced to enemies at war.

It doesn’t take long for readers to wonder how will Ora will fare in this book. Can she avoid bad news? Will Ofer come home? Likewise, it doesn’t take long to realise that this is a book to reread for the exquisite language alone.

Sometimes it is good to read a book that challenges readers to analyse a story on a whole new level. To the End of the Land is one of those novels.