Almost dead by Assaf Gavron

almost dead

NOTES-

This is Assaf fourth novel its original title in hebrew translates as croc attack ,he has his own site and on that i found out that he runs a football team made up of israeli writers that tour the world playing other teams of writers ,he has also worked on a game based around the israeli Palestine peace process and how to work it out .Assaf has also translated a number of english books into his native hebrew .he is also the singer in cult israeli band the foot and mouth that have released four albums .

THE BOOK –

The book follows two stories that intertwine the first follows Eitan Einoch a businessman from Tel aviv his business is time well seconds really he works for a software company that produces telephone software that can save seconds when searching for numbers ,the company is called time arrow ,to get to work he sometimes catches a bus the little no 5 one of these small bus that run around Tel Aviv anyway this particular day there happens to be a suicide bomber on board the bus now Eitan manages to survive the blast ,and in the next week is involved in two more attacks that he survives ,this draws him to the attention of the media who make him into a celeb ,as croc attack a play on his name that in hebrew is similar to word for croc .this makes him even more of a target for the bombers .

meanwhile the second strand follows Fahmi Sabih a bomber that survived a bomb that is laid in a coma in a hospital as he drifts through his mind and memories the history of his family how his relatives had to move on the making of the Israeli state ,how he was drawn into the world of the bombers via his brother .You discover how hard it is growing up in modern-day Palestine .all this and the two character describe everyday life and popular culture of israeli and Palestine .

I climbed aboard the little no. 5 as i did every morning pn my way to work ,”little no. 5 is what I call the minibus sized cab which follows the route of the no. 5 bus ,It’s actually a cross between a bus and a cab .You get the best of both worlds – the familiar route and the cheapness of the bus ,but they’ve got the speed of a cab and you can hail them and get of where you like .

the opening lines of almost dead .

MY VIEW –

This book shows both sides of the fence  ,we see one man wrestle with why he attack and the second with why he was attacked ,Eitans job becomes less important and may be his job is a symbol for the conflict as saving small amount of time seems pointless and the constant tit for tat of the Israeli conflict seems pointless at times and also has lead to such great loss of life on both sides  .Assaf has manage to draw the whole conflict down to the tale of two men either side of the divide  and what it brings to there lives ,which is good to either of them .this book is in the like of catch 22 using humour to explain the madness of war .

THE SCORE –

LIZARD

link to assafs gavrons homepage

link to harperperennial page