Apeirogon

This was unexpected and hugely powerful. I received this as part of the Goldsboro Books book of the month club, so it was a bit out of my usual reading sphere.

The word Apeirogon refers to a shape with a countably infinite number of sides, a fact that is strongly alluded to throughout this book - it is almost circular but ultimately multifaceted, like the conflict at the heart of the story. The book itself takes the form of a series of 1001 short vignettes, usually only a few paragraphs long if not shorter highlighting aspects of life in Israel and the West Bank, focusing in on two families who have both lost a daughter to the violence there, one Israeli and one Palestinian. The symbology and meaning behind each little snippet is always clever and gives added power to what is being told. The contrasts and little details on the day to day life of both Israelis and Palestinians are both brutal and sympathetic.

This is ultimately a critique of the status quo in Israel at the moment, the ultimate message is that the occupation itself is destroying the very peace it is trying to achieve. The two central stories are based on real stories, of Smadar and Abir, both of whom were teenagers killed whilst innocently going about their daily lives. The grief and anger present in the story is all very real, and the sense of forgiveness powerful.

This is a brutal and beautiful book. A series of contrasts that give a look into the vicious circle that is currently being enacted in the middle east, whilst at the same time giving a hope for a way out.

This was a tough novel to get through, not because it was badly written (quite the contrary) but because the subject matter made me put the book down every few pages for an emotional breather.

The story itself is based on a true story of two fathers - Bassam Aramin, a Palestinian, and Rami Elhanan, an Israeli - who each lost a young daughter due to violence. They each become members of Combatants for Peace, seeking to find common ground through shared tragedy which - they hope - will lead to greater compassion and eventually, perhaps, to that elusive peace.

In form, the novel stands apart. It is not in any chronological order, nor is it in any sort of logical order. Passages of story are interspersed with factual snippets and anecdotes that sometimes are only tangentially connected to the main novel. There are even photos to illustrate parts of the novel. Rami's and Bassam's story also go back and forth in time. Oddly though, you can make sense of the tale, and (mostly) appreciate the excerpts on birds, mathematics, riot-control gas, Mitterrand's last meal, among others.

The writing is beautiful. Even when McCann is describing birds, you just want to settle in to the prose. His narration of the personal tragedies of Rami and Bassam and how they each come to terms with it is deliberate, almost in slow motion when he goes in and out of their anguish. Violence is not white-washed and neither are the injustices.

It is a heavy read - there isn't much levity in the story nor the prose - but the writing is graceful. An article said that the author broke up the passages into 1,001 paragraphs echoing 1,001 Nights (NY Times). I didn't count them and there is nothing said in the author's acknowledgements; the form of the novel did help in breaking up the tragic reality of the story.

The book though, I feel, is about hope, a reminder that as long as there are people like Bassam and Rami who can advocate for peace despite their suffering, there may still be a chance for an end to violence.

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