A Wall of Light

Israel, to me, is both a mysterious and intriguing place – so rich in culture, history, and religion yet all we have seen and heard from the media about this country are unfortunately and predominately violence and tragedies.

A Wall of Light, a finalist for the Giller Prize, is the third of the trilogy written by Eveet Ravel. It is the story of 3 emerging characters at 3 different periods – Anna, an actor who fled the oppressive Russia to start a new life in Israel during the 40s, embrace the new challenges and the freedom she finally had; Sonya, her daughter who had undergone two life-threatening events and had emerged into a deaf and detached University Professor; and Noah, Sonya’s nephew who was born in this country but had to leave for Berlin to escape the political and sexual identity struggle

With the interweaving of Sonya’s adventure of “kissing a student, pursuing a lover, finder her father and leaving her brother”, Anna’s letters to her lover who was left behind in Russia, and Noah’s diary entries during his childhood and teenage, Ravel presented us a contemporary insider view of the country which is “capable of producing intelligent babies but manages to turn them into morons, gradually, bit by bit, until at fifty they are nearly brain-dead”, and yet with personal and emotion touch.

A Wall of Light is not too heavy or gloomy as you will imagine book about the Arab-Israeli politics. The language is beautifully done and crafted a very vivid scenery and characters. I checked the author’s site and was surprised to find the author rewrite one of her earlier book “Look for me” and actually post the new ending of the book on her website. It showed some seriousness and search for quality about her own right. I might read more of her books in the future.