I have always been fascinated by Israel and their history but, whatever I have read about Israel has always been written by a non-Jew. Researching about Israeli novelists, I came across Meir Shalev's name. Having never heard of him and guided by the high praises he has received, I searched for one of his books to read. The Blue Mountain was the one I settled on and, I believe it was his first novel. The Blue Mountain is a wacky sort of novel with tons of characters, humor, and deep feelings and emotions. The novel is narrated by Baruck, an orphan raised by his grandfather. Baruck is now a grown man and the story is the story of his village, its people, their plight, their lives. Baruck manages, since his childhood, to spy on people and eave drop in many of their intimate conversations. In general, I can say I liked the book. It is beautifully written in the magical realism tradition of Gabriel Garcia Marquez. The novels is wacky crazy at times but, it manages to convey a story with many shades of emotions. There are a lot of characters in this novel and it is difficult at times to keep them all straight ( I wish it would've had some kind of character list for reference). The novel jumps back and forth in time and remarks from the different characters are mingled with the story leaving to reader to figure out who is saying what. I enjoyed the book but by the end was getting tired of the many side stories and the convoluted way they were told. This book introduced me to a new author, one I plan to visit again. It did not, however, helped me to understand more about Israel and its history. On the contrary, it opened up more questions in my mind. I guess that is good thing
It seems a lot of people read this book because they have some sort of connection to Israel; wether Israeli or visitors to the country. I belonged to the latter class and spent two years in Israel. Almost any "local" will recommend Meir Shalev (and David Grosmann) as good hebrew literature.This book didn't let me down. It was very stylishly written. Good prose. The main character is nice albeit, it seems to me, less typical in its historical context. The motifs of the main character (as a proxy of his grandfather's) remain an enigma to me: where come sthe hatred from? (I assume not from a romance) And why the taste of revenge? I think Shalev managed to give a good overview of the feeling of the pioneers: excitement followed by furstration and a some disappointment. Also the fading interest in the same ideals by following generations, and the frustration about this fact comes alight in the thoughts of the older pioneers. For sure an good read from a literary point of view. Probably, although i'm not a permanent resident of Israel and hence lack some background, a good read due to its historical ideas and dissimination of "pioneer's visions" (and the failure to keep these up to these days)
Do You like book The Blue Mountain (2010)?
Another amazing book by Meir Shalev. I gave it four stars rather than five stars only to distinguish it from A Pigion and Boy (also by Shalev), which I felt was just so unique. Blue Mountain contains the story of a rural village in Palestine in the early 1900's, prior to the establishment of Israel. Not only are the personalities and relationships depicted fascinating. One also gets a flavor for the stubborn way in which many of the founders of Israel tried to live in accord with their ideologies, and how those ideologies often backfired to cause significant personal pain. Not an easy book to read, but well worth it.
—Naomi
I enjoyed reading this book after a recent trip to Israel. It made real for me some of the early history of jews in Israel, and of the lives of Zionist, non-religious Jews in Israel. Of the vision of turning the desert into Paradise as carried out by socialistic, or even communistic, folks with an idea of being tied to the land in a new way. Told by the grandson of the founders of the farm community in which he lived, this colorful rendition of the simple life with its eccentric characters & confusing motivations, he survives & thrives & lives his life in his own image, or rather, the image of his grandfather whom he loves & emulates. Some of that (for me) little known history of pre-Israel Palestine now exists for me.
—Kani
“A Russian Novel” was a masterpiece of describing characters. Each of the characters in the story had a complete story behind him. A full description of appearance and traits and skills and a long list of feelings and wills and loves and hatred. In this story, Shalev, skillfully told the story of a small group of veterans which had immigrated to Israel from Russia during the Second Immigration, which took place from 1904 until 1914. They had first lived under the British regime and had built their villages from scratch – under the swamps they had dried with their bare hands. This group of veterans had children and grandchildren and friends and each and every one of them is described meticulously and beautifully.
—Avital Gertner-Samet
