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A Pigeon and a Boy: A Novelby Meir Shalev |
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From the internationally acclaimed Israeli writer Meir Shalev comes a mesmerizing novel of two love stories, separated by half a century but connected by one enchanting act of devotion.
During the 1948 War of Independence--a time when pigeons are still used to deliver battlefield messages--a gifted young pigeon handler is mortally wounded. In the moments before his death, he dispatches one last pigeon. The bird is carrying his extraordinary gift to the girl he has loved since adolescence. Intertwined with this story is the contemporary tale of Yair Mendelsohn, who has his own legacy from the 1948 war. Yair is a tour guide specializing in bird-watching trips who, in middle age, falls in love again with a childhood girlfriend. His growing passion for her, along with a gift from his mother on her deathbed, becomes the key to a life he thought no longer possible.
Unforgettable in both its particulars and its sweep, A Pigeon and A Boy is a tale of lovers then and now--of how deeply we love, of what home is, and why we, like pigeons trained to fly in one direction only, must eventually return to it. In a voice that is at once playful, wise, and altogether beguiling, Meir Shalev tells a story as universal as war and as intimate as a winged declaration of love.
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Mystery Surprise -  |
A Pigeon and a Boy: A Novel Review |
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As it turns out "A Pigeon and a Boy" by Meir Shalev is both a novel and a mystery -- one that I partially, but never completely figured out.
"A Pigeon and a Boy" is set in Israel from the 1930s to the present and deals with the lives of two gnerations -- those who were young men and women during the '30s and their children who were born after the 1948 war of Independence. For me, the book started out as a slow read, which, under other circumstances, would have caused me to drop it. However, I was reading it for a new book club so I kept plugging. By the end of the 4th chapter, I was hooked. I had figured out the relationships between some of the characters and became immersed in their lives and what was happening to them. The translation from the original Hebrew is good i.e., the language flows easily. The author, Meir Shalev, uses lots of detailed descriptions of both the natural and human-built physical environment and to describe the characters. This enabled me to easily enter the world of the novel. The mystery surprises that I could never have imagined come at the end of the book and were worth waiting for. I was sorry it ended. |
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A Pigeon and an Olive Branch - |
A Pigeon and a Boy: A Novel Review |
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When I first spotted the book on the shelves at one of the local bookstores, I stared at it for 2-minutes. It wasn't the glossy jacket that stood out, nor was it a particularly catchy title that made me want to buy the book. It was the author's name: Meir Shalev.
An Israeli author's book being sold here? I could tell the author is an Israeli from the name. I picked the book out of curiosity and treated it as a window into a forbidden culture. I gave the book 5 stars not because I think it is extraordinarily imaginative or extremely engaging, but simply because I found it very human. It is certainly original. I could easily describe Shalev as the Amin Maalouf of Israel, but I wish to remain politically correct. The story is set at modern day Israel, but stretches back to a time shortly before the Nakbah (or what is referred to by the author as Israel's War of Independence). Yair is an out-of-place, ugly-duckling-member of his family that consists of a biological mother; an adoptive father; and an unscrupulous younger half-brother, who is everything Yair isn't. Yair's almost miraculous birth, and the story revolving around it, as well as the relationship he had with his mother and her influence on him - is what the story is mainly about. What the story tells us, metaphorically, is that carrier pigeons deliver much more than coded messages in tiny capsules. They carry hope; love; perseverence; dedication and a lot more. The messages they deliver are sagas of all kinds. Pigeons are the hidden warriors; the love messengers; and the deliverers of the gift of life - a life like that of Yair's. I was delighted to have discovered this Israeli author. It felt like humanity triumphed over imposed cultural censorship and isolation. We may very well be political enemies (or made to feel as such), but the culture of arts and narratives transcends geographical borders and checkpoints. Something for our cultures to celebrate. |
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Book-A Pigeon and a Boy -  |
A Pigeon and a Boy: A Novel Review |
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The book was quite different to read- one had to go back into the book several times to keep issues straight. But, ending was fabulous and the last 75 pages I couldn't put it down. |
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Love does not survive life! -  |
A Pigeon and a Boy: A Novel Review |
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A less than satisfactory read. While it tries to glorify love, and the power of love, in the end what does love mean . . nothing. Perhaps that is the real message, that love does not survive life.
The characters seem to meander through the narrative without cogent purpose. The protagonist, Yair, appears to lake will or conviction other than his desire for his own home. His wife has such different priorities that it is just not credible that she would marry him. His lover comes and goes, seemingly without a life of her own, but not really part of his life either. Her father is a caricature, and a boring one at that. The insistence of the Baby and the people around him that home must be the seat of love (or the pigeons will not return there) is repeated so often that it fades into irrelevance. The one worthwhile aspect of the book is the feeling for the country. These people live in almost constant terror of a ubiquitous enemy. And why? They appear to be interested in a life, a fulfilling life, like any one else, and they are not allowed that luxury. But what does it all mean in the author's view. None of it means anything, apparently written with MacBeth in mind . . signifying nothing . . . |
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Sorry to dampen the general enthusiam -  |
A Pigeon and a Boy: A Novel Review |
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I read the book in the original Hebrew, which is far superior in its poetic qualities, rhythm, and precision to the sometime careless and awkward English translation. Of course, translation always diminishes the original, but this one seems to do so more than other translations I've read of Hebrew novels.
But even reading this novel in the original could not, in my view, hide its flaws. Indeed, there is something haunting and mystical in the novel, which sustains the reader's interest, and some of the characters--particularly Yair's mother--are drawn with deft and assured strokes. The theme of the search for home, central in the novel, also has a universal appeal. However, as soon as novel reaches its climax, which involves the pigeon, its energy seems to be spent. And there are many pages still to read, and in spite of a few glorious love scenes, they become tediously laborious and at times even incomprehensible. It is as if the writer didn't know what to do with the rest of the novel and couldn't make up his mind about the characters' motivations. |
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