Adjusting sights /

Winner of Israel's Sapir Prize in 2000, this novel is based on Sabato's own experiences with war and loss. He lends his name to his protagonist, a young yeshiva (Jewish seminary) student in Israel who, along with friend Dov, is called up to serve as a gunner in the 1973 Yom Kippur War. Both have immigrated to Israel, Haim from Egypt and Dov from Romania, and though the army quickly takes them from their scholarly and religious world to the battlefield, with its attendant dead and wounded, they reconcile themselves with stolen moments of study and prayer. Eventually, however, their tanks are separated, and Haim loses sight of his friend; the title refers not only to the sights that a tank's gunner must adjust but also Haim's need to make internal adjustments and comprehend loss and tragedy. Other characters retell the battlefield story, adding dimension to this delicate, poignant story. The classical Hebrew is artfully translated. Highly recommended for both public and academic libraries.-Molly Abramowitz, Silver Spring, MD (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

A young student's experience of combat and subsequent questioning of the principles by which he lives. Sabato's intensely detailed, involving US debut, winner of two major Israeli literary prizes, concerns manifestly autobiographical protagonist and narrator Haim. Haim is drafted out of yeshiva school to serve in the 1973 Yom Kippur War, alongside his best friend Dov (who soon thereafter disappears), then discovers he must "readjust," both as a tank gunner "sighting" his target and as a faithful Jew whose sane, ordered world has suffered chaotic dislocation. Excessive quotations from the Torah and Talmud blunt some of the story's impact, but Sabato's descriptions of battlefield experiences are suitably crisp and horrific, and his knowing portrayal of Haim's vacillations among terror, grief, doubt, and devotion seem both psychologically astute and movingly expressive of the mysterious sustaining power of deeply held faith. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.