Review by Kirkus Book Review
Yes: the survivor of Peron's Argentina, and after (Prisoner Without a Name, Cell Without a Number), rages at Sharon's ""needless,"" unending war; at Begin's ghettoized, ""anti-democratic"" state. It was Timerman's fortune to become an Israeli--more, to find his ""true Jewish identity"" as an Israeli--just when, for him as for others, the moral basis for that identity was collapsing. So, the refrain: ""We cannot be like the others."" Timerman recalls suggesting to Michael Walzer (Just and Unjust Wars), over lunch at Princeton, ""that if the two of us decided to commit suicide. . . to stop [prevent] Sharon's war, perhaps we could succeed. . . ."" He backs the Peace Now movement, committed to withdrawal from Lebanon and negotiations with the Palestinians for an independent West Bank state (and dismisses the majority, Sephardic opposition by reference to ""their counterparts in Argentina, solidly behind Peron""). He hopes the ""Palestinians and Israelis together [will] cut loose from the enormous mass of vested interests. . . ."" Roughly, meanwhile, he records the changing Israeli mood. ""It was around the fourth day that the guilt began""--and Begin, in extenuation, began to invoke Dresden and other disasters of war. ""By the second Sunday of the invasion,"" a foul smell ""was called 'the odor of Lebanon's dead.'"" When Israel's military advantages registered, there came the sense of being a ""victimizer,"" and, furiously, of being deceived. ""They arouse in us the fear they need to make us obey orders and ask no questions. . . even in our country, they make the Jew live in fear."" Written apace, this has not the coherence or depths or singularity of Prisoner. Other anguished Israelis will be heard from. But the fierceness crackles, the accusations hang in the air. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
