Ode To Joy

by Shifra Horn

Following a terrorist explosion on a bus in Jerusalem, Yael, a married mother who narrowly escaped the attack, is haunted by the last image she recalls before the horror: a little blonde child waving... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0749936355
• ISBN13: 9780749936358
• Release Date: February 2006
• Publisher: Piatkus
• Length: 274 Pages
• Weight: 0.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.1" x 7.8"

Customer Reviews

A masterpiece of contemporary Israeli literature

Yael Maggid, a young married mother who works at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, has recently experienced the passing of her father, a Greek-born holocaust survivor and is doing research on the culture of the ultra-orthodox Haredi communities. Driving to work one day she is distracted by a game of peekaboo with a beautiful blonde child at the back of a bus, while listening to Beethoven's Ode to Joy on the radio. Moments later the bus, filled with children, is destroyed in a horrific terrorist homicide bombing. This trauma put's Yael's life into turmoil, and is not helped by the lack of sympathy by her husband Nachum. She meets Avshalom, who has lost his small son and wife in the massacre. She believes that her love for Avshalom may help excise the ghosts haunting her, while she struggles to raise her little son Yoavi and sort out her problems with her husband and her relations with her friends and colleagues. The book tells us about Yael's life and background, about her childhood about her marriage and motherhood, friends and colleagues. Just before the birth of her son, she attended a rally of the far-left Women in Black movement, and a women cursed Yael that she would lose her son in a terror attack the same way that she lost her own son. She believes that marrying Avashalom will excise the curse, because his loss was in place of that that she would have suffered as a result of the curse. This is a story of how terror and conflict affects the lives of ordinary Israelis and a story of pain and loss, of love, struggle and hope. It takes a look of the lives and struggles of people in Israel, of families, women and children, as well as those commonly experienced by people the world over.

Wonderful contemporary novel set in a Jerusalem during the Intifada

Shifra Horn's contemporary novel set in Jerusalem sheds is a brilliant book by an incredible author. It is obvious that so much of the material is based on real feelings, strains and emotions in a country that has terrible inner torments. It is a wonderful read just as a straightforward novel but more importantly is shows something of what life is like for people living close to the terror brought about by the Palestine/Israel conflict. The book is sympathetic to feelings or ordinary Israelis living in Jewish "neighbourhoods" (settlements) in East Jerusalem as well as to their near neighbours and friends the other side of the separation barrier. It also shows some of the strains that exist between ultra orthodox and secular Jews. I cannot recommend this book too much. Buy it and read it and try to understand what it is saying.

another outstanding book form Shifra Horn

On this occasion Shifra Horn one of Israel's most talented and classical writers has written a contemporary novel with the background of Jerusalem 2002 and the Palestinian intifada. It is a sensitive story about Yael,an anthropologist, a doctoral student studying the mourning customs of the ultra orthodox,who as a result of a bus bombing ,is thrown into contact with an ultra -orthodox man whose son and wife have been amongst the victims. As we have come to expect from Horn this novel is beautifully written- it is rich in description and the characters complex and believable.There is enough emotion, drama, love and betrayal- all drawn with vitality and color-to ensure the story is never less than compelling. This is Horn's best and most important novel-readers who enjoyed 'Four Mothers' and her other works of fiction ,will find 'Ode to Joy' more difficult but very rewarding.This is a wonderful addition to her growing list of authentic and outstanding novels. Horn has rightfully earned her place as one of Israel's leading serious writers and I can thoroughly recommend 'Ode to Joy'