Tuesday, February 8, 2011

"Jesus paid it all, all to him I owe," as sung by Israeli novelist David Grossman

"Ora tells Avram she will probably never know what really went on behind Adam and Ofer's closed door during that whole period.  Because what, in fact, did happen?  Two kids, one almost thirteen, the other just over nine, spent every day together, usually just the two of them, for three or four weeks during summer vacation.  They played computer games and foosball, chattered for hours, made up characters, and every so often they cooked shakshuka or pasta together.  'And while they did all thatdon't ask me exactly how it happenedone of them saved the other.'"

David Grossman, To the end of the land, trans. Jessica Cohen (New York, NY:  Alfred A. Knopf, 2010), 411.  The story of how nine-year-old Ofer delivered his twelve-year-old half-brother Adam from his descent into hell begins on p. 406 (a passage too long to quote), and the descent into hell itself, on p. 386.

No comments: