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Title: The Liberated Bride by A.B. Yehoshua, Hillel Halkin ISBN: 0-15-100653-9 Publisher: Harcourt Pub. Date: 03 November, 2003 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $27.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.33 (9 reviews)
Rating: 3
Summary: Contrived and lengthy
Comment: While Yehoshua has proven himself to be an excellent writer in the past, his latest does not measure up to his standards. Not that it's a bad book: it's definitely readable and somewhat enjoyable. However, its basic premise - which is the engine that drives most of the story - feels very contrived, and the story itself is at times slow, not to say boring. The political aspect, as always a major facet of Yehoshua's work, feels tacked on to the story instead of being an essential part of it. And all in all, there is just too little story here to support such a long book.
In summary - not bad, but I wouldn't make this my first Yehoshua.
Rating: 5
Summary: Politics only the backdrop of a story about relationships
Comment: A fifth-generation Israeli, this author has a deep understanding of his land and his people. He wrote this book in 1998, just before the recent troubles, and, while I was reading the book I kept thinking that it represented a somewhat kinder gentler time. True, there were checkpoints and identity cards and clear-cut tension between Arabs and Jews, but it was still possible to have respectful relations between the two groups. This very real landscape of Israel, as well as the world of academia, is only a background of this novel, however. The basic story is about relationships between husbands and wives and children and parents. However, after 556 pages of a slow but insightful read, I came away with an understanding of the people and the culture from the inside out.
The main character is Rivlin, a semi-retired professor of Arabic studies. He lives in a duplex apartment with his wife who he adores. She's a judge and holds a prestigious position. They have two grown sons. One is in the Army; the other one lives in Paris where he has fled after his marriage broke up five years before. The son has never told his father what happened to his marriage and the father is curious. One of the themes of the book is how Rivlin tries to discover this secret. Another theme is about a Arab female student who is working on her Master's degree and translating some Algerian works for the professor. The book opens with Rivlin and his wife attending her wedding. The theme of weddings and couples and marriages is returned to again and again. The individual human beings, both Arab and Jew, are all nice people, doing their best to simply live their lives in the complicated world in which they live.
The book is told from the professor's point of view, a man of about my own age and I couldn't but help relate to some of the universal themes he introduces. The politics of the region were present throughout although they always stayed in the background while the professor struggled with his own personal problems. I liked this. And I also liked the depth to which the author developed all the characters. In the hands of a less skilled writer I might have been bored because I tend to like high adventure. The adventure in this book, however, was very subtle and had more to do with personal insights and self-discovery. This is a good book. I recommended it.
Rating: 5
Summary: Wonderful and Well-Written
Comment: A.B. Yehoshua is one of my favorite authors and I feel bad when I don't see more reviews for his wonderful books here. He's really masterful and his novel, MR. MANI, regarded by many to be his masterpiece, is a wonderful example of both literary and experimental fiction.
Yehoshua lives in Haifa and sets most of his novels there; this is the case with THE LIBERATED BRIDE. The protagonist of THE LIBERATED BRIDE is Yochanan Rivlin, an aging and distinguished, but constantly grumpy, professor of Near Eastern Studies at Haifa University.
The fact that Yehoshua keeps THE LIBERATED BRIDE, for the most part, in Rivlin's point of view, is not typical of his books, most of which employ multiple narrators and points of view and encompass the thoughts of many family members as well as both Arabs and Jews.
Rivlin is a man beset by both professional and personal problems. Professionally, he's suffering from "writer's block" regarding a book he's compiling about the problems in post-colonial Algeria. Personally, he's upset over the disintegration of his son, Ofer's, marriage and Ofer's self-exile in Paris.
In a rather comic fashion, Yehoshua has bestowed the character of Rivlin with an extreme dislike and jealously for people who have children whose marriages go the "right" way and who give their parents plenty of healthy grandchildren.
Unfortunately for Rivlin, THE LIBERATED BRIDE is filled with...brides. In fact, the book opens with a wedding. One of Rivlin's Arab students, Samaher, is getting married in a mountain village in the Galilee.
On a personal level, Rivlin is obsessed with both Samaher and with Ofer's ex-wife, Galya, who has now remarried and is pregnant. When Rivlin presses Galya for information about Ofer and the trouble their marriage encountered, none is
forthcoming.
Rivlin has his problems with Samaher as well. Although she's a talented student who desires her degree, she really doesn't want to have to attend school, so she fakes a troubled pregnancy and takes to her bed. Complicating things for Rivlin even more is the fact that the privacy of both Galya and Samaher is jealously guarded by Arab men. In the case of Galya, the protector is Fuad, a family servant; in the case of Samaher, it's her cousin Rashid.
Rivlin tries to sidestep Rashid by bringing translation work to Samaher, ostensibly so she can obtain the degree she still coverts despite her aversion to school. Rashid, however, is the real translator of the folktales and poetry Rivlin brings Samaher and he also represents one of Rivlin's "bridges" to the world of the modern day Arab.
THE LIBERATED BRIDE is "big book" and it's rather long, filled with subplots and characters and social situations. And, as always, Yehoshua does a masterful job at juxtaposing the opinions of both Arabs and Jews.
Is THE LIBERATED BRIDE a family novel or a novel of academia? I think it's both but I would definitely say it's leaning in the direction of family life. The heart of this novel consists of weddings, family visits, family quarrels and the bonds that exist (or don't exist) between a husband and a wife. In fact, one of the book's subplots concerns Rivlin's own wife, Hagit, and her work as a federal judge. Hagit is the polar opposite, in personality, to Rivlin. He lives in a world of provable facts and constant theorizing. Hagit lives in a world where some questions simply can't be answered and there are mysteries that simply can't be explained. She's comfortable with this; Rivlin isn't. I loved the juxtaposition of Rivlin's viewpoint against Hagit's, but I thought the subplot involving Hagit should have been a bit more developed.
Yehoshua uses many devices with which to weave his story...letters, lectures, stories-within-stories and poetry...among others. The book, however, is never confusing. Yehoshua is far too good for that, and there is even a strong thread reminiscent of nineteenth century romanticism woven into the fabric of this novel. Overall, I think the book makes only one misstep (a violent episode near the book's end seems "off-key" and "out of tune" with all that came before). Personally, my favorite scenes were those of the poetry festival at Ramallah. They were beautiful and lyrical and lyrically written. Despite its many characters and many subplots and its length, THE LIBERATED BRIDE is tightly controlled.
Although some questions in THE LIBERATED BRIDE remain unanswered, much to Rivlin's consternation, the novel does end on a hopeful not and one I found very satisfying. I think a perceptive reader might see some of the "answers" Rivlin is seeking but never finds, though for me, this didn't detract from the book's appeal.
THE LIBERATED BRIDE might be a good place to start if you've never read any of Yehoshua's other books. It is certainly a better starting point for a reader new to this author than is MR. MANI which is shorter, but far more literary and experimental. I also think anyone interested in Israel or the conflict and interaction between Arabs and Jews would find THE LIBERATED BRIDE (as well as Yehoshua's other books) highly interesting.
I found THE LIBERATED BRIDE extremely interesting and very well-written. I would recommend it highly.
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