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April 7, 2006
Not for faint-hearted readers
New novels portray women of both strength and critical weakness.
VERONIKA STEWART
Katerina
by Aharon Appelfeld
Schocken Books: New York, 2006. 218 pages. $18
Jerusalem-based author Aharon Appelfeld's latest piece of fiction,
Katerina, takes a look at the horrors of the Holocaust and
the tumultuous time leading up to the Second World War through the
eyes of a non-Jew.
The novel is set in the Ukraine, beginning in the 1880s. After the
death of her mother, Katerina flees from her drunk, abusive father
and goes to work for an Orthodox Jewish family in another village.
There, she falls in love with Jewish culture and the family she
works for, meanwhile struggling with the skepticism and scorn of
her non-Jewish peers. In learning Yiddish, she takes on a different
accent, one that makes her stand out from her peers, who say the
Jews have "ruined" her.
Appelfeld – born in 1932 in Czernowitz, Rumania – uses
the area in which he grew up as the basis for the setting in the
novel.
Appelfeld was deported to a concentration camp when he was eight
years old, but managed to escape. He then spent three years hiding
in the Ukraine before joining the Russian army. As a postwar refugee,
he made his way to Italy and later immigrated to Israel in 1946.
The novel contains deeply personal descriptions of Ukrainian cities
and their residents.
Appelfeld's stream-of-consciousness style of writing takes the reader
through the harsh and often depressing journey of Katerina. As the
people around her die or are murdered, Katerina begins to dream
about them, often adopting their personality traits. For example,
after the death of her resilient mother, Katerina begins to speak
with her at night. Although not explicitly stated, it is implied
that Katerina struggles with alcoholism, which may account for her
constant hallucinations. Through these conversations, she comes
to the realization that to survive, she must be tough like her mother.
"I myself learned courage the old way," she muses. "I
had two or three drinks, my body warmed up, and I saw my departed
mother before my eyes. My mother was a brave woman. Everyone was
afraid of her."
This toughness, however, eventually leads Katerina to commit a brutal
murder. When she emerges from prison at the end of the "horrible
1940s," as she calls them, she finds a world emptied of the
Jewish people she loved so much. She also finds a world not sorry
to have seen the Jews go.
Not for the faint of heart, Katerina is an outside look at
the progression of violence leading up to the Holocaust. Because
it is written from the perspective of a non-Jewish character, the
novel offers a unique view of the attitudes of the majority leading
to the attempted mass murder of an entire culture. By showing both
the views of what is portrayed as an ignorant and violent majority,
mixed in with the struggles of Jews to remain in their homes, the
author showcases the bravery of Jews to remain in communities that
would rather have seen them dead.
Dating uncensored
Adonis & Alizade
by Dalia Gal
N2Print: United States, 2005.
252 pages. $15.95 US
Having had a couple of crummy relationships, and knowing generally
the outcomes of crummy relationships, I couldn't really take Adonis
and Alizade seriously. To me, a relationship that begins in
rape doesn't seem destined for greatness, no matter what the cosmos
say – but maybe that's just me.
The novel follows the tumultous and often sexually explicit relationship
between two recent divorcées living in Jerusalem. Something
unusual about the book is its unique take on the first person narrative.
It is written alternately from the perspectives of Ali, the female
protagonist, and Duanis, her romantic interest and counterpart,
showing how Duanis constantly manipulates Ali, while Ali becomes
more and more desperate for him to love her.
Something that struck me as odd was that although the book is written
by a woman, there is an aura of gross sexism throughout it. Despite
the fact that Ali knows Duanis is using her for sex, she
allows him to call all the shots and is always the first to give
in and call him when he ignores her. It's fairly common knowledge
that women can get desperate the more aloof a man gets – it's
the whole "need to settle down and procreate" thing –
but Ali's desperation goes beyond the point of being able to empathize
at times.
Although the author, Dalia Gale, is an Israeli native with a graduate
degree in English and American literature, there are several grammatical
errors littered throughout the novel. Grammar fetishists and feminists
beware: this novel may have you gritting your teeth.
Also, a striking fact about the description of the lead female character
is her resemblance to the author's photo and biographical information
printed on the back cover. Red hair, pretty, a poet, works in the
film industry ... hmm ... could this be a pseudo-autobiography?
Or is the author just living out some kind of mystical-erotic romantic
fantasy through her fiction?
For those who enjoy a good erotic romance once in a while, this
novel falls into that category. Not well-written enough to qualify
for a higher title in fiction, but interesting enough to finish,
the novel offers a mystical, fate-inspired look at a bad relationship.
If, like me, you can relate all too well to doomed relationships,
it may hit a little too close to home. But for those delusional
enough to look for a happy ending, read on.
Veronika Stewart is a student intern at the Independent.
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