In
"Death Road", the opening story of Inside Information
by Eshkol Nevo, translated by Sondra Silverston (Other Press, June 2023),
39-year-old Omri is on a post-divorce trek in Bolivia when he meets
honeymooners Ronen and Mor. That night, Mor knocks on his door and Omri senses
that something is wrong in her marriage. Shortly afterwards, Ronen is killed in
a freak bicycle accident. After returning to Israel, Omri makes a shiva call,
even though he barely knew the deceased.
At
the shiva, Mor shows no signs of wanting to talk to Omri, but then she slips him
a note, asking him to meet her in a nearby park. Having escaped Ronen's suspicious
brothers, Mor tells Omri what caused her husband to fall into the abyss on
Death Road. As she relates the story, Omri feels he is beginning to slip into
the abyss with her. Is that what really happened and will he also pay the price
for Ronen's death?
In "Family
History", senior attending physician Dr. Asher Caro, supervising the
residents in the hospital's Internal Medicine department, notices the
distinctiveness of Liat Ben Abu. Caro, 'soft-boned and ham-fisted, still bowed
by [his wife's]'s death,' develops a desire for Liat, not sexual in nature but
rather a strong urge to care for her as he did for his wife when she was ill.
When Liat falls for the charm of a fellow doctor, responsible for a string of
brokenhearted women, Caro can't help but reach out, anonymously, in an attempt to
protect Liat from the same fate.
With
tears in her eyes from the inevitable break-up, Liat shows up at Caro's
apartment, saying 'What would I do without you?' He offers her tea but she asks
for alcohol. Dizzy, she lies down for a
few minutes. When he leans forward to cover her, just like he tucked in his
children when they were small, his hand inadvertently falls into the opening of
her shirt. And then his troubles begin.
In
the concluding story, "A Man Walks into an Orchard", we meet
Chelli, who takes an exercise walk every Saturday morning with her husband Ofer
in the orchards near their home. On one such walk, Ofer informs his wife that
he is dying to pee. He hands Chelli his phone and disappears among the trees. A
minute goes by. Another minute. Another minute.
As
the police investigate, family secrets are revealed. Chelli's affair, which was
known only to her son. The blog of 100-word, somewhat disturbing stories that
Ofer faithfully updated. There is no trace as to Ofer's whereabouts, but even
when all leads dry up, Chelli refuses to give up hope. She misses 'something
that's hard to put into words, maybe...connection?' She also misses certainty.
She wants to know 'something for certain.' What happened to her husband?
The
three separate stories of Inside Information are independent of
each other, novella-like in their length, with only a word or two connecting
their narratives. Still, there is much to tie them together. In all three we meet
unreliable, flawed narrators revealing their tales of love, intimacy, longing,
and desire. Weaving them together is Nevo's masterful ability to capture our attention
with compelling narratives, unexpected twists, and unconventional love stories.
The book, an absolute pleasure to read, leaves us wondering what will happen
next in the lives of the relatable characters with whom we've become intimate on
its pages.
Eshkol
Nevo is one of Israel’s most critically and commercially acclaimed writers.
His novels have all been bestsellers in Israel and published widely in
translation. Homesick was awarded the Reimond Vallier Prize in
France (2008) and shortlisted for the Sapir Prize in Israel (2005). World
Cup Wishes (2007) won the Golden Book Prize in Israel and was awarded the
Adei-wizo Prize in Italy. Three Floors Up (Other Press, 2017) was
adapted for film by the acclaimed Italian director Nanni Moretti; and The
Last Interview (Other Press, 2020) was a finalist for the National Jewish
Book Award. Nevo is the grandson of Israeli Prime Minister Levi Eshkol, for
whom he was named.
Sondra
Silverston has translated the work of Israeli fiction writers including Etgar
Keret, Ayelet Gondar-Goshen, and Zeruya Shalev. Her translation of Amos Oz's Between
Friends won the National Jewish Book Award for fiction in 2013. A native
New Yorker, she has lived in Israel since 1970.
Originally published on The Times of Israel.
Related article:
Review of ‘The Last Interview’ by Eshkol Nevo
