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Going Up, Going Down - The Aliyah of an Innocent
There are hitches and humour when Arnon and Maggie Goren and their two young sons set off from England for Israel in Spring 1973 in a 1933 Rolls Royce towing an old caravan.
They follow the Kenneth Clark 'Civilization' route through France and Italy for three weeks, enjoying the splendours of countryside, historic buildings and art in those countries before embarking for Haifa. Maggie learns the hard way about Israeli bureaucracy and wonders whether bad luck comes in threes or multiples of three. They settle in the independent village of Ramat Yishai, Northern Israel, with its idiosyncratic 'rainbow' population. The October 1973 Yom Kippur War breaks out and Reserves officer Arnon leaves abruptly to find his artillery unit and is away for six months.
After four years and the birth of twins in 1975 Arnon makes the decision to return to England. The books is threaded through with Maggie's thoughts and feelings about the scenically beautiful and historically stunning country to which she elected to become a 'temporary' immigrant with reflections on the inexorable nature of politics, love and war.
They follow the Kenneth Clark 'Civilization' route through France and Italy for three weeks, enjoying the splendours of countryside, historic buildings and art in those countries before embarking for Haifa. Maggie learns the hard way about Israeli bureaucracy and wonders whether bad luck comes in threes or multiples of three. They settle in the independent village of Ramat Yishai, Northern Israel, with its idiosyncratic 'rainbow' population. The October 1973 Yom Kippur War breaks out and Reserves officer Arnon leaves abruptly to find his artillery unit and is away for six months.
After four years and the birth of twins in 1975 Arnon makes the decision to return to England. The books is threaded through with Maggie's thoughts and feelings about the scenically beautiful and historically stunning country to which she elected to become a 'temporary' immigrant with reflections on the inexorable nature of politics, love and war.
280 pages, Kindle Edition
First published December 23, 2010
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
August 30, 2011
I don't generally go for biographical books, but this novel was written by a relative of mine. The story tells of the author's emigration to Israel with her husband and their young family in the early 70s.
If you know the family then it will come as no surprise that the way they chose to travel to Israel from England, was in a 1933 Rolls Royce towing an old caravan! The first few chapters are dedicated to their exploits in Europe retracing the steps of Kenneth Clark in his 'Civilisation' TV series, before ending up several weeks later in the Holy Land.
Once the family reach Israel, the rest of the book's chapters are a series of short stories that tell of the rich colour of life they experience (from the ordinary to extraordinary to the joyful and tragic), as well as the politics and wars that shaped Israel at that time, all told from a non-Jewish pacifist Englishwoman's point of view.
It was a fascinating read because the book captures the author's pioneering spirit of adventure and humour, as the family deals with the trials and tribulations that come their way. I have met a lot of the people featured in the book, and it was very interesting to read about them as young people. I must also admit that I don't really know a lot about Israel from that time so I learned something too :-)!
If you know the family then it will come as no surprise that the way they chose to travel to Israel from England, was in a 1933 Rolls Royce towing an old caravan! The first few chapters are dedicated to their exploits in Europe retracing the steps of Kenneth Clark in his 'Civilisation' TV series, before ending up several weeks later in the Holy Land.
Once the family reach Israel, the rest of the book's chapters are a series of short stories that tell of the rich colour of life they experience (from the ordinary to extraordinary to the joyful and tragic), as well as the politics and wars that shaped Israel at that time, all told from a non-Jewish pacifist Englishwoman's point of view.
It was a fascinating read because the book captures the author's pioneering spirit of adventure and humour, as the family deals with the trials and tribulations that come their way. I have met a lot of the people featured in the book, and it was very interesting to read about them as young people. I must also admit that I don't really know a lot about Israel from that time so I learned something too :-)!
October 7, 2012
I laughed and I cried reading this book about a non-Jewish girl emigrating with her Israeli husband and two sons from the UK to Israel under their own steam, travelling in a 1933 Rolls Royce to which an old caravan was attached. They made it from England across France and Italy down to the port of Naples where the car was hoisted in a net aboard a small, crowded ferry, destination Haifa. From then on the story concentrated on life in a small, crazy village in the north of Israel.
I learned quite a bit about a country having previously little idea of its recent background since Israel's declaration as an independent state in 1948. The author manages to combine some lovely stories about the people among whom she lived, with some robust views about war and her strong feelings against racial discrimination. She says at one point that we should see others as ourselves "the cultures may vary but the sins are the same". I was moved by the book and sometimes laughed out loud. A good read indeed.
I learned quite a bit about a country having previously little idea of its recent background since Israel's declaration as an independent state in 1948. The author manages to combine some lovely stories about the people among whom she lived, with some robust views about war and her strong feelings against racial discrimination. She says at one point that we should see others as ourselves "the cultures may vary but the sins are the same". I was moved by the book and sometimes laughed out loud. A good read indeed.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews