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The Wanting
From the author of Not Me, this powerful novel of an Israeli father and daughter brings to life a rich canvas of events and unexpected change in the aftermath of a suicide bombing. In the captivating opening of this novel, the celebrated Russian-born modern architect Roman Guttman is injured in a bus bombing; his life and perceptions become heightened and disturbed, leading him on an ill-advised journey into the desert and Palestinian territory. Roman's odyssey alternates with the vivacious, bittersweet diary of his thirteen-year-old daughter Anyusha--on her own perilous path, of which Roman is ignorant--and the startlingly alive observations of Amir, the young Palestinian who pushed the button and is now damned to watch the havoc he has wrought from a shaky beyond. Enriched also by flashbacks to the alluring, sad tale of Anyusha's mother, a Russian refusenik who died for her beliefs, this novel becomes a poignant study of the costs of extremism, but it is most satisfying as a story of characters enmeshed in their imperfect love for one another and for the heartbreakingly complex world in which all such love is wrought.
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First published February 26, 2013
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About the author
Michael Lavigne
5 books20 followersMichael Lavigne was born in New Jersey. He currently lives in California with his wife.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 51 reviews
August 9, 2016
The Seeds of Extremism
It would be easy to believe that Michael Lavigne, instead of being American born and educated, was an Israeli writer. It is not just that he so clearly knows the land and culture of Israel (he is also equally familiar with Moscow, where he lived for three years), but he seems to have imbibed the literary attitude of many Israeli writers. To treat a subject like terrorism in an almost jocular magic-realist style, in which two of the three major characters are the disembodied head of a Palestinian bomber and a Jewish thirteen-year-old writing (and drawing) in her diary, might seem shockingly inappropriate for a foreign author, but it fits in entirely with the approach of writers like Amos Oz, Etgar Keret, or (in a younger generation, and especially in the teenage girl's voice) Shani Boinajiu.
The novel opens with an explosion in a suburb of Tel Aviv. Roman Guttman, a celebrated architect, first sees the bomber's head flying past the window (I told you this was magic realist), and then the blast knocks him to the floor, covered with glass. He recovers, but his shaky mental state sends him on an odyssey that takes him into the occupied territories, once more at the threat of his life. Meanwhile, his daughter Anna or Anyusha, left surprisingly alone, spends time with the family of her best male friend, the son of a rabbi, and a number of orthodox Jews she meets through them. Anna is far from orthodoxy herself and maintains a healthy independence in her own choice of lifestyle and behavior; but something about religion attracts her to explore beyond her father's atheism, and her new friends seem refreshingly free from cant. Amit, the suicide bomber, also reveals himself in flashbacks as a normal kid growing up, idolizing an older friend, having any pubescent boy's curiosity about women, reading and dreaming instead of working. Indeed, he might almost have made a like-minded friend for Anna Guttman, had the two grown up in the same place and time, and of course without the barriers of race and faith.
Roman's flashbacks take him back to his native Moscow. Gradually, they unfold the story of Anna's mother, Collette, a brilliant Jewish activist whom Roman could never entirely possess. For the most part, it is a story of normal enough life in Moscow in the late seventies and early eighties, with the shadow of institutional anti-Semitism just hovering in the background. But for some, the background is foreground. We gradually see that Collette is someone for whom the intensity of her beliefs is more important than virtually everything else. And as we learn more about Collette, we also see her genes expressing themselves in her daughter Anyusha, though with different consequences.
This is a novel that sneaks up on you. It starts by making a point of its normality, in its depiction of regular people able to laugh at life. But gradually you see that even in a cradle of normality can extremists be born. I am not sure that Lavigne quite manages to pull all the elements together at the climax, but the basic message of this utterly absorbing book is both powerful and honest.
It would be easy to believe that Michael Lavigne, instead of being American born and educated, was an Israeli writer. It is not just that he so clearly knows the land and culture of Israel (he is also equally familiar with Moscow, where he lived for three years), but he seems to have imbibed the literary attitude of many Israeli writers. To treat a subject like terrorism in an almost jocular magic-realist style, in which two of the three major characters are the disembodied head of a Palestinian bomber and a Jewish thirteen-year-old writing (and drawing) in her diary, might seem shockingly inappropriate for a foreign author, but it fits in entirely with the approach of writers like Amos Oz, Etgar Keret, or (in a younger generation, and especially in the teenage girl's voice) Shani Boinajiu.
The novel opens with an explosion in a suburb of Tel Aviv. Roman Guttman, a celebrated architect, first sees the bomber's head flying past the window (I told you this was magic realist), and then the blast knocks him to the floor, covered with glass. He recovers, but his shaky mental state sends him on an odyssey that takes him into the occupied territories, once more at the threat of his life. Meanwhile, his daughter Anna or Anyusha, left surprisingly alone, spends time with the family of her best male friend, the son of a rabbi, and a number of orthodox Jews she meets through them. Anna is far from orthodoxy herself and maintains a healthy independence in her own choice of lifestyle and behavior; but something about religion attracts her to explore beyond her father's atheism, and her new friends seem refreshingly free from cant. Amit, the suicide bomber, also reveals himself in flashbacks as a normal kid growing up, idolizing an older friend, having any pubescent boy's curiosity about women, reading and dreaming instead of working. Indeed, he might almost have made a like-minded friend for Anna Guttman, had the two grown up in the same place and time, and of course without the barriers of race and faith.
Roman's flashbacks take him back to his native Moscow. Gradually, they unfold the story of Anna's mother, Collette, a brilliant Jewish activist whom Roman could never entirely possess. For the most part, it is a story of normal enough life in Moscow in the late seventies and early eighties, with the shadow of institutional anti-Semitism just hovering in the background. But for some, the background is foreground. We gradually see that Collette is someone for whom the intensity of her beliefs is more important than virtually everything else. And as we learn more about Collette, we also see her genes expressing themselves in her daughter Anyusha, though with different consequences.
This is a novel that sneaks up on you. It starts by making a point of its normality, in its depiction of regular people able to laugh at life. But gradually you see that even in a cradle of normality can extremists be born. I am not sure that Lavigne quite manages to pull all the elements together at the climax, but the basic message of this utterly absorbing book is both powerful and honest.
April 2, 2013
This was a very thought provoking look at the aftermath of a bus bombing in Israel. The author told the story from the perspective of the main characters, alternating chapters. We got to see the incident through the eyes of one of the victims, his teenaged daughter, and the suicide bomber. Chapters also alternated between the present and the past, as the victim and the bomber thought back on the events in their lives that brought them to this place and time. The victim's daughter kept a journal for her father in which she related to him her deepest thoughts and her actions following the bombing.
I found the book confusing at times as it switched without warning from one character to another, one time period to another, but the desire, really the NEED, to know what was to become of them all, kept me turning the pages.
I applaud the author for delivering a balanced look at this complicated reality in our present day world. No one comes off as angelic, no one is painted as the devil. It is a human story, all too common in these days we live in, peopled by perfectly imperfect humans. A good read.
I found the book confusing at times as it switched without warning from one character to another, one time period to another, but the desire, really the NEED, to know what was to become of them all, kept me turning the pages.
I applaud the author for delivering a balanced look at this complicated reality in our present day world. No one comes off as angelic, no one is painted as the devil. It is a human story, all too common in these days we live in, peopled by perfectly imperfect humans. A good read.
December 1, 2013
Architect Roman Guttman is injured in an Arab suicide bombing in the opening scene. The novel is told from three points of view: Roman, Amir (the now dead Palestinian suicide bomber), and Roman's 13-year old daughter, Anna. Amir is watching current events and describing how he came to become a bomber. Roman is having hallucinations, and goes to visit a comatose victim, before venturing into Palestinian territory. Finally, Anna is adrift since her mother died a refusenik in a Russia prison, and is secretly drawn into a Jewish paramilitary operation. Well written, but meandering. It took me 82 pages to notice the different symbols used by Lavigne to identify which character's views were being followed.
February 28, 2016
This did not catch my attention - maybe the timing was wrong.
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May 26, 2022I started reading this book today and thought it really interesting and very different style that I really liked, but decided to stop reading it 25% in because of some sexual comments about women’s bodies, mens, and the F word. I really wish that it wasn’t that way.
Roman is an architect in Israel when a suicide bomber blows himself up near his place of work. Roman survived but is very emotionally disturbed hallucinating that he’s seeing God or others. Amir was the suicide bomber and he is stuck between death and afterlife following Roman around. I just really enjoyed the two sides of the story—non religious Jew Roman and Palestinian Amir.
Roman is an architect in Israel when a suicide bomber blows himself up near his place of work. Roman survived but is very emotionally disturbed hallucinating that he’s seeing God or others. Amir was the suicide bomber and he is stuck between death and afterlife following Roman around. I just really enjoyed the two sides of the story—non religious Jew Roman and Palestinian Amir.
January 7, 2018
A good story of people and their different religions and beliefs; and the influneces they have on others and children that are confused.
January 21, 2018
I read Not Me and loved it. I was looking forward to this novel by the same author and found it very disappointing on many levels . I read 100 pages and stopped!
May 3, 2019
very strange and different take on the Arab-Israeli conflict
June 9, 2021
All I can say is WOW!
August 29, 2021
I already recommended this book to so many people. I kept telling everyone about it as I was reading it. It's amazing.
February 23, 2019
An unusual read in that I felt the story was intelligently and objectively written, it addressed an important issue, and it was told through the personal stories of three interesting characters … yet I didn’t enjoy it.
The story begins with a suicide bombing in Israel which leaves a Russian architect severely injured, his teenaged Jewish daughter confused and on a perilous search for answers, and the disembodied head of the Palestinian bomber who expected martyrdom, fated instead to hover over those he injured and observe their pain. Each chapter alternates from one character to another, also shifting from past to present, while traveling through Russia, Israel, and the Palestinian Territory and introducing numerous supporting characters. It was very confusing, but I hung in there, hoping that soon it would flow into a more connected narrative. In the end, it seems to me that ‘The Wanting’ is about yearning for honest human relationships to give life meaning in an increasingly unstable and complex world. The characters yearn throughout their lives for purpose, something to ‘stand for’, something to give credibility to their existence and beliefs. They all want peace, but they are guided to extremes by their cultural and religious beliefs. As I said, the story is creatively and intelligently written, but it felt too ambitious, and took off in so many directions that I found it difficult to stay engaged.
The story begins with a suicide bombing in Israel which leaves a Russian architect severely injured, his teenaged Jewish daughter confused and on a perilous search for answers, and the disembodied head of the Palestinian bomber who expected martyrdom, fated instead to hover over those he injured and observe their pain. Each chapter alternates from one character to another, also shifting from past to present, while traveling through Russia, Israel, and the Palestinian Territory and introducing numerous supporting characters. It was very confusing, but I hung in there, hoping that soon it would flow into a more connected narrative. In the end, it seems to me that ‘The Wanting’ is about yearning for honest human relationships to give life meaning in an increasingly unstable and complex world. The characters yearn throughout their lives for purpose, something to ‘stand for’, something to give credibility to their existence and beliefs. They all want peace, but they are guided to extremes by their cultural and religious beliefs. As I said, the story is creatively and intelligently written, but it felt too ambitious, and took off in so many directions that I found it difficult to stay engaged.
May 28, 2014
Roman Guttman, a young architect in Bethlehem is injured in a terrorist bombing. The terrorist is a young Palestinian named Amir. This story tells of Guttman's life in Russia where he faced a lot of brutality & longed to go somewhere better. He meets a girl who is very involved in the political issues. He later is raising his daughter alone in Israel.
Amir's life is much different, he suffers humiliation & much disrespect from the Israeli soldiers & his home life is not very much better. He is somewhat lured into the Hamas life & eventually has a suicide vest strapped on him. He blows up an Israeli bus by Guttman's offices. Guttman is terribly injured & Amir is decapitated.
From there on, Guttman has this obsession to get to know the life & family of this young terrorist. Amir does not find the paradise he thought would occur, he is wandering in the skies watching Guttman and his daughter & his own father's life in the aftermath of the bombing.
The young daughter is getting involved into many bad political happenings also, befriending Jewish extremists, all the while wanting to know who her mother was.
A very well written book by Michael Lavigne. Seems like there will always be a war, so sad.
Amir's life is much different, he suffers humiliation & much disrespect from the Israeli soldiers & his home life is not very much better. He is somewhat lured into the Hamas life & eventually has a suicide vest strapped on him. He blows up an Israeli bus by Guttman's offices. Guttman is terribly injured & Amir is decapitated.
From there on, Guttman has this obsession to get to know the life & family of this young terrorist. Amir does not find the paradise he thought would occur, he is wandering in the skies watching Guttman and his daughter & his own father's life in the aftermath of the bombing.
The young daughter is getting involved into many bad political happenings also, befriending Jewish extremists, all the while wanting to know who her mother was.
A very well written book by Michael Lavigne. Seems like there will always be a war, so sad.
June 4, 2015
The 1990's saw the death of a different configuration in Israeli-Palestinian relations. With few checkpoints and a more congenial atmosphere, Israelis headed to the Arab markets to shop and repair their cars and Palestinians watched Israeli TV and spoke Hebrew. That changed dramatically by the end of the 90's with a proliferation of checkpoints and barriers, Arab satellite stations and the advent of suicide bombings.
The book opens with one such bus bombing...and proceeds to confront events that followed sometimes reading as news, sometimes delving into magical realism. Issues of "homeland" and rootlessness, modernity and ancient history, the clash of cultures all arise.
Lavigne explores the connections, both conscious and unconscious between 3 main characters, a successful Russian architect, the young Palestinian bomber and the architects precocious 13 year old daughter. Further, it explores questions of extremism - the development and actions that stem from it in ordinary people under extraordinary conditions.
This one, is well worth the read!
The book opens with one such bus bombing...and proceeds to confront events that followed sometimes reading as news, sometimes delving into magical realism. Issues of "homeland" and rootlessness, modernity and ancient history, the clash of cultures all arise.
Lavigne explores the connections, both conscious and unconscious between 3 main characters, a successful Russian architect, the young Palestinian bomber and the architects precocious 13 year old daughter. Further, it explores questions of extremism - the development and actions that stem from it in ordinary people under extraordinary conditions.
This one, is well worth the read!
May 16, 2013
With a deft hand and well-drawn characters, Michael Lavigne drops us into an Israeli bus bombing, its aftermath and all that brought the characters to that day. The choice of timing, during the first intifada, creates a backdrop where the recent Soviet immigration plays a strong role, and instantaneous cell phone communication does not. The reader is reminded that the extraordinary influence of the Haredi population is quite recent as shown through the ease with which a hip/eccentric tween girl wanders through the communities.
Each of the three main characters, Roman Guttmann, his daughter Anyusha, and Amir, the bomber, tell his or her own story. Lavigne creates separate voices for each and the import of casual life contacts is clear.
The novel has an unconventional format, it is very well-written and tells a really good story. I would recommend it for any reader or book group.
Each of the three main characters, Roman Guttmann, his daughter Anyusha, and Amir, the bomber, tell his or her own story. Lavigne creates separate voices for each and the import of casual life contacts is clear.
The novel has an unconventional format, it is very well-written and tells a really good story. I would recommend it for any reader or book group.
July 30, 2013
I read Lavigne's first book, Not Me , and thought it was fantastic but this book, in my opinion far surpassed that one. The writing was poetic, as well as thought provoking . If you ever want to get a perspective of the impact of the Middle East Israeli/Palestinian crisis on the lives of every day people , this is the book for you. Told through the eyes of a Palestinian suicide bomber, a Russian/Israeli terrorist attack victim, and the 12 year old daughter of the terrorist attack victim, you get a deep understanding not of the politics behind the problem but the impact of the problems on people. It demonstrates how life's circumstances and desires give reason for people to take illogical and harmful action. It is a powerful book with deep feelings of love and despair and is not a "happy read" .I would rate this as one of the best books I have read in years.
May 30, 2013
I found this by browsing through the homepage of my local library's website. It sounds interesting, but it meandered in a way that I found hard to follow at times.
The book is told from three characters' perspectives: Roman Guttman, a famous architect that is injured when a terrorist bombing takes place outside his work window; Amir, the bomber that sacrifices himself for the sake of his Muslim faith; Anyusha, Roman's teenage daughter that is finding her own way through religion. The premise is interesting as you find out why these three people have such disparate yet similar lives, but the plot took too long to get to the point. I was curious to know what happened to each of these individuals (you know what happens to Amir right away), but the story fell flat for me.
The book is told from three characters' perspectives: Roman Guttman, a famous architect that is injured when a terrorist bombing takes place outside his work window; Amir, the bomber that sacrifices himself for the sake of his Muslim faith; Anyusha, Roman's teenage daughter that is finding her own way through religion. The premise is interesting as you find out why these three people have such disparate yet similar lives, but the plot took too long to get to the point. I was curious to know what happened to each of these individuals (you know what happens to Amir right away), but the story fell flat for me.
August 10, 2015
This is an odd book. Set Israel a few years back, the narration is shared by three characters in a shifting time frame: a Russian immigrant architect who is injured in a terrorist attack and who struggles to restore his psychological equilibrium; his 13-year-old daughter (he's a single dad raising the daughter of a woman he loved, a Russian Jewish activist who died in a Soviet gulag); and the severed head of the Palestinian terrorist who initiated the bombing in which the architect was injured (and 8 people killed). I find it a difficult book to assess. There are other novels on this theme that I think I would recommend ahead of this one.
March 17, 2014
Thought-provoking and beautifully written. The scenes set in Soviet Russia struck me as accurate in every detail, and brought back vivid memories of the few months I spent there. I was sure the author must be writing from first-hand experience even before I read his bio. Though I cannot attest to their accuracy, the scenes set in Israel are similarly evocative of a unique geographic place and cultural atmosphere. The characters are very different yet all very human and each is in some way sympathetic. I don't read much fiction, but this book drew me in and taught me as much about the real world as any work of nonfiction.
April 18, 2014
Told from the perspective of a (dead) Palestinian suicide bomber (whose detached head continues to observe the aftermath of his destruction), one of the victims of the bombing, and the victim's teenage daughter who becomes vulnerable to outside influences when her father checks out physically and emotionally, this book is just downright depressing. All of the characters are so damaged that there is no shred of hope for reconciliation. I began to dread picking the book up to read it, and upon completion, it just left me drained. That might be good artistry, but it wasn't that well written to redeem its despair.
July 11, 2013
Multi layered and multi meaning: VERY fascinating story of a modern day daughter & her old school father that follows their mythical meanderings 'twixt various of today's moral dilemmas: we LOVED it! Magnificently written with great attention to '70's USSR and modern day Israel/WestBank; a wonderful odd odyssey of sundry loves lost and new identities regained. Accessible yet complex. Lavigne's a really good story teller: much fun and much much depth…" We HIGHLY recommend it…!
Keith Silva/Deb Urban, San Francisco CA
Keith Silva/Deb Urban, San Francisco CA
March 19, 2014
This is an ambitious book involved with relations between the Israelis and Palestinians in the Middle East, and also the earlier plight of Jews in the Soviet Union wanting to leave. The stories of several characters are interwoven, and it's a bit haphazard and choppy at times. The magical realism piece where the suicide bomber speaks as a character from the place he's in after his death did not work very well for me (but when discussed at my reading group, others had no problem with it). I didn't react to the book with a feeling of great enthusiasm for it, but it is worth reading.
April 1, 2013
A terrorist attack in Israel sets off a complex chain of events. Roman is injured in the attack and has a serious desire to meet the father of the suicide bomber. His daughter, Anna journals about her feelings and concerns. The suicide bomber is still watching over the injured. We learn everyone's back story as this novel proceeds. It is interesting to read all of the sides of issues in Israel and the end will blow you away. This is a great title for book clubs with lots to discuss.
February 2, 2014
Lavigne crafts a complex and compelling story that originates in Moscow in the seventies and takes place in Israel in the nineties. While the majority of the book takes place in Israel, I was riveted by the scenes that take place in Moscow and with the description of the main caharacter's childhood and adolescence. All in all I enjoyed this book a lot in spite of the tragic and a little far fetched ending.
February 2, 2014
A Libby pick... I had a suspicion I wasn't going to really like this one. I think I would have enjoyed this better if the author had just told the story, rather than relied on a gimmicky narrative device to move things along. It kind of makes me wonder if Lavigne would be capable of telling a rich story without such devices. I found Roman's sections most compelling -- his confusion and lapses after the attack were believable and disturbing, and his voice rang the most true with me.
March 17, 2014
I loved this book, which begins with a suicide bombing in Jerusalem in which a former Soviet is injured. He sees the head of the bomber flying by his window as the bomb explodes; the eyes seem to be looking at him. So begins this story of the architect (including his past in Russia), his daughter and friends, the suicide bomber and his father, and the people and cultures that surround them. There is a streak of magical realism in the novel that elevates it from interesting to lyrical.
May 1, 2014
This is a unique book, which tells of one suicide bombing incident, through the voices of the Israeli victim, the victim's adolescent daughter, and the suicide bomber. In doing so, it tells us the greater story of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict while being empathetic to both sides. The floating head of the suicide bomber, imagined (or seen?) by the victim brings a touch of magic realism to the book, and which serves as a creative and unique vehicle for the telling of the Palestinian story.
July 1, 2019
I read this right after I finished “Slaughterhouse 5.” The parallels are striking as both books delve into the fractured reality and depersonalization created by acts of war, terror and violence. Conclusions about the futility of war are obvious. “The wanting” highlights the impact of loss, ruptured relationships and deficiencies in attachment relationships on the individual’s past, present and future.
April 18, 2013
Sad commentary on terrorist bombings and their lingering after-effects on the survivors. A Russian emigrant, now architect in Jerusalem is injured in a terrorist bombing. The trauma that affects him and his daughter is juxataposed against the dead terrorist as he haunts the architect and reflects upon what brought him to this state. A well written and thoughtful book.
August 5, 2016
Loved this book. I was absolutely sure the author was a Russian born Israeli and was impressively surprised to read his biography and discover he is not.
Fabulous portraits of the Israeli father and his daughter- not quite as convincing when it came to the Palestinian but it didn't make any difference. An imaginative story- well told and thoroughly enjoyed.
Fabulous portraits of the Israeli father and his daughter- not quite as convincing when it came to the Palestinian but it didn't make any difference. An imaginative story- well told and thoroughly enjoyed.
November 2, 2018
Tried for the second time to read this book. This time I made it at least half way through. I just couldn't get into it. It was confusing to keep track of which character, Roman or Amir was speaking or living incidents. Perhaps if the chapters had been labeled with who the story was about I would have found it easier but for the second time I just couldn't get into this book.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 51 reviews