עד שתדעי לכתוב אהבה

by גבריאלה אביגור רותם

קיץ אחד בחייה של ילדה בת כמעט שבע, בקיבוץ צעיר בדרום הארץ. קיבוץ ללא עץ וללא צל, שמקימיו, חלוצים מדרום אמריקה, שעלו ארצה ב־1949, הקימוהו על אדמת לס בהירה, קרוב מאוד לרצועת עזה ולעיר אשקלון, שנקראה אז בפי כול מג'דל־אשקלון.
הילדה ששמה "ראשונה", בהיותה הילדה הראשונה של הקיבוץ, היא סקרנית, דעתנית ועצמאית. בשל תכונותיה אלו ובשל דמיונה העשיר, שניזון מקריאה של ספרים לגילה ושלא לגילה, ובשל המציאות החברתית המורכבת שבה היא חיה, היא נקלעת לפרשה של ניסיון בריחה וגנבה לכאורה, ומאמציה להיחלץ מהפרשה רק מסבכים אותה יותר.

Unknown Binding

Published March 1, 2023

Reviews

[Michael Milgrom]

Rounding up to 4. I read this book for my book group. It is the story of an almost seven year old girl living on a kibbutz near Ashkelon in 1953. The kibbutz is composed of immigrants from Argentina, including Rishona, the little girl. This full length book is seen entirely through her eyes though it is not first person narration. There is no discernable plot, just a lot of things happen. My group, who are almost all Israelis, liked it better than I did and those who grew up on a kibbutz or a kibbutz-like situation said it described their lives very accurately. I think they were all able to get into it more than I could. I found it hard to be part of the seven-year-old consciousness for a full three hundred pages, though I have enjoyed short stories and even novellas told from a child's point of view. Rishona is quite precocious and imaginative and her imagination gets her into trouble. As a seven year old, she has lots of cute ideas and mispronunciations of words. The author has said that some of Rishona's experiences in the book are her actual experiences as a seven year old on a kibbutz of Argentinian immigrants in 1953. In sum, lots of interesting stuff, but too long.
I raised this question with my group: I have some memories of when I was in first grade but I couldn't recreate my state of mind and thought process from then. Some of my friends said that they could do so. I'm doubtful and can't help wondering whether the author (and other writers who do the same thing) can really do this or are providing us with something that seems plausible to us as adults.

I have to add that I am now reading The Bee Sting, a novel written from the viewpoint of two Irish teenagers. I'm also reading Penance, a novel about teenagers in the UK written partly from their perspective. In both of these books and the Rishona book, the protagonists are influenced by their peer groups to a huge extent. I can't recall that much peer pressure in my life. In Rishona's case I attribute the heavy peer pressure partly to the kibbutz environment where the kids spend almost all their time from a very early age literally living with the other children. The UK kids are amazingly cruel (brings to mind the stories about his childhood written by George Orwell) while the Irish ones in the Bee Sting are rather boring and pathetic and also pretty cruel though not as bad as the UK kids. (If you've read Penance you know there is ultimate cruelty there.) Rishona's peers are cruel, too, but in a more innocent way and they do actually get more adult supervision.