Look for Me

Tel Aviv Trilogy #2

by Edeet Ravel

In a love story framed by the vivid realities of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Edeet Ravel tenderly explores the complicated ways people connect when violence touches every aspect of their livesDana Hillman is a young Israeli woman whose humanity and passion for justice are obvious to all who meet her. On peace missions, she and other activists act as human shields in situations where the Israeli army tries to displace Palestinians. A gifted photographer, she documents the protests, and the faces of women and children caught in the seemingly endless struggle. To make a living, though, she churns out junky historical romances, well aware of the irony of her situation. Her own love story has turned into a heartbreaking why did her husband, Daniel, suddenly disappear and where has he been for the last eleven years?Every year Dana publishes a full-page ad addressed to her lost husband that says, “I will never ever ever ever . . . stop waiting for you,” with that “ever” multiplied to fill the whole page. Dana’s hope and constancy fill the novel in the way that her “ever” fills up the page, as she holds fast to trust, love and a vision for the future that seems magical in this fractured place.

Genres: Fiction, Canada, Middle East, Israel, Romance, Literature, War

322 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 10, 2004

About the author

Edeet Ravel is the author of sixteen books for children and adults. Her books have been translated into over a dozen languages and have won numerous awards, including the Hugh MacLennan Book Award, the J.I. Segal Award, the Canadian Jewish Book Award (in two categories), the Janet Savage Blachford Prize for Children’s and Young Adult Literature, and the Snow Willow Award. Edeet's books have also been shortlisted for the Giller Prize, the Commonwealth Book Prize, and the Arthur Ellis Crime Award. Edeet was a three-time Governor General's Award finalist in two categories. Her novel The Saver (Groundwood) was adapted into film by Wiebke von Carolsfeld. Her latest (crossover) novels are A Boy Is Not a Bird and A Boy Is Not a Ghost, about a child who is exiled to Siberia in WWII, and Miss Matty, in which a teenager in Montreal of 1942 dreams of being a Hollywood star. In the words of one young reader, "Edeet has a vision where what is strange is loved and what is beautiful -- our planet, our humanity -- is protected." Edeet lives in Montreal, Canada.

Reviews

[Shannon · Rating 2 out of 5]

Eleven years ago Dana Hillman's husband caught fire and then disappeared. Dana, a photographer who joins the Israeli pro-Palestine activists at demonstrations in the occupied territories and writes trashy romance novels in secret to pay her bills, has never given up hope of seeing him again. Every year she pays for a full-page ad in the paper, a message to Daniel, saying she'll wait for him. She gives interviews about it, hoping he'll hear and know that she's waiting and that she doesn't care what he looks like. But finding him is another matter entirely.

He was in the Reserves when it happened, folding laundry - an architect, Daniel was a terrible soldier. The army send him disability cheques to a Tel Aviv address, a flat where he's never lived. Dana has that address, but it's a dead end. No one in the army will give her his real address, but when she meets a man on the beach called Aaron who works for the army in a "special unit" and declares that he can find out Daniel's address. Yet whatever he found out, he suddenly doesn't want to tell her.

As Dana goes through her life, attending demonstrations against Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory, taking photos, writing formulaic romance, she meets Rafi, a young man married to neurotic pianist with wealthy parents - a woman who can't even touch their child, Naomi. Despite Dana's committed and loyal love for Daniel, even after all these years, at thirty-six she finds herself falling for Rafi again. Rafi, despite the competition, has already fallen for Dana. She's something of a legend in the area, and he's seen her with her camera at many rallies and in interviews. Everyone knows the story of her husband.

Finding someone who can help her locate him is far from easy. This is Israel, where security, secrets and paranoia run high. All she wants is to find her husband and get him back, but finding him is only the start. Her assumption that everything can go back to the way it was when she does find him shows how short-sighted and naively hopeful her love for Daniel has become.

The first book in Ravel's Tel Aviv trilogy - stand-alone books that are set in Israel and handle the ultra-sensitive theme of Israel's occupation of Palestinian territory (showing both a fierce love of Israel and also a pro-Palestinian stance) - was Ten Thousand Lovers , which I read several years ago and it is still one of my favourite books of all time. It was intense, powerful, moving, thought-provoking and written in a way that suited the characters perfectly. This second instalment in the trilogy is written in much the same way, but sadly the story didn't connect with me as much as I'd hoped. Part of the problem was Dana herself, a character whom I liked but found rather too stubborn, naive and stiff. That's also connected to Ravel's style, which for me stunted Dana's character too much and made her sadly two-dimensional. I also found the plot itself at first slightly confusing, then hugely anti-climactic.

Let me begin with the plot. At first, the way I read it, I thought Daniel was dead. Then I realised that he wasn't dead, he was missing - that he caught fire, was in hospital with serious burns to his upper body and head, and then vanished. Later we learn that he snuck out and disappeared, when I had thought the implication was that the Army had "disappeared" him (in South American-dictator fashion) - not that I could see a reason for it. The way Dana doles out little bits of information about Daniel's accident and disappearance kept leading me to think in one direction, then have to reverse and rethink it and form a new picture in my head. But what really disappointed me was how built-up it was, with Army people offering to help her then, when they see the answer on their computer, clamming up. Why? It made a big mystery out of the whole thing but why would those people care whether Dana found out, even if Daniel himself didn't want her to know? How would they know that and what difference would it make to them? People like Aaron, at first enthusiastic and boastful about being able to find the information she wants (Daniel's real address), suddenly tell her to move on and forget about him, and that it's not worth their job to tell her what they found out. It didn't make sense to me, especially when we do find out the truth (I even reached the point where I wanted her to shut up about him all the time - not a good sign).

Dana herself narrates the story, often going back in time to tell the story of how she met Daniel and their early years of marriage together - a very ordinary marriage, with Daniel showing signs of not being as committed as Dana is. I found it hard to really understand and connect with Dana. She is both open and simple and also oddly mysterious - in the sense that I couldn't always understand her actions or choices. She seemed sketched-in, rather than fleshed-out. The story covers from Saturday through the week to the following Monday, and we follow Dana in her daily life as she interacts with her neighbours - an ex-prostitute turned fortune teller who lives upstairs with her mother; a legless young man who was once the life of the party and is now deeply bitter and determined to make everyone around him feel bad; and an ageing rocker who can barely look after himself anymore. She fends off proposals from Benni, a friend who convinces himself he's in love with her, and every Wednesday she has dinner with a middle-aged doctor, which everyone teases her about. Dana works part-time at an insurance company, writing letters in English, and continues to live in the apartment she and Daniel first moved into when they got married when she was just nineteen.

In a way - and I rather hate this kind of off-the-cuff, simplistic analysis - you could read Dana's relationship and search for her husband as a kind of metaphor for Israeli-Palestinian relations. In a way, when I look at it sideways. Daniel is disfigured and in hiding, and his disappearance is based on a false reality - something he thought he overheard while in hospital but which didn't actually happen. His treatment of Dana, while in a very vulnerable, wounded state, still makes me angry. What a dick! She has every right to be furious at him - I would be, in her place. All based on a misunderstanding, a miscommunication - or an utter lack of communication and understanding, neither side giving the other a chance to be heard or believed. And Dana, with her stubborn refusal to give up, is understandable - I don't think I could live with my husband's abrupt and mysterious disappearance or move on easily. I'm not saying they're an analogy for Palestine and Israel, just that their relationship is sort of symbolic.

The real star of the story is, of course, the land itself. You won't get a history lesson or a deep political analysis; Look For Me presents various everyday, ordinary people - the people who don't make the news or the UN conferences - and their viewpoints. I hadn't realised that there are Israelis who organise to travel into Palestine to join the Palestinian protestors, to offer their bodies, as it were, as protection against the Israeli army - which thinks twice before firing in case they hit their own people. The stories woven into this novel open a window onto what it's like to live in Palestine - and Israel - and what regular Israeli's think about the occupation. It doesn't deal with suicide bombers or those kinds of attacks, but it presents a richly sympathetic view of the plight of everyday, ordinary Palestinians. It offered more insight into Palestine than Israel, in that sense. The perspective you get of Israel is one of a country - and a people - preoccupied with death.

"...I sometimes think there's a reason for all these freak accidents. Some message. A message from above."
"What message?"
"I don't know. That the place is dangerous. That we need to be stronger, more aware. Another guy I know got eaten alive by bees. In my high school two kids drowned, and one girl died when a branch fell on her during a hike. I swear, it's weird."
"Those sorts of things happen everywhere, you just don't hear about them. We're a small country, so we hear about every death. We hear, and we also remember. We feel bad, and we remember."
"Yes, that's true. We remember."
"Also people here are careless. They drive like they're homicidal and on amphetamines. They think they have to be tough, so they aren't self-protective. They don't avoid bees and they swim where there aren't any lifeguards. The city doesn't clear boulders. We don't look after ourselves, that's the problem. We're too arrogant and vain and we're obsessed with being tough. Maybe we're also suicidal." [pp.111-2]

The dialogue, which often runs on for several pages without much narration in-between, read a bit simplistic to me at times. This contributed to my struggle to connect with Dana, but it wasn't just her: most of the characters spoke in a way that rang weirdly in my inner ear. Sometimes they spoke like simplistic philosophers, sometimes like children - they didn't speak in vernacular, or colloquialisms, or with that kind of lazy fluidity that people generally speak with, cutting corners, contracting, um-ming and ah-hing. It just didn't read terribly naturally. I remember that quality from Ten Thousand Lovers but it worked in that book, it fitted. Here it was an obstacle, upsetting the flow and getting in the way of me understanding and empathising with the characters.

I have the third book in the Tel Aviv Trilogy, A Wall of Light, as well as several other books by Ravel still to read - and I haven't lost my enthusiasm for reading more of her work. This book worked well with other readers; it really comes down to stylistic devices and we all have our own personal preferences. There were elements to this book that I enjoyed, especially the insight into living in Israel and being supportive of Palestinian efforts to end the occupation. Overall, though, it was disappointing and I was unable to come to care about Dana or her search for Daniel.

[Mandy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the book except that during the conversations that Dana was having you couldn't tell what mood she was in until the end when she's said something that means she's obviously upset, but there was no build up to it. However, her humanitarianism is wonderful and so I liked her very much, even if sometimes she did thinks that were completely stupid; and I don't think anyone in their right mind would actually do.

[Miranda · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this book and read it one sitting. I didn't realize it was the 2nd book in a series until just now. It stands on it's own and is very poignant and relevant. I enjoyed the author's style with dialogue and slowly revealing her characters.

I found it insightful, educational and enjoyable. She has beautiful prose.

[Alison Morgan · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favourite in the trilogy.

[Steph · Rating 4 out of 5]

Didn't realize that this was the second book of a trilogy- guess I have to go read the other two now!

[Erica]

Beautifully written...

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

First & second in trilogy are excellent

[Annette Barry · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked this book up at a Goodwill post Oct. 7th 2023. I hoped it might serve as a cursory education of the historical, political , humanitarian crisis in Israel and Palestine, which, embarrassingly, I knew little about. Before finding it. I had committed to learning more through the news and listening to pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli voices . Ravel introduced me to an Israeli woman who sympathizes with Palestinians and commits to documenting their plight in photographs and by attending rallies.

It held my interest more than most books do. That's more a commentary on my attention than it is on books. The dialogue was interesting. The story's pull had to do with the mystery of Daniel's disappearance, Dana's earnestness and devotion to Daniel and the ever present threat of harm that exists living in this part of the world.

I kept finding myself waiting for the climax of the book to explain it all. I was anxious to know how Daniel could have disappeared. I trusted that the answer would be more complex than I could imagine....more political, more espionage,... What it turned out to be was based on a series of misunderstandings. Granted it was interesting to read but after putting the book down it all seemed completely unlikely. The cursory characters protecting Daniel's whereabouts, Dana's devotion to Daniel and Daniel's persistence to stay in hiding didn't add up.

Certainly, if I were part of a book club, I would present for discussion the possibility that the characters represent a metaphor for the Israeli/ Palestinian conflict. And I would depend on the members of the book club to further my understanding of how that could be.

In the end I rated it 4 out of five instead of 3 out of five because of how relevant it was to my understanding of the middle East, and for the way it held my attention.

I was unaware that this was the second book of a trilogy. In reading other reviews I will look for the first book called Ten Thousand Lovers, the first book, since it appears to be so so well reviewed.

[Sara · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 Stars

[Nora · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyed this one alot, interesting ending.

[Amira Chatti · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing!

[Ellen Marshall · Rating 4 out of 5]

More historical fiction should follow a compromised ending. It makes it that much more real. Have to wonder if Dana’s commitment to finding her missing husband is pathetic or admirable, though.

[Juliana Philippa · Rating 2 out of 5]

This novel was a disappointment after Ravel's wonderful Ten Thousand Lovers

Frankly, I was very disappointed in this book. There is no doubt that Ravel is a talented writer and I appreciated many of her characters - particularly some of the secondary ones: Volvo, Tanya, Dana's father, Aaron, Mercedes, etc - Ravel really excelled in their portrayals. I enjoyed Dana and Daniel's relationship (pre-disappearance), but the book as a whole was not satisfying. I probably would not have been so disappointed if it weren't for the fact that I've read Ten Thousand Lovers, which in my humble opinion is far superior (check out my review :-).

SPECIFIC COMPLAINTS (contains slight spoiler):
The issue of Daniel's "disappearance" is misleading - I thought, from reading the back cover and from what is at first written, that he had been kidnapped for political reasons. I think twists in a book are great, but I didn't experience this as a literary enhancement, I just felt misled. I did not really enjoy Dana's relationship with Rafi and I was bothered by the style of Ravel's writing in the parts where she wrote with only dialogue and no description.

SUMMARY (from back cover):
"Look for Me tells the story of Dana and her quest to find her husband who disappeared while serving in the Israeli army. Every year Dana places a newspaper ad that says, "I will never ever, ever stop waiting for you," the word "ever" repeated so that it fills the entire page. She gives interviews hoping her husband will contact her. She knows for a fact that he is alive . . .

In the midst of curfews, demonstrations, and confrontations with the police, Dana falls in love with another man -- just as she learns her husband's whereabouts. Will she forget the past and follow her heart with a new love, or face the dangers involved in setting out to find the man she has sought for eleven years?"

BOTTOM LINE:
Read Ravel's Ten Thousand Lovers instead - much better!

[Esil · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found the context for this book interesting--Israel seen primarily through the eyes of a character who does not support the settlements in Palestine. However, the story involving the main character and the search for her missing husband didn't work that well for me. I did not find the characters compelling and the narrator's voice and seeming naivety at times seemed silly. In fact, as I was reading her book, I remember that I had read the first book in this trilogy a few years ago and had a similar reaction. Having said that, I would give Ravel another try because the underlying issues she grapples with are interesting.

[Brooke · Rating 5 out of 5]

5/5 stars no doubt

This book was amazing, i was intrigued from the get go and could not get enough of it. My only problem is that I was a bit confused at first reading this and i really wish there was more to the ending or another book to tell the rest of Dana and Daniels story so i can see where it leads. But overall Im so happy i picked this up on a whim and i hope to read more from Edeet in the future.

I will most likely read the first book in this trilogy soon as i hadnt realized when i picked this up that it was part of a trilogy!

[Luce Cronin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book. The story is set in Israel and Palestine, and before you start groaning... yes of course, it does include the whole political situation as part of its story, but it is really not mainly about the conflict. As i see it , this book tells the story of a woman who feels very deeply, who is very committed to her values, to people, and very loyal in her relationships. And of course, this is contrasted by a relationship with a man who is very superficial and does not know what he has... The story of a love lost and found and perhaps, lost again.

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved the first three quarters of this book. I loved the subtle tie ins to the other books in the trilogy and I loved the presentation of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict throughout. I wasn't, however, a fan of the ending. The writing style shifted and the story suddenly rushed along; the resolution doesn't fit with the rest of the storyline. All in all it was a solid read, but the end was disappointing.

[Sally · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think Ravel is a really great writer. Her secondary characters in this book are awesome and I liked her main character, Dana, much better than the main character in Ten Thousand Lovers. However, I found the ending was difficult to believe. Daniel's reasons for hiding didn't seem strong enough compared to the tragedy of Dana's waiting. But that is only a quibble.

[Tina Siegel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this book - the characters are wonderful and the writing is terrific. However, I'd like to have seen the second-string love story - which was the most interesting and poignant, to me - explored in more detail. As for the first-string love story, and the attendant climax - they're both irritating and unsatisfying, in the end.

[Debora Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

Did not really like the first person singular - conversations seemed stilted and choppy. Found the setting, Gaza Strip, informative and timely. Liked the idea that Israelis were demonstrating pro-Palestinians - makes me hopeful of reconciliation in this area some day. Perhaps I should have read the first book in this trilogy first.

[Elizabeth · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am currently reading and enjoying this. The character is quickly compelling. However, book losses steam as it continues, perhaps due to problematic dialogue.

[Jen]

http://kirbc.com/2008/12/19/look-for-...

[Julia · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really really liked ten thousand lovers by this author but found this book hard to believe.

[Lymor · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as good as the first, but an interesting storyline nonetheless. Not a page-turner though. I will read the 3rd just because I like the writing style and views about Israel from the author.

[Louise Ellis · Rating 3 out of 5]

I also didn't realize this book was part of a series. I enjoyed reading it but think it may have had more impact on me if I had read the other books as well., which I am interested in doing.

[Whitney Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love love love this book. Read it quite some time ago and I have reread this many times. Definitely would recommend this book.

[Becky Patrick · Rating 3 out of 5]

I just couldn't get into this book. I had to put it down after 30 or 40 pages.

[Gr8Reader · Rating 2 out of 5]

Evidently I read this 4 years ago......This time I rated it one star less than before.....I found it very slow moving.

[Rae Dy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought Rafi and Dana we'll be together. But oh well..