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Tel Aviv Trilogy #1
Ten Thousand Lovers
Lily is a young emigrant student exploring the wonders and terrors of her new land when she meets the man of her dreams. Ami, a former actor, is handsome, intelligent and exciting - but, like his beautiful, disintegrating country, he has a terrible flaw - he is an army interrogator. As Lily and Ami's unexpected passion grows, so too does the shadow that hangs over them - the unspeakable horrors which Ami's work forces him to face. In today's world, where danger, terrorism and the possibility of war are a part of all our lives, no novel could be more brilliantly, terrifyingly contemporary. Yet TEN THOUSAND LOVERS is set in Israel in the a dazzling backdrop to a universal story of passion, suffering and the transcending power of love.
384 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 2003
13 people are currently reading
825 people want to read
About the author
Edeet Ravel
23 books83 followersEdeet 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.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 122 reviews
November 7, 2009
This was a random buy the other week; the author's new book caught my eye and since it was the third book in a sort-of trilogy, I picked up the first one, this one, and was interested enough to take it home with me. For some reason, it was just begging to be read, so it didn't have to wait the usual waiting period of books I take home (which is anywhere between five months and five years). However, now that it's time to write the review, I find myself stuck. Every time I try to summarise it, it just doesn't sound right. So I'm ditching my usual review structure and will just talk about the book, revealing necessary bits of the plot-light story as I go.
The premise, in brief, is about a young woman, Lily, studying linguistics and language at the university in Jerusalem who meets a man, Ami, who works as an interrogator for the army. It is a story of their love for one another, a story of horror and heartbreak in a war-torn country, of a people persecuted - and I'm not talking about the Jews here. It's a powerful story, set in the 70s, that is inherently relevant today.
I'm always interested in reading books about other countries and people, especially when I've been immobile in one place for too long. I love to get a sense of that other place, I want to taste it and touch it and see it - I can practically smell it, if the book works for me. That was one of the biggest disappointments about Joe Speedboat, which was set in the Netherlands but seemed to be trying to hide its Dutch qualities rather than explore, highlight, celebrate them. There was none of that problem here, in Ten Thousand Lovers. Because Lily is Canadian-Israeli, and spent the first seven years of her life on a Kibbutz with her parents, she has a history with the place and understands the people. She speaks fluent Hebrew. Why she returned to Israel to do her university degree isn't very clear, but since it's a story of shadows and things unsaid, it fits.
In fact, I can't go any further without talking about the prose style. If you start this book expecting a fairly typical style of writing, you could be alienated by what you do get. This is a very dialogue-driven story, fit into a fine mesh net of sparse description, and even the dialogue is stripped bare of flounces. There are few descriptors, very little adjectives, so that Ami, especially, sounds formal, distant, even aloof. Yet also not, because Lily also includes explanations on the people and the language - on certain words, their meanings and history and implications - that are fascinating and revealing. Be prepared to read of a people and culture different from your own. You cannot place your own expectations and moral code onto them. It gives it a faint touch of Fantasy, because they sound alien, yet their story is so human the lack of description and adjectives just drives it home all the more powerfully.
Lily meets Ami when she's hitchhiking from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv. Ami falls for her almost instantly, and is always open and frank with her. He doesn't try to hide what he does for a living, and Lily doesn't hide how much it scares her, how she doesn't trust him or know him - through it all he persists and holds true, and eventually she moves past her fears. Ami is an incredibly charismatic character, totally believable, and it's understandable that he can interrogate prisoners without an ounce of violence and find out everything they want to know. He hates his job but every time he quits they offer him more money to come back - plus, I think he feels that if he weren't doing it, the way he does it, the other interrogators would step in and they are, in Ami's words, sadistic. He explains his technique to Lily, and as we get to know Ami - who, really, is the true hero and protagonist of the story - and learn more about his personal views, it feels like Ami vs. the whole crazy world.
Things were rough in Israel during the 70s, and they're probably worse now. Ten Thousand Lovers gives honest insight into the situation at the human level, yet you won't learn much in terms of facts and figures. This isn't that kind of historical fiction. I wasn't even sure, for most of the book, when it was set. I guessed 80s, based purely on how old Lily's daughter seemed to be. See, the story has two parallel time lines. In one, present-day Lily is writing the story of meeting Ami and what happened there, while her daughter and her daughter's boyfriend flit in and out of her home. In the other is the story itself. The third part of the novel is the small sections explaining quirks of Hebrew, which were the most factual, informative parts of the novel and really interesting too. You'll learn more about the language and culture than you will about what the hell is going on in the country.
Actually, that's not true either. You will learn about it, just not at the political and economic level. Fear and prejudice is explored, but never baldly. The shadows move softly throughout this novel, and I found myself leaning closer, trying to peer through them to the "truth". But there is no simple, straight-forward truth, only interpretations and perspectives of it. I wouldn't want a simple, straight-forward story anyway, I wouldn't want to be told.
It did take me a while to adjust to the prose, though. It's quite different, and it won't work for everyone. It was frustrating at times, because it made the characters and story seem almost elusive, but it was also highly effective. For a while I was scared of Ami too. I didn't trust him, I was suspicious of him, I thought bad things would happen to Lily if she got into a relationship with him. He's so magnetic, so controlled and calm and intelligent, I knew he'd outwit me no matter what. I worried about his sincerity. I worried about his motives. I worried that he really was involved in torture. In short, I absorbed all Lily's fears and made them my own - and then I absorbed her growing love and trust in Ami, and loved him too.
It's this kind of emotional connection that I look for in a book, that makes a book a perfect fit for me. I can see that some readers would have an opposite reaction to mine, because of the prose style, but for me the sparsity of words made it all that much closer, more intimate, stripped bare of the usual descriptions that can in fact protect you from getting too close. I can see I need to give an example, so I've picked a more-or-less random passage:
I loved Lily too, she's very identifiable - no doubt from all her years living in Canada (she writes her story from her home in London, not Canada, but that just adds to her Western feel). Politics does come up, of course - how could it not? - and religion too; I was far more offended than Lily even by the Jewish wedding traditions. She wasn't even required to speak during the ceremony! And I loved Ami all the more for hating it all. I guess he's very modern.
If you're interested in reading about Israel during the 70s, if you're interested in that area at all, or if you feel in the mood to read a heart-breaking love story; if you like stories that are written differently, if you study creative writing and are drawn to books that try out different prose styles - or from some reason of your own, I really recommend this book and I'm eager to read the other two books in Ravel's Tel Aviv trilogy.
The premise, in brief, is about a young woman, Lily, studying linguistics and language at the university in Jerusalem who meets a man, Ami, who works as an interrogator for the army. It is a story of their love for one another, a story of horror and heartbreak in a war-torn country, of a people persecuted - and I'm not talking about the Jews here. It's a powerful story, set in the 70s, that is inherently relevant today.
I'm always interested in reading books about other countries and people, especially when I've been immobile in one place for too long. I love to get a sense of that other place, I want to taste it and touch it and see it - I can practically smell it, if the book works for me. That was one of the biggest disappointments about Joe Speedboat, which was set in the Netherlands but seemed to be trying to hide its Dutch qualities rather than explore, highlight, celebrate them. There was none of that problem here, in Ten Thousand Lovers. Because Lily is Canadian-Israeli, and spent the first seven years of her life on a Kibbutz with her parents, she has a history with the place and understands the people. She speaks fluent Hebrew. Why she returned to Israel to do her university degree isn't very clear, but since it's a story of shadows and things unsaid, it fits.
In fact, I can't go any further without talking about the prose style. If you start this book expecting a fairly typical style of writing, you could be alienated by what you do get. This is a very dialogue-driven story, fit into a fine mesh net of sparse description, and even the dialogue is stripped bare of flounces. There are few descriptors, very little adjectives, so that Ami, especially, sounds formal, distant, even aloof. Yet also not, because Lily also includes explanations on the people and the language - on certain words, their meanings and history and implications - that are fascinating and revealing. Be prepared to read of a people and culture different from your own. You cannot place your own expectations and moral code onto them. It gives it a faint touch of Fantasy, because they sound alien, yet their story is so human the lack of description and adjectives just drives it home all the more powerfully.
Lily meets Ami when she's hitchhiking from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv. Ami falls for her almost instantly, and is always open and frank with her. He doesn't try to hide what he does for a living, and Lily doesn't hide how much it scares her, how she doesn't trust him or know him - through it all he persists and holds true, and eventually she moves past her fears. Ami is an incredibly charismatic character, totally believable, and it's understandable that he can interrogate prisoners without an ounce of violence and find out everything they want to know. He hates his job but every time he quits they offer him more money to come back - plus, I think he feels that if he weren't doing it, the way he does it, the other interrogators would step in and they are, in Ami's words, sadistic. He explains his technique to Lily, and as we get to know Ami - who, really, is the true hero and protagonist of the story - and learn more about his personal views, it feels like Ami vs. the whole crazy world.
Things were rough in Israel during the 70s, and they're probably worse now. Ten Thousand Lovers gives honest insight into the situation at the human level, yet you won't learn much in terms of facts and figures. This isn't that kind of historical fiction. I wasn't even sure, for most of the book, when it was set. I guessed 80s, based purely on how old Lily's daughter seemed to be. See, the story has two parallel time lines. In one, present-day Lily is writing the story of meeting Ami and what happened there, while her daughter and her daughter's boyfriend flit in and out of her home. In the other is the story itself. The third part of the novel is the small sections explaining quirks of Hebrew, which were the most factual, informative parts of the novel and really interesting too. You'll learn more about the language and culture than you will about what the hell is going on in the country.
Actually, that's not true either. You will learn about it, just not at the political and economic level. Fear and prejudice is explored, but never baldly. The shadows move softly throughout this novel, and I found myself leaning closer, trying to peer through them to the "truth". But there is no simple, straight-forward truth, only interpretations and perspectives of it. I wouldn't want a simple, straight-forward story anyway, I wouldn't want to be told.
It did take me a while to adjust to the prose, though. It's quite different, and it won't work for everyone. It was frustrating at times, because it made the characters and story seem almost elusive, but it was also highly effective. For a while I was scared of Ami too. I didn't trust him, I was suspicious of him, I thought bad things would happen to Lily if she got into a relationship with him. He's so magnetic, so controlled and calm and intelligent, I knew he'd outwit me no matter what. I worried about his sincerity. I worried about his motives. I worried that he really was involved in torture. In short, I absorbed all Lily's fears and made them my own - and then I absorbed her growing love and trust in Ami, and loved him too.
It's this kind of emotional connection that I look for in a book, that makes a book a perfect fit for me. I can see that some readers would have an opposite reaction to mine, because of the prose style, but for me the sparsity of words made it all that much closer, more intimate, stripped bare of the usual descriptions that can in fact protect you from getting too close. I can see I need to give an example, so I've picked a more-or-less random passage:
"It's funny how we met. Such a fluke. If I hadn't lent my roommate money. If I hadn't bought a chocolate on the way to the bus. If I'd been there ten minutes earlier or later."
"I thought about that too."
"I suppose God had it all planned out."
I didn't mean it literally, but Ami underwent a transformation when I said that. He became fierce. "Don't bring God into it," he said.
"I was just joking. What's the matter? You're scaring me."
"I don't like religious people," he said. I saw how intimidating he could be if he felt like it.
"Well, I'm not religious. I'm an atheist, I was born on a kibbutz, remember? The first time I heard that word, 'God', was when we went back to Canada, and I went to Hebrew school. You can be scary."
"Sorry."
"Don't scare me like that again. The next time you scare me like that I'm leaving."
"I didn't mean to scare you. You're very sensitive, Lily."
"Why do you hate the religious?"
"It's psychotic to say this is what God wants, because that's what you want. This is what's written in the Torah, God said we should have this land, and the Arabs, who don't have a soul anyway, who are subhuman anyway, should just be demolished, because that's what God wants. Who can argue with yehova? I wish the ground would just open up and swallow them."
"In my fantasy they don't die, they just all move to New York."
He pulled me towards him and rolled me so that I was lying on top of him. He smiled at me. "Yes, that's much more humane," he said, in English. [pp. 77-78:]
I loved Lily too, she's very identifiable - no doubt from all her years living in Canada (she writes her story from her home in London, not Canada, but that just adds to her Western feel). Politics does come up, of course - how could it not? - and religion too; I was far more offended than Lily even by the Jewish wedding traditions. She wasn't even required to speak during the ceremony! And I loved Ami all the more for hating it all. I guess he's very modern.
If you're interested in reading about Israel during the 70s, if you're interested in that area at all, or if you feel in the mood to read a heart-breaking love story; if you like stories that are written differently, if you study creative writing and are drawn to books that try out different prose styles - or from some reason of your own, I really recommend this book and I'm eager to read the other two books in Ravel's Tel Aviv trilogy.
March 22, 2014
This could have been a really good book with an interesting story line, but I couldn't get past Lily and Ami's relationship. The dialogue just didn't sound natural to me. It was so choppy and broken. It was also hard to believe that they were in love. The sentiments just seemed very out-of-the-blue to me.
April 14, 2021
Sviđa mi se što je knjiga pisana u formatu dva paralelna dnevnika: u sadašnjem i prošlom vremenu. Približava situaciju u Izraelu nekada i sada, i ljubav u svom tom haosu. Zamerka je što svako drugo poglavlje počinje etimologijom, i u jednom trenutku baš postane naporno. Kraj je totalni promašaj, emocije filtrirane kroz manjak inspiracije.
March 29, 2007
Although it can be difficult to choose a "favourite" book, this may very well be it. The first in a trilogy about life, love and loss in Israel, this book is a masterpiece of human emotion and tragedy. The characters are so involving and real that you wish they would stay with you long after the final pages. This is a love story, in the true sense of the word, but also incorporates linguistic elements and political history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the 1970s. A friend of mine read it and when she wanted to discuss it days later could not stop sobbing! Another friend (a lawyer, who "doesn't know how to read") borrowed it and read it in two days. You will not be able to put it down.
April 29, 2009
I am really disappointed with this book. My expectations of this novel were completely off as far as the content and style. I guess I was expecting more of a mystery/social commentary...but instead I found an unrealistic, laughable romance novel sprinkled with a linguistic course of the Hebrew language, which was perhaps the only part I did find interesting about the book.
The relationship between Ami and Lily is a joke...I felt their characters were flat, and found nothing substantial between them. The only realistic thing I could imagine holding them together was their sexual relationship (described hilariously...unintentionally).
I feel like I've learned only about the history of certain Hebrew words, which does not redeem the novel in my eyes...the "spirit" of Israel and the characters' roles in it are lost to me.
The relationship between Ami and Lily is a joke...I felt their characters were flat, and found nothing substantial between them. The only realistic thing I could imagine holding them together was their sexual relationship (described hilariously...unintentionally).
I feel like I've learned only about the history of certain Hebrew words, which does not redeem the novel in my eyes...the "spirit" of Israel and the characters' roles in it are lost to me.
February 23, 2021
When I set this one down I sat and pondered for a long time. How could such an unlikely love story become such a profound love story and then at the moment it was to come to fullness become such a tragic love story. And yet in the Israel of the time, for Ami and Lily it could not have been otherwise.
Ravel gives us remarkable characters trying to be true to their country and yet knowing that being true to their country is denying their personal truths.
She sprinkles the story with the origins of Hebrew words so that she can use them without having to provide footnotes so that the reader almost feels on a voyage of discovery.
Ravel gives us remarkable characters trying to be true to their country and yet knowing that being true to their country is denying their personal truths.
She sprinkles the story with the origins of Hebrew words so that she can use them without having to provide footnotes so that the reader almost feels on a voyage of discovery.
March 16, 2016
Don't let the title fool you; this is not a Harlequin, this is not a gentle Sunday afternoon read. Ten Thousand Lovers, the story of Lily and Ami, is really the story of Israel today, a country that is in the difficult position of trying to figure out a way to both be good and to survive. A book that is wonderful on two levels, appealing to both heart and mind.
September 10, 2008
This is my favorite book!!!
January 12, 2024
I'm not really sure of how I should structure this review. The writing style of this book is not for everyone. I sometimes had trouble with it because the jumps in dialogue from one conversation to another was quite abrupt, but I guess that all ties back to the author's style.
This book is less about the plot and more about the relationships of the characters together and separate. It's very character driven and there are many instances where I had to stop and ask myself some questions about the motives of the characters for saying something or doing a certain action. I went into this book thinking that the main conflict would be between the two main characters, but the more I read the more I understood that the conflicts were more personal than between them.
I very much appreciated the extensive opinions the author cleverly inputted in the book about the Israel and Palestine conversation. I appreciated all of the different perspectives from the different characters and their own perceptions of the situation depending on their own knowledge. However, I do think that the author missed a good opportunity to expand on those psychological depictions of their opinions. I think this book would have been all the better if we were able to get some insight on the internal thoughts of the different characters, and not just from the point of view of Lily. I also would have been okay with less intimate graphic scenes as I don't think this book needed it. Especially that scene in the Monk's building. Definitely could have done without it.
All in all, I did appreciate the lyrical simplicity of the book and the plot, and I recommend it.
3.5/5
This book is less about the plot and more about the relationships of the characters together and separate. It's very character driven and there are many instances where I had to stop and ask myself some questions about the motives of the characters for saying something or doing a certain action. I went into this book thinking that the main conflict would be between the two main characters, but the more I read the more I understood that the conflicts were more personal than between them.
I very much appreciated the extensive opinions the author cleverly inputted in the book about the Israel and Palestine conversation. I appreciated all of the different perspectives from the different characters and their own perceptions of the situation depending on their own knowledge. However, I do think that the author missed a good opportunity to expand on those psychological depictions of their opinions. I think this book would have been all the better if we were able to get some insight on the internal thoughts of the different characters, and not just from the point of view of Lily. I also would have been okay with less intimate graphic scenes as I don't think this book needed it. Especially that scene in the Monk's building. Definitely could have done without it.
All in all, I did appreciate the lyrical simplicity of the book and the plot, and I recommend it.
3.5/5
December 27, 2021
One of the best books on Israel in English that I have ever read. Excellent discussion of Israeli society in the 1970s and 1980s, it centers on a young woman born in Israel, but who was raised in the US as a teenager. She returns to Israel to attend university, and strikes up a relationship with an Israeli interrogator (appears to be a military intelligence interrogator, rather than a Shabak/Shin Bet type - I think there was more blurring before the Landau Commission report on interrogations, and the first Intifada). The interrogator is a mixture of nationalist and universalist, and his discussions with the main character are interesting and upsetting. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and the interrogator's actions and quandaries in that conflict, drive the story. But there is also a "coming of age" theme with the young woman who is trying to figure out how she fits into the Israel her parents left when she was young.
Well written, well researched, great story and political exploration.
Well written, well researched, great story and political exploration.
July 31, 2018
A tragic love story that will also make you think. This is not your typical romance novel.
A little slow moving, Ravel focuses more on developing the characters and discussing the social and political issues surrounding Israel.
I am not educated at all in the goings on in that part of the world and though I believe that I have picked up the basic idea from this novel I did find that I felt a bit out of the loop in certain parts. Ten thousand lovers makes me want to learn and understand more about the political situation in Israel.
I loved the character Ami, he was well developed and had a lot of depth. Although the POV was Lily, I felt like she was just there to narrate and ask questions. There were a few spots where she showed some personality, but I felt she was mostly used as a tool to discuss different topics.
All in all a good read, I enjoy books that show multiple perspectives to a social issue and make you think about something new.
A little slow moving, Ravel focuses more on developing the characters and discussing the social and political issues surrounding Israel.
I am not educated at all in the goings on in that part of the world and though I believe that I have picked up the basic idea from this novel I did find that I felt a bit out of the loop in certain parts. Ten thousand lovers makes me want to learn and understand more about the political situation in Israel.
I loved the character Ami, he was well developed and had a lot of depth. Although the POV was Lily, I felt like she was just there to narrate and ask questions. There were a few spots where she showed some personality, but I felt she was mostly used as a tool to discuss different topics.
All in all a good read, I enjoy books that show multiple perspectives to a social issue and make you think about something new.
April 14, 2018
Took a while to figure this book out. Rather disjointed. The sections to educate on the Hebrew language felt awkward and I began to skip by them to get back to the story. Characters were a bit hard to keep track of, but the main characters became very alive. Oddly, they were emotionally there, but I could never picture them physically. The style of writing is very simplistic and direct, sometimes that worked, sometimes it was just too minimal. The ending was well done. I wondering how she would do it.
In terms of subject matter, the main theme here is the Israeli- Palestinian conflict, and that is brilliantly explored. It is worth reading just for that aspect.
All in all, a unique book, intriguing, and worth the read.
I’m not sure how easy it will be to find, I picked it up at a used book store, and it is signed by the author at her launch. Cool!!
In terms of subject matter, the main theme here is the Israeli- Palestinian conflict, and that is brilliantly explored. It is worth reading just for that aspect.
All in all, a unique book, intriguing, and worth the read.
I’m not sure how easy it will be to find, I picked it up at a used book store, and it is signed by the author at her launch. Cool!!
June 24, 2019
The last three or four pages of this book were excellent. The 279 pages leading up to that, however, were reminiscent of my own short stories in middle school: mostly dialogue that jumped from topic to topic without a clear meaning that was incredibly shallow and forced. I'm struggling with the fact that so many people gave this book such high ratings. The plot and potential were phenomenal, Ravel just didn't deliver, which is so tragic. The only reason I finished this book was because I was at my boyfriend's for the weekend and didn't have anything else to read, plus it was such a quick read. I blasted through it in no time flat. All in all, great potential that fails in nearly every way to live up to said potential.
June 5, 2025
I was sucked in from the first page and enjoyed every turn. It was different to not have chapters but the author writes so beautifully taking you back and forth through Lily’s life. I enjoyed how you saw the protagonist’s linguistic side as she recounts her love story with Ami while she was studying in Israel. The perspective she shares on what was going on (and is sadly still going on) in her country was unexpected yet so important to share and I deeply appreciated reading her words on this complicated and relentless conflict. Even before the tears finally came on the last couple of pages, I knew this book would be one to stay with me.
October 22, 2023
Li a tradução em português "Amor num mundo impossível". O amor entre Lily (judia) e Ami (árabe) ambos israelitas.
Fiquei curiosa com o título em inglês e só quase no fim se percebe o porquê.
Publicado em 2003, passados 20 anos e tudo continua na mesma. Um conflito que se arrasta há muito tempo com muitas mortes para ambos os lados. A narrativa termina com uma passagem da Bíblia quando Abraão é impedido pelo anjo de sacrificar seu filho.
Quando vão terminar estas mortes? Este ódio? Esta raiva?
A 7 de outubro de 2023 começa nova guerra desta vez entre o Hamas e Israel.
Fiquei curiosa com o título em inglês e só quase no fim se percebe o porquê.
Publicado em 2003, passados 20 anos e tudo continua na mesma. Um conflito que se arrasta há muito tempo com muitas mortes para ambos os lados. A narrativa termina com uma passagem da Bíblia quando Abraão é impedido pelo anjo de sacrificar seu filho.
Quando vão terminar estas mortes? Este ódio? Esta raiva?
A 7 de outubro de 2023 começa nova guerra desta vez entre o Hamas e Israel.
December 5, 2017
I really enjoyed this book.
It was clean and It was very informative on matters I was not aware of. For example. Israeli culture and political matters. The author also increased her reliability with biblically accurate references. I found the story to be relatable. And realistic. Real love doesn’t have any guidelines on what it is or how it should develop or evolve in ones life. And I found it very realistic given its time frame and environment...
It was clean and It was very informative on matters I was not aware of. For example. Israeli culture and political matters. The author also increased her reliability with biblically accurate references. I found the story to be relatable. And realistic. Real love doesn’t have any guidelines on what it is or how it should develop or evolve in ones life. And I found it very realistic given its time frame and environment...
May 5, 2018
Set in one of the most dangerous and tragic and potentially exciting landscapes on the globe, Ten Thousand Lovers manages to say almost nothing about love or peace or war in prose that is both flat and stilted. With an uncanny disdain for plot or character, the book, a Governor General finalist by the way, is neatly spaced with entomology lessons and Biblical notations. It reads very much like the memoire of a person surrounded by drama but somehow unable to relate to it.
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November 2, 2021Лили 20 год. студира книжевност на универзитет во Ерусалим. За викенди таа се враќа во Тел Авив. Еднаш на враќање во Ерусалим Лили ќе стопира автомобил за да ја одведе до Тел Авив. Во автомобил ќе биде Ами, 29 год. воен иследник. Оттука ќе започна нивното запознавање, хм, дури ќе паднат и првите љубовни искри.
Како ќе се одвива нивна љубовна врска? Низ какви бури ќе поминат двајцата, посебно Ами кога ќе биде во прашање негова работа? Со каков расплет ќе заврши оваа љубовна приказна?
Како ќе се одвива нивна љубовна врска? Низ какви бури ќе поминат двајцата, посебно Ами кога ќе биде во прашање негова работа? Со каков расплет ќе заврши оваа љубовна приказна?
July 29, 2018
A peek into the lives of 2 Israelis who meet and fall in love. A bit strange, but it's quite different from anything I'm used to growing up in the U.S. I didn't love their relationship, which seemed motivated by the wrong things at times, but it didn't seem like their relationships with other people were what I'd consider healthy either.
April 16, 2019
Did not love this book about a failed Love story. Mostly I just felt like the dialogue was not genuine. It was too choppy to be real and everything seemed implausible. Also, the story jumped back and forth in time which was confusing and there was a Hebrew language lesson mixed in too, which was interesting but not relevant.
Alphabet reading challenge: I-Israel
Numbers reading challenge: ten
Alphabet reading challenge: I-Israel
Numbers reading challenge: ten
January 21, 2019
Even though the title suggests a romance book, it is not. It’s a powerful story. A story about how the Israeli/Palestinian conflict destroys lives. I liked how the author wrote about it. How some passages explain Hebrew and Arab words and the significance of biblical passages through Hebrew eyes.
October 25, 2019
It is supposed to be love story...I could not find one emotion, and I have read many love stories in my life. Talking about izrealy words and their meaning was boring for me, and the dialog between two lovers was poor in emotions. All in all, I do not like the way book is written
May 31, 2020
This book could be a way better and smoother read. The title suggests a romantic book and it is not, you can't actually find a single emotion in the entire book, a bad story line and the characters were very plain and not well developped.
June 15, 2017
Instant love. Nearly perfect for Ami and Lily. Israel and its many contradictions. Well done.
January 21, 2018
A love story that also provides more insight into the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
April 26, 2018
The plot to this novel was interesting enough but the characters were 1 dimensional, awkward and uninviting.
December 1, 2019
Choppy and all over the place.- Very artsy. I didn’t love it, but I didn’t dislike it either. It left me sad.
March 19, 2020
3.5 Stars.
I liked it, it had two plots which were tied together at the end nicely. This book had been on my shelf for a very long time. Good book, just not my favourite.
I liked it, it had two plots which were tied together at the end nicely. This book had been on my shelf for a very long time. Good book, just not my favourite.
July 5, 2020
Absolutely loved this book. It's a haunting love story set in the 1970's in Israel.
September 26, 2021
Easy read.
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