The Jerusalem File

by Joel Stone

“Successfully grafts a classic hard-boiled detective plot line onto the complexities and dangers of life in modern Israel” ( Publishers Weekly ).

Levin has been living in Jerusalem for most of his adult life. Retired from the security services, he lives alone a few streets away from his ex-wife, continents away from his children. Adrift, Levin accepts a request to follow the wife of an acquaintance and discover her secret lover. Unlike the chaotic, incomprehensible suicide bombings he’s used to dealing with, at least this assignment seems like one that could possibly be solved.
As Levin watches the woman, Deborah, he begins to assess her as a potential lover might. And when the man her husband believes to be her paramour is murdered―and Deborah, in desperation, turns to Levin with her own unexpected request―his own moral universe becomes as conflicted as the struggle between Arab and Jew for the fate of the fabled city.
From the Pulitzer Prize–nominated author of A Town Called Jericho , this is both a twisting thriller and a “spare, pensive but never brooding study of obsessive love” ( Kirkus Reviews ).

“ The Jerusalem File is styled as a neo-noir mystery story set in contemporary Jerusalem. From the first page, however, the book throws off reflections of its far deeper facets. Joel Stone uses his short and elegantly crafted thriller as the occasion for something much more ambitious―a meditation on the politics of the modern Middle East and, at the same time, the more intimate politics of the human heart . . . A page-turner.”― Los Angeles Times

Genres: Fiction, Mystery, Jewish, Literature, Israel, Middle East

176 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

Joel Stone was born in Brooklyn. He graduated from Princeton University and was a Fulbright Scholar at the Sorbonne. His first novel, A Town Called Jericho, was published in 1992 and nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. He died in 2007 and is survived by his wife, the poet Dorothy Stone.

Reviews

[Orsodimondo · Rating 4 out of 5]

GUIDA PRATICA DI SOPRAVVIVENZA A GERUSALEMME



Nei ristoranti e caffè sedere ben in fondo, il più possibile lontano dalla strada e dalle vetrine; evitare autobus; non sostare vicino a soldati e poliziotti...

Non avevo mai letto un libro dove Gerusalemme fosse così presente e viva, affascinante e tragica.
Con l’espediente di un thriller, l’americano Joel Stone, ci racconta questa città, e cosa vuol dire essere ebreo e vivere in Israele.



Attraverso gli occhi del protagonista, ex agente segreto diventato detective privato, il problema di Gerusalemme non è una guerra di religione, il problema sono le bombe, le vetrine in frantumi, la gente che si fa saltare in aria, i morti, tutte vittime.
La voglia di normalità, di non essere sempre un bersaglio.

L’azione si snoda lasciando margine alle riflessioni, alle pause, alle psicologie. All’atmosfera.
Siamo davanti a un triangolo che però ha quattro angoli: un marito geloso assume un investigatore privato per indagare sulla moglie e il suo presunto amante.
Poi, uno degli angoli viene meno, e il detective privato è assunto anche dalla moglie.



In veritò, direi che gli angoli sono cinque: perché Gerusalemme è protagonista tanto quanto gli altri quattro personaggi, se non perfino di più.
Una breve citazione che esprime bene questo concetto:
So che sembrano dei terroristi - disse a proposito dei camerieri - Ma va bene così. Se vengono dei clienti ebrei, i terroristi veri crederanno che stiamo già per saltare in aria e andranno via.

Joel Stone ci ha già lasciato, nel 2007, prima che questo suo secondo romanzo venisse pubblicato, e mi pare una vera perdita.
Vorrei leggere anche il libro d’esordio, A Town Called Jerich.

[Stacey B · Rating 3 out of 5]

176 Pages

This book wasn't what I thought it would be.
It did have some merit covering specific relevant topics but my
feeling was the author wanted to include all of them in one book.
Thinking about the book, there is a retired Israeli gov't official bored with his
life and nothing to do. By chance, an opportunity comes along for him to
pretend he is a detective/spy in doing a short job for an acquaintance he loathes. The job is to follow his "friend's" wife to see if she's having an affair with someone her husband knows.. It becomes
very convoluted yet that was the part which worked for this story. The rest of it belongs in
another book.

[Michael · Rating 2 out of 5]

I thought I read somewhere that this was a thriller. Was I sadly mistaken. In essence, it’s a tale of the obsession a divorced man, and former Israeli intelligence officer, has for a married woman.
The backdrop of Jerusalem, Israel and Palestine were hugely distracting, and mostly offensive. Attempts were made to be politically neutral: “He [Levin] condemned the political passions. He ridiculed the orthodox crazies, denounced the greedy Jewish settlers and the shameless hypocrisy of the Jews. Ali [Palestinian friend of Levin] chimed in with the Arabs’ responsibility, their stupid blindness, their leadership’s corruption, the total insanity of their suicide bombers.” But sentences like these were rare. The preponderance of references to the Arabs was as terrorists, suicide bombers, or even “alien other[s].” Even the adhan to is referred as “amplified calls to prayer, bleating from on high.” The Israelis, on the other hand are victims, martyred Jews, Auschwitz survivors constantly living in fear of the next suicide bomber.
So, not only was I mistaken about the nature of this novel, I was highly offended by the negative Arab stereotypes.

[Mary · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was another $1 find on the shelf at our local library. I enjoyed reading it very much, but wished it were longer and there was more of a sense of completion at the end. The last words of the book sum it up: "In Jerusalem, that was all you could ask for."

I found Levin, the main character, very believable--not lovable, but someone caught in a time of life in which he was too old to work in his security career but too young to spend time in movie houses or watching TV.

Joel Stone died in 2007. I think he wrote just one other book. I may try to find it.

[Stacia · Rating 2 out of 5]

Noir detective tale involving jealousy. Ambiguous, unsatisfactory ending, in my opinion.

[Ian Boyd · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved how well this painted a picture of one man's view of Jerusalem, though I'm sure there are many differing views.

[Anca starts too many books at once & finishes too few · Rating 3 out of 5]

I started this then put it down for a few months before picking it up again. I’m glad I read it, but it is not an exhilarating or eye-opening novel. Another reviewer compared it to a Graham Greene story, and I would agree that it would fit well into Greene-land.

If I had to wrap the entire book in 1-2 sentences, I would say it gives a distillation of life’s obsessions lived against the background of Jerusalem, with all its contradictions of historic and contemporary struggles. It is definitely written from a Jewish point of view, and despite occasional glimpses into Arab life and a possible insight into the reasons behind attacks, it is entirely one-sided in that way - Arabs are pretty much stick-figure terrorists.

But the three characters in the foreground are deeply, carefully drawn drawn, especially Levin the narrator, and in a number of places the language is exquisite. If anything, it is largely a musing on the human condition and the sordidness of unfinished and unsatisfying relationships, the emotional unknown and unknowable. Regarding the unresolved ending, I could have imagined several ways to wrap the story up believably along lines bringing it closer to a thriller. But I’m happy enough to have these alternate endings swirl in my own head as possibilities. IMO, the book’s ending was completely fitting with the author’s intent.

[Josh Champion · Rating 4 out of 5]

They say to forgive a plot that meanders and has no tangible conclusion, a book must be very well written. This one is. It’s an exploratory style that drills deep into human psyche and brushes over big ticket issues. It manages to be eloquent and easy to read all at once. As a posthumous release, I’m glad to have had the chance to read it.

[Perlie · Rating 1 out of 5]

Well written depressing story that leaves you with the feeling that people are horrible.
Blech.

[Pascale · Rating 3 out of 5]

Yet another novel that pulls you in, and doesn't keep all its promises. The story is mostly told from the point of view of Levin, a retired secret agent who, partly out of boredom, accepts to spy on the wife of Kaye, an obsessively jealous mathematics professor. Deborah may or may not be having an affair with Karl, another academic, who is found dead near the beginning of the story.Then Deborah asks Levin to investigate the murder, which although attributed to a terrorist, could have been committed by Deborah's husband. Levin falls in love with Deborah, who surprisingly enough, initiates an affair with him. The whole thing plays out against the background of life in city where hatred and suspicion are rife, as suicide bombings regularly make headlines. Stone is very good at conjuring an atmosphere of paranoia where every unusual encounter spreads much more disquiet than it seems to warrant, and even benign conversations have multiple interpretations. I particularly liked the scene where Levin visits an Arab friend, but ends up feeling the relationship can't be sustained because both of them are much too eager to assure the other that they don't have any prejudices and are above the fray. Initially I felt that the novel petered out, as Deborah and Levin keep sleeping together and Kaye seems either not to get wise to it, or else to suddenly not care, which is odd. But maybe the subdued ending suggests that in interpersonal relationships as in life in a disputed territory, violence is not always realized. Fear of what people might do - your own wife, the disturbed passenger on the bus - is enough to send you mad, even if in the end, most of the time, nothing horrible happens.

[Oriyah N · Rating 2 out of 5]

I paid 1 NIS for this book on clearance night at a used book sale (The equivalent of roughly $.25 USD) I was open to loving it and, not even having read the book flap-description (at these prices, one can 'afford' to judge a book by it's cover) had no expectations. The book cover design is appealing but actually seemingly misleading if you know anything about Jerusalem and its populations. The hat and jacket on the figure depicted on the cover seems to indicate someone who dresses in ultra-orthodox garb, especially when presented in front of the kind of posters that one normally finds in the neighborhoods heavy in that demographic. The paper on which the book was printed, the cover, and the irregular paper cuttings were very appealing (and appropriate for this kind of book) but the content, while decently written, wasn't as appealing.

While it's true that I don't tend toward detective stories, the book seemed like the kind of thing that would be written by an amateur writer to give voice to his sexual fantasies while getting the 'accomplishment' of writing and publishing a book under his belt, so to speak. I was extremely shocked to find that this author actually had a work nominated for a Pulitzer prize as this book seemed to be a bit of a joke. However, I've read worse, and while the plot wasn't enthralling, to say the least, the writing was on a decent enough level to not qualify as poor writing, which is how it has earned itself a second star.

Still, I'd skip this.

[Kristin · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a diminutive book to be so amazing. Like every rare book that I'm compelled to read in its entirety from beginning to end in one sitting (that's not even a graphic novel), it's a true gift. I can see how some readers might find this book gross-- but I did not take the narrator's view of himself at face value. I found him very attractive. That's kind of amazing in literature, to be able to not believe the narrator, and thereby access the real heart of the story. I found the woman believable. I found them believable together, and her story compelling, and his story compelling. Many men can't write women. The writing contained such strong doses of real life that it was supremely refreshing. The atmosphere and the place was beautiful-- you are set down in it, submerged, and it's a pleasant submersion. Many authors can submerge you in a place, but they often choose to make it ugly and depressing. It takes skill to make recognizable the beauty in even that which may be really ugly, and then to distill it and turn it into something as potent as a spice that dyes your skin and suffuses everything with its scent, staying with you for a long time.

[Megan Geissler · Rating 4 out of 5]

Israel, spy, affairs, etc.

[Judy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a quiet mystery taking place in Jerusalem, Israel. You can feel the anxiety of the residents living in an unpredictable situation, always looking and expecting a terrorist attack around every corner. Mix that with a murder mystery and the lives of the characters intertwining and you have a good yarn.

[Erik · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice little novella that reads like a Graham Greene short story. It is hard to pigeon hole, though there is plot and a definite sense of place, perhaps its strongest characteristic. Some will be upset by the unresolved storyline, but the book aims to be more of a character and place study. Needless to say, Jerusalem sounds utterly fascinating.

[Lynn Buschhoff · Rating 2 out of 5]

Dark, cynical. It was written about a Jerusalem that was more violent than the one I visited. It was interesting to read a story from the point of view of one who is cynical about his own country- because we in America are not allowed to be cyical about israel. the plot is as convoluted and unresolved as the country.

[Marie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting, but it didn't blow me away. The writing was very good though, and the descriptions made it easy to imagine being in Jerusalem. Another reviewer compared it to a Graham Greene novella, and that seems apt to me, as I love Greene's writing style too. A quick read, great writing, but just not enough there for me to love it.

[Lynn Kearney · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great cover and very good beginning, but it got too cute by half! Didn't care much for any of the characters and didn't really believe in them either. Some good (I assume) depictions of Israeli/Palestinian friction.

[Catherine Woodman]

A quirky short book that I ended up very much liking--the story is well told and unusual and I also very much enjoyed the setting of Jerusalem--the book took me back to places I had been there, and in a very pleasant and evocative way.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

A well-crafted tale of deception and destruction that beautifully ties together the fragmented and violent city of Jerusalem with the narrator's fractured personal relationships. Deceptively short (novella) length and clear writing belies the deep emotions and essential moral struggles addressed.

[Lewis Manalo · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is pretty cool. I can relate to the horny, old main character, and the sense of place is pretty solid, especially considering how hard it is to describe living in such a situation.

[Robin · Rating 3 out of 5]

a gripping snapshot. not quite my cup of tea but well written none the less.

[Kelly · Rating 1 out of 5]

Picked this up on vacation. It kept me interested through the end, but the ending was very incomplete and unsatisfying.