Warriors and Lovers
Rosenberg, Irene
BOOKS Warriors and Lovers Shimoni's Lover by Jenifer Levin Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1987 378 pp, $1895 Reviewed by Irene Rosenberg In the prologue to her novel, Shimoni's Lover, Jenifer Levin...
...The trick is to be selective about employing that knowledge...
...It would be good to get to know them better, to hear them tease and jest and reveal themselves in casual conversation, instead of the ringing pronouncements they make now...
...Allegorical, sad and filled with many instances of fine writing (particularly in the description of life on a kibbutz), Shimoni's Lover is somehow less than satisfying as a novel...
...He is a legendary hero who has managed to leave an oversized imprint on his sons and wife, although he has seldom been a physical presence in their lives...
...Although her portrayal of these characters is a bit sketchy and broad-brushed, Levin shows us it is not possible or desirable for all men to be heroes...
...And is that why she longs to be seen as her own person, free of the domination of others...
...Michael, the youngest brother, tries to follow in Shimoni's footsteps and develops superb skills as a paratrooper...
...When Shimoni dies a fiery death under a tank the entire community mourns, and the members of his family and friends are haunted by recurring dreams and visions...
...Maybe, as Levin seems to be saying, it may take more restraint than humans possess to be "selective" about using the knowledge to kill...
...Army or Marine Corps boot camp procedures, Levin introduces us to the rest of the novel's many war-scarred characters...
...You are now ready to learn to kill...
...And as we read on and take a break to read the newspaper, we are reminded of how difficult it is to master this trick...
...Can a man who devotes himself to heroic military action be a good husband or father...
...She has had many lovers in her life, and they are now all to be found on the lists of those dead in action...
...Central to Nadav's quest is his search for Shimoni's lover, the mysterious Miriam Sagrossa, whom Shimoni never introduced to the rest of the Kol family...
...Is that why she is unnamed in the title...
...The Kols are far from an ordinary Israeli family: They live in the shadow of their father, known to an admiring populace as "The General...
...Still, one has to admire the idealism, the heroic attempt to tell a meaningful tale, and some of the insights that Levin has about the nature of love in a land of war...
...Or maybe I should say this: We'll teach you how to use something you already possess...
...Not unlike his father, the oldest son, Shimoni, is a mythical figure, a respected scholar as well as a warrior—the finest flowering of a society that prides itself on its military and intellectual prowess...
...And a more intriguing question, also explored by the novel, has to do with man's capacity to love while caught- up in the throes of soldiering...
...Irene Rosenberg is a writer of plays, filmscripts and nonfiction...
...For the most part the Kols are seen through the eyes of Jolie, an insecure American woman who has arrived at the Kol family's kibbutz quite by chance...
...It takes a long time to meet Miriam (more than halfway through the book), but she is given a long buildup, and it's clear that she is the key to some questions of philosophy and allegory...
...To do that you must learn to kill...
...However, even the effete Rafi is swept along by his training and finds himself brimming with hate for Arab enemies...
...Only then can Nadav find out why he (Nadav) has been spared, and how he can best live his remaining years...
...Perhaps that would be too painful, for even now, while these characters seem less than substantial, we ache for them and the gaping wounds that disfigure them emotionally as well as physically...
...Rafi-—artistic, physically slight—is an unlikely soldier, an aberration in a family of military heroes...
...On the first day, the lieutenant tells his recruits, "You must learn to defend yourselves and to protect the things that make a long life worth living...
...With Shimoni's death, Nadav becomes obsessed with the need to find out the details of his brother's life, until now shrouded in secrecy...
...The book centers on the Kol family, whose four sons have markedly different responses to military service and allegiance to country...
...Michael knows how to follow—and how to hate—qualities that may be useful in wartime, but do not elevate him to the vaulted stature of his beloved brother...
...When Nadav helps Miriam's child to touch, to love, to trust—and vows to forsake acts of violence for himself—there is perhaps a future for Miriam and Nadav (and Israel as well...
...She is coauthor of the Broadway musical Onward Victoria and the drama Third Child which opened in England in April...
...Nadav, the brother Shimoni is closest to, has himself been maimed in battle...
...When we do meet the earthy Miriam, we find her understandably bitter about heroes...
...Because the knowledge of how to kill is deep inside each of you...
...Following these characters is not an easy task: they fade in and out elusively—players in an allegorical tale about the past, present and future of Israel...
...We'll teach you that also...
...In a scene of basic training for Israeli soldiers, remarkable for the cruelties and indignities imposed upon fresh recruits, she introduces Rafi Kol, one of four sons of the Kol family who live on kibbutz May Ha-Emek...
...Rafi, the brother introduced in the prologue, cares nothing for military achievement, and is consumed by his desire to live in the United States...
...Nadav searches for Miriam, falls in love with her, and devotes himself to becoming a man deserving of her—i.e., a man who can free himself from the horrors of war that poison the soul...
...According to Miriam, Shimoni's lover of the title, the answer is no...
...Perhaps it's because when we finish the novel, we don't remember the characters as much as we remember their wounds...
...She wants to write off this generation of men and devote herself to Rana, her emotionally disturbed child...
...Is she Israel...
...From this chilling beginning and the author's perception that Israeli army training is every bit as dehumanizing as any U.S...
...BOOKS Warriors and Lovers Shimoni's Lover by Jenifer Levin Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1987 378 pp, $1895 Reviewed by Irene Rosenberg In the prologue to her novel, Shimoni's Lover, Jenifer Levin sets the stage for a disturbing vision of Israel...
Vol. 13 • June 1988 • No. 4
