Beaufort (Hardcover)

by Ron Leshem (Author), Evan Fallenberg (Translator)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
In this gritty war novel, Leshem chronicles the tumultuous year leading up to Israel's 2000 withdrawal from Southern Lebanon. The story is told through the eyes of 21-year-old squadron leader, Liraz Liberti (aka Erez), who is tasked with shepherding a motley group of 13 "kids" through their military tours at the historic Israeli outpost, Beaufort. As the violence at Beaufort increases and the day of the withdrawal approaches, those stationed at the outpost try to ward off "eatenness" (fear) and a nagging sense of the futility of manning an outpost about to be closed down. Rather than dwell on the politics behind Israel's conflict with Hezbollah, Leshem focuses on the soldiers' slang-heavy language (those who are scared are "strawberry pissers"; a dumb soldier is a "hummus") and the thickening camaraderie to give readers remarkably visceral access to the isolated outpost. The anxiety and fear are palpable throughout Leshem's vivid novel-you can practically feel the shells explode.
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Review
"Evocative, heartbreaking and haunting ... [Israel's] ""Red Badge of Courage,"" Because Leshem, like Stephen Crane, never saw combat, this is not a work of autobiography or observations but one of empathy and reconstruction--and all the stronger for that because the author has deployed both qualities without judgment. Beaufort is that rare thing, a novel of deep moral concern in which sympathetically drawn and beautifully realized characters are allowed to speak for themselves."--"Los Angeles Times"
"Thirteen young soldiers spring to life with voices at once self-critical and brash, tender and darkly flippant.... Though firsthand accounts and combat memoirs line the shelves of bookstores, Leshem's fiction rivals them in the completeness of his cosmos of war."--"San Francisco Chronicle"
"Ron Leshem has succeeded in creating an entire world, simply through language."--David Grossman, author of "The Yellow Wind"
"A gripping, viscerally powerful tale.... An alternately grim and blackly comic war/coming-of-age novel."--"Kirkus Reviews
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"An important novel.... This is a picture of war from a soldier's point of view. Its language is crude, the body count rises, and yet the tenderness of the bonds among the men is extraordinary."--"Library Journal," starred review --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 368 pages
• Publisher: Delacorte Press; 1 edition (December 26, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0553806823
• ISBN-13: 978-0553806823
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.9 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #515,623 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars RICK "SHAQ" GOLDSTEIN SAYS: CAMARADERIE IS BUILT AS ISRAELI BOYS BECOME MEN DURING ISRAEL/LEBANON WAR.", January 27, 2008

By	Rick Shaq Goldstein "Rick Shaq Goldstein" (Danville, Ca, USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

The Israeli author Ron Leshem wrote this in Hebrew in 2006 and won Israel's top literary award - "The Sapir Prize". Leshem co-authored the film version of "Beaufort" which won the Berlin International Film Festival's "Silver Bear" for Best Director. And now in 2008 it has been wonderfully translated into English. The story takes place in February 1999 in Northern Israel and Southern Lebanon during the Israel/Lebanon conflict. The main character and narrator in the story is Lieutenant "Erez" Liberti. His real first name is Liraz, but in basic training, at the very first roll call, the platoon commander said: "What kind of a name is that? Liraz? That's a chick's name. From now on you're "Erez", like the cedars of Lebanon." And from there on out he was Erez.

Though this entire story takes place during war, as Israel enters and mans the infamous Beaufort outpost that was taken from Lebanon in a historic battle in 1982, the powerful emotional strength of this story isn't in constant grisly battles of weaponry and uncountable deaths and killings. Though any amount of death is too much and there are horrendous emotional heartbreaking deaths on the battlefield, the strength, power and heart rendering beauty of this story is in the building of the relationships between the young Israeli soldiers. I am a Viet Nam era veteran and when I entered the military I wasn't old enough to "legally" drink, but I was old enough to "legally" kill. I understood that, having been raised to respect and appreciate the price that America has paid for the freedoms we possess. Looking back on my life I thought I was already a man when I entered the service, but I was nothing but a boy. When I got out of the service I was a man, knowing things I wished I never got to know. That's what this story is about. Erez, though only a couple of years older than his troops was not happy with the discipline he saw in his "KIDS" as they got ready for battle, so he runs them into the ground. As the story unfolds the reader gets to learn intimate details about Erez and the thirteen boys/kids/men under his command. Friendships are earned, not born, when everyone's life is on the line every second. I can attest to the fact, that the true mettle of a man, even with all the training in the world, mixed with all the youthful male "bravado" and braggadocio, is not proven or understood fully, until the first mortar's, the first missiles, and the first rockets land in the middle of your platoon! That's when a true "man" is forged.

After the first death in Erez's squad, by my experience, it becomes a necessity to inoculate a close knit group on the battlefield with some form of "dark-gallows-humor" and that's what Erez's "kids did. They invented a game called "WHAT HE CAN'T DO ANYMORE" and it's what everyone played when a friend was killed. I.e. "Hetzl" (I've used a fake name so I won't reveal an individual's death before you read it.) won't be able to get laid anymore... he won't be able to piss off a mountain peak anymore... he won't know his parents were proud of him anymore.. etc. "Gallows humor" at its finest, and it does help you soldier on in your tight knit group where each and every life is dependent on the other to stay alive. As these boys become men, there are gut-wrenching tears shed as the cost of war includes heads literally blown off bodies during missile attacks, arms and legs destroyed, which the soldiers feel is worse than dying. There are attempts through tears to stuff friend's innards back inside him as they realize in horror they can't save a friends life. But through it all, the beauty of friendship and trust and "LOVE" emerges miraculously through the horror of the battlefield, like the beauty of a flower sprouting up through a crack in a deserted sidewalk in a ghetto. This is an unforgettable book that I recommend to all.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars I find this book not only timely but moving, April 6, 2008

By	Steveo (Baltimore, Maryland USA) - See all my reviews

I am sure my view of this novel is skewed because I have served in the military and have been deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan. When I reached the end of the text I was shocked to find that the author did not serve in the military. He writes as if he has been on the front lines and lived these experiences.

There were a few sections that I thought were drawn out but over all he captures the essence of being in an unpopular conflict and the hardships of being deployed from the view of the soldier.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Gripping story!, February 3, 2008

By	M. T. Guzman "squeakychu" (Rockville, MD, USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

There are many books that address what it feels like to be a soldier. I haven't read many about what it feels like to be an Israel Defense Force (IDF) soldier. I did read the excellent "Adjusting Sights" by Haim Sabato, which, like "All Quite on the Western Front" by Erich Remarque" talks about what it's like to be a soldier in an apolitical world. Beaufort, however, markedly deals with what it's like to be an Israeli soldier. This might be disturbing to some based on your own personal politics. For me, it was eye-opening. It contained so much of the emotional side of war from the point of view of platoon leader Lieutenant Liraz "Erez" Liberti. I felt the bravado, the terror, and the love that pervaded the soldiers' souls during their station at Beaufort, an Israeli-occupied outpost in Lebanon.

I'm not a person who gladly reads war novels. However, I thought I'd give this one a try because I discovered it was about Israel (and not about North or South Carolina as I had previously guessed from its title of "Beaufort") and, within a few pages of the opening of the book, mentioned Qiryat Shemona, a town in Israel in which I had lived when I was younger.

A note by the author at the end of the book made it very clear that all of the characters except for one were fictitious. However, they were based on some real stories of IDF (Israel Defense Forces) soldiers. What stood out in my mind was how true the details - the denied fear, the camaraderie, the agony - of their situation seemed. In addition, I entered a world I'd previously denied in my mind - the utterly horrific situations faced by IDF soldiers (and, most likely, soldiers of other countries as well). Whether their own politics beliefs had a role in placing them there or not, they had a job to do. It had to be done well or it ultimately would place their own lives and those of their comrades in jeopardy. While on civilian leave, the ugly truth of their lives as soldiers had be squelched and only its perceived beauty be allowed to shine forth (Think bravery, honor, patriotism, etc.).

There is one part of this book I found especially touching. It was the part about Mickey Bayliss, a soldier usually wearing a knitted kippa (skullcap used for religious Jews) who decided to remove it while on base. I could see how this was disheartening to Erez. It was also disheartening to me. It was as if Bayliss were saying that his level of spirituality was decreasing. That was so sad.

The story is a brutal but realistic account of the lives of a platoon of soldier. It should be read with the thought how devastating the effects of war are everywhere. It would be wise to note as well that there is ultimately no absolute right or wrong to war. Sadly, war exists and will continue to exist forever.