Husband and Wife: A Novel [Paperback]

Zeruya Shalev (Author), Dalya Bilu (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 7, 2003

A rising star of international letters, Zeruya Shalev takes us on a compelling narrative journey in the exquisite and unsettling Husband and Wife. Na'ama and Udi Newman have many of the trappings of an idyllic shared existence. A couple since they were schoolchildren, they have grown together like vines and settled into a routine of calm domesticity, along with their young daughter, Noga. But in a scene worthy of Kafka, the quiet rhythms of their family life suddenly screech to a halt when Udi wakes up one morning to find that he is unable to move his legs. The doctors quickly set about searching for a physical explanation, but it soon becomes painfully clear that his paralysis is a symptom of something far less tangible, and far more insidious than any of them had imagined. This one morning sets in motion a series of events that reveals a vicious cycle of jealousy, paranoia, resentment, and accumulated injuries that now threaten to tear the small family apart. Shaleve brilliantly captures the vulnerability and deceptive comforts of lives intertwined in this deeply disturbing portrait of a diseased marriage.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Little occurs outside the racing mind of Na'ama Newman, the intensely thoughtful narrator of this second novel by Shalev (Love Life). Na'ama is a social worker who heals ailing young mothers and their children, though she is unable to turn an observant eye on the lives of her own husband and child, or herself. When her husband, Udi, a healthy hiking guide who periodically leaves the family for long, solitary jaunts into nature, wakes up one morning unable to move his legs, Na'ama begins an inner monologue, wrestling over whether to take him to the hospital, where she will surely have to share him and the blame for whatever ails him with nurses, doctors and the rest of the world, or whether to keep him at home, where she and their nine-year-old daughter Noga can finally have a constant relationship with him. As Udi lies in bed, Na'ama's thoughts crash against each other: she recalls a brief though damaging affair, the perfection of her and Udi's adolescent love, and the ways Noga has borne the brunt of their sour marriage. When Na'ama learns Udi is suffering from conversive paralysis, a sickness in which mental stress is expressed physically, she is wildly jealous of the illness, saying, "so that's what she's called, his new woman, conversion." Shalev, an Israeli literary editor, has created a novel entirely devoid of standard dialogue, choosing instead to convey snatches of conversation, arguments and whispers of love in stream-of-consciousness prose. Her language is hauntingly, painfully lyrical, and her understanding of the conflicted human yearning for connection and solitude astounds.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Friends since childhood, Na'ama and Udi Newman married young and start having marital problems in midlife. Setting the downward spiral in motion is Na'ama, who meets a young artist at the local caf‚ and agrees to sit for a portrait. This turns into posing nude for him, and there is a hint of sexual dalliance. These issues come to a head when Udi wakes up one morning and can no longer feel his legs. After a thorough examination in the emergency room, doctors conclude that there is nothing medically wrong with him. Na'ama then learns about a young woman, Zohara, who practices Tibetan healing rituals, and contacts her to try to help her husband. In addition to these problems, Na'ama's ten-year-old daughter, Noga, struggles to fit in at school. Adding to this maelstrom, Na'ama has become emotionally involved with one of her charges at the hostel for unwed pregnant girls where she works. Written in a first-person, stream-of-consciousness style, this novel attempts to show what happens to a family when a 20-year relationship falls apart. Noted for her debut novel, Love Life, Israeli native Shalev plays confidently with the themes of jealousy, accumulated grievances, and resentments but, unfortunately, cannot infuse her characters with life. Only for larger collections with an interest in contemporary Hebrew fiction. Robin Nesbitt, Columbus Metropolitan Lib., OH
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Grove Press (October 7, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0802140092
• ISBN-13: 978-0802140098
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,983,044 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #85 in Books > Literature & Fiction > World Literature > Middle Eastern > Hebrew

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars an emotional ride..., October 30, 2002

By 

Luvmydog (Newport Beach, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Husband and Wife (Hardcover)

Shalev is an incredible writer. She describes the murky deep areas of human emotion. A place where few of us have the courage to go, even with our inner-most thoughts. Shockingly painful truths wallpaper this novel from beginning to end. For most mainstream americans, this will be a difficult book to read because there is not much of a storyline, compared with light-weight american novels. But the poetic inner-dialoge of the characters is very powerful, I did't want to put the book down. One enters into a kind of trance while reading it. A sad but true commentary on modern relationships.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A phenomenal book, August 19, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Husband and Wife (Hardcover)

I am an American who has lived in Israel off and on for about 15 years. I think that Husband and Wife is the best book I've ever read by an Israeli author, and one of the best books I've ever read by any author. It goes deep into the relationship between the characters, deep into the female psyche, and perfectly captures the many tensions of women trying to juggle their work and home lives. This book left me shaken.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful Novel, April 20, 2005

By 

Katrina Denza "KatDenza" (NC, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Husband and Wife (Hardcover)

This is an amazing novel. Zeruya Shalev exposes the pain of a deteriorating family with an uncanny sense of what is true. She proves that there are some experiences that transcend gender, culture, and time. This novel explores difficult situations and emotions with guts and grace. I savored every word.