Customer Reviews

Look for Me: A Novel

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Edeet Ravel has done it again -- a wonderful novel that integrates the political nuances of the Middle East conflict with the personal complexity of real people who live in it. The first half of the book sets the stage, portraying real people and their lives, while the second half kept me at the edge of my seat, wondering how it will all work out: will she find him? will love prevail? or will romance collide with reality?

I loved this book and eagerly await the third in the trilogy.

As the second volume in a trilogy about the effects of war on human relationships, this is a compelling story about an Israeli woman's search for her long-missing husband. Dana is a writer of trashy romance novels. She is also a humanitarian who attends peace rallies and photographs the suffering she encounters. Years ago, her husband Daniel disappeared after being badly burned in a military accident. Dana is certain that he is still alive but hiding, and that the army knows where he is but will not reveal his location. After eleven years, she is still searching for him. While pursuing a promising lead on his whereabouts, she falls in love with a fellow activist.

"Look For Me" realistically depicts the complexities of life in a country divided by violence and mistrust. Through the protagonist's eyes, the reader experiences hope conquering despair, love in the midst of hatred, and humor mingled with sadness. I recommend this novel not only as a simply but powerfully written story of love and fidelity but also as a thought-provoking portrait of the human side of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Eileen Rieback

It is hard to stop reading this story of a woman torn between her loyalty to her missing husband and a new man in her life. The setting also alternates between the beauty of sea and desert, and the harsh military landscape of war and conflict. The entire novel is built on dualities, and once you realize this, it becomes even more fascinating. Palestinians and Israelis, loyalty and betrayal, beauty and ugliness, truth and lies. The minor character Volvo, who lost his legs in a suicide bomb, is nevertheless a hilarious Eeyore, grumpy and sarcastic -- until he too discovers love, but not where he expects it. A novel worth rereading.

I was able to receive an advance copy of this book, therefore I am writing the review much earlier than the release date. After reading this book, I wanted to share my thoughts with you...I would definitely recommend reading this book if you are an avid reader of "urban" political romance ...the story is of an Israeli woman in search of her husband who has disappeared for over 11 years, the story involves romance and subtle propoganda, but is nevertheless enticing...unfotunately, the ending left little satisfication to the imagination. However, if the intention of the author was to have the reader develop a more informative understanding of Palestinian struggles and hardship in Israel and realize that love truly has no boundaries then she has succeeded.

From the moment i picked it up, I couldn't put it down.
I really got into the book and liked how the political and personal aspects mixed together.
Edeet Ravel certainly knows how to tell a story.
I would highly recommend this novel to anyone who enjoys a good read.

Frankly, I was very disappointed in this book. There is no doubt that Ravel is a talented writer and I appreciated many of her characters - particularly some of the secondary ones: Volvo, Tanya, Dana's father, Aaron, Mercedes, etc - Ravel really excelled in their portrayals. I enjoyed Dana and Daniel's relationship (pre-disappearance), but the book as a whole was not satisfying. I probably would not have been so disappointed if it weren't for the fact that I've read Ten Thousand Lovers, which in my humble opinion is far superior (check out my review :-).

SPECIFIC COMPLAINTS (contains slight spoiler):
The issue of Daniel's "disappearance" is misleading - I thought, from reading the back cover and from what is at first written, that he had been kidnapped for political reasons. I think twists in a book are great, but I didn't experience this as a literary enhancement, I just felt misled. I did not really enjoy Dana's relationship with Rafi and I was bothered by the style of Ravel's writing in the parts where she wrote with only dialogue and no description.

SUMMARY (from back cover):
"Look for Me tells the story of Dana and her quest to find her husband who disappeared while serving in the Israeli army. Every year Dana places a newspaper ad that says, "I will never ever, ever stop waiting for you," the word "ever" repeated so that it fills the entire page. She gives interviews hoping her husband will contact her. She knows for a fact that he is alive . . .

In the midst of curfews, demonstrations, and confrontations with the police, Dana falls in love with another man -- just as she learns her husband's whereabouts. Will she forget the past and follow her heart with a new love, or face the dangers involved in setting out to find the man she has sought for eleven years?"

BOTTOM LINE:
Read Ravel's Ten Thousand Lovers instead - much better!

The first half of this book I thoroughly enjoyed - the writing, the setting, the descriptions of Israel and her relationships.

Then...it just started getting more and more off track. Silly, not believable and in the end disappointing.

I really enjoyed Edeet Ravel's TEN THOUSAND LOVERS. This isn't as good a novel--Dana's story is unfocused and disjointed, and the relationship with Rafi feels forced and rushed.

Mostly though--and this will probably seem peculiar to other readers--I was completely distracted by Ravel's unintentionally comical inaccuracies in describing Dana's work as a romance writer. I wrote a dozen romance novels for the Harlequin-Silhouette-Mills-&-Boon empire of romance publishing, as well as several romance novels for other publishers. Many of my friends still write for Harlequin-Silhouette-etc., many of my other friends write romance novels for other houses.

And the way Ravel describes romance writing here, in several different chapters, is quite recognizably a compilation of the most popular myths told about the profession by people who have absolutely no idea what they're talking about. It's laughably inaccurate.

And what kept bothering me was: If the heroine's profession in this novel was -that- completely unresearched, careless, and inaccurate... then was =anything= in the novel accurately researched or portrayed? Were Ravel's descriptions in the book of how the Israeli peace activist movement works, how army reserve duty functions, the bits and pieces about Israeli intelligence, the husband's (seemingly improbable) ability to flee and disappear while recovering from severe burns, etc... Was all of this portrayed as inaccurately as the heroine's profession was? I found it hard to believe that Ravel would be -that- sloppy about portraying her protagonist's work, yet conscientious about making sure all other aspects of her novel were accurate.

I kept wondering about this (and still don't know the answer), and it ruined the book for me.