Customer Reviews

Murder in Jerusalem (Michael Ohayon Mysteries)

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

 

 

This is a masterful novel in which the tightly packed and chaotic prose reflects the chaos in the action itself. If you're looking for easy reading, this is not it. If you're looking for a powerful and complex story set firmly in the chaos of modern-day Israel, this just the book for you.

Gur here provides too much exposition (work environment, characters at national TV and police headquarters) at the expense of plot and character development. Further, the novel is weakened by the extravagant significance given a single war-time atrocity. Benefit of the doubt - maybe the author didn't have time to polish the ms, apparently completed just before her 5/05 death. Start with Saturday Morning Murder and read the other four. Only read this if you already know the series & want to see what she does with her long-running characters.

Murder In Jerusalem was Gur's final novel, written at the end of her life. I had been following hero-protagonist Michael Ohayon's Jerusalem adventures since the early 1990s, and my final literary journey with him was a bittersweet experience. Literary Criticism was a major component in Gur's first novels, in which she offered stories that can be analyzed through clues in the tale of the murders, as well as clues from Literary-Critical techniques. For example, in "Literary Murder: A Critical Case", Gur presented a tale where the investigations in police work are shown as parallel to the textual (and intertextual) explorations of Literary Critics. Gur's exceptionally descriptive writing creates a bond through which her readers viscerally relate to her characters. Her meticulous and masterful observations of humanity make her characters instantly recognizable, like people you know in your own life. And they have never failed to inspire me to make hummus, or notice a craving for Maccabee Beer. For me, her clever books brought forth enjoyable psycho-analytical, literary-analytical challenges, as well as appreciation of and affection for the writer and her talent. Murder in Jerusalem is ultimately a shattering of innocence. Beneath the vibrant, hopeful setting of contemporary Jerusalem a vulnerability slowly permeates the later Ohayon stories, and, for me, brings with them a longing that cannot go away. Murder in Jerusalem presents a group of characters, some old friends, embroiled in solving a murder at a 24 hour news station. In addition to police work and politics, the reader is drawn into the day to day lives of people trying to help a world they seem unable to understand. In earlier novels, Intifadas are mentioned with deep sadness, and confusion, but, almost in matter-of-fact ways. They simply exist. It isn't until Murder in Jerusalem that Gur courageously reacts to the Intifadas, and she attempts to find and understand their causes from the viewpoint of the profoundly patriotic Ohayon. What she reveals, is heart-breaking. Beyond the lies of contemporary murderers, Ohayon is forced to come to terms with what he sees as lies of history. Lies that ultimately change everything he understands about who he is, and what his identity as an Israeli means to him. One of the most difficult parts of the book, for me, was seeing the deeply compassionate Ohayon emotionally crushed after uncovering long-hidden details about the actions of some pioneers, who had been his heroes. Ohayon tries to confront guilt he feels about secret historical atrocities, and he wonders how he can continue to be who he thought he was, while living in a land where areas were forcibly occupied through acts of unspeakable violence . Ohayon remembers the tales told during his childhood, and the national pride they evinced in him. This, in contrast with Ohayon's discovery of the embezzlement of massive amounts of money by Orthodox rabbis to fund a new homeland for Jews, in Canada, takes away from Ohayon's relief at bringing the present day murderer to justice. The last scene in the book has Yigal, Ohayon's only child, now grown, informing Michael that he is moving to Canada. Ohayon is left to ponder what means more to him: his idealism and the beliefs he was raised to champion, or the continuation of his life in a world where he believes "civilization--the power of the intellectuals, the academics--has suppressed the originality, the spontaneity, the spirit and sentiment of the people." Far from being just a good murder mystery, Murder in Jerusalem projects readers into the confusion, love, and turbulence of contemporary life in the Middle East.

Batya Gur's last novel--I think they might have been too narrowly classified as genre fiction--details the complexities and rivalries that exist in at a broadcast television station in Israel. The author examines the cost of idealism and ambition through the eyes of the many personalities working to tell the stories that define a culture as well as interpret its daily events. It is also an interesting commentary on smoking cigarettes.

I enjoyed this book tremendously. It has an interesting narrative and keeps your interest throughout. It shows a lot of the everyday life in Israel.