Customer Reviews

Real Time

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I was apprehensive about reading this book because I wasn't sure whether it would be from a balanced perspective or whether it would take sides in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Having read it, I wouldn't classify it in either category; I'd just have to say that it's realistic. The book revolves around a homicide bombing of a bus in Israel. It is told through the perspectives of various characters, including a German teenager who's come to Israel to find out about his grandfather who may have been a Nazi, an Israeli soldier, an Israeli immigrant, the 16 year old Palestinian boy recruited as a "Shaheed," the Israeli who imploys this boy illegally, a Palestinian doctor treating the bomb victims in an Israeli hospital, and others.

The author presents a startlingly realistic portrait of what living and being in Israel is like for all of these people. She communicates the emotions and tensions that come with living under such tense circumstances and brings readers into this challenging world, allowing them to see what it's like for themselves.

I highly recommend this book and challenge audiences to try to step out of their secure worlds for a few hours and into the lives of the people in this book. I think it will be an enlightening experience.

This book is the 2004 winner of the Sydney Taylor Book Award in the Older Readers category. The award is given each year for the best in Jewish children's literature.

Real Time follows a number of characters hour by hour to the moment when their lives intersect at a bus bombing in Israel, and through the aftermath of the event. We hear the voices of kibbutzniks, an earnest German youth, and even the Palestinian boy who has been persuaded to
carry the bomb. Some characters are followed through the entire book, while others make only brief appearances. The format takes some time to adjust to, but once you become immersed in the story, it is extremely readable.

The book is sophisticated in its construction, in its characterization, and in its realism. Intricate timing allows us to see simultaneous events and to understand how they are likely to become connected. Every character is realistically portrayed as a mixture of good and bad, guilt and hope, victim and oppressor, each dealing with their own unbearable situation. Each person speaks for him or herself, without interpretation by a narrator, effectively and economically revealing the relevant thoughts and emotions. While the events of the story are the stuff of today's headlines, the book's format shows how political situations are really composed of many, many overlapping personal situations. The whole concept of the book is summed up by the character Baruch, when he says "I am part of the story, and Dan, and Lidia, and also the Palestinian boy, the suicide bomber. Like tangled string when you pull it, it gets tighter."

Although the reader of Real Time begins this journey cognizant of the impending and catastrophic explosion that connects the lives of its diverse characters, there is nothing predictable about this book. It is a powerful and gripping story, and hooks the reader from the start. Each character is depicted with complexity, from the guilt-ridden adolescent grandson of a German soldier, compelled to discover the truth about his grandfather's past, to the Holocaust survivor trying to create order and beauty on an Israeli kibbutz. These are but two of the lives that are fatefully woven together, and the reader is quickly drawn into their worlds, both external and political, and internal and private. Ms. Kass artfully renders palpable the wide range of often contradictory--and therefore real--emotions that haunt each of the characters, and succeeds in the extremely difficult task of translating the wordless horror of trauma into language. There are no happy endings in this book, at least not in the familiar sense; however, amidst the interminable suffering, Ms. Kass' depiction of deep and enduring love offers relief, and serves to sustain us and give us hope.

As a school librarian who works with young adults, I read Real Time with great interest. It deals with current issues in a way that today's teens can relate to both on a personal level and as a window into the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Ms. Kass has drawn together a diverse cast of characters, each with his/her own agenda and emotional baggage, intertwining their lives against the background of historical tragedy and present-day issues. The protaganist, Thomas Wanniger, is coming to Israel to try to unravel the mystery of his grandfather's disappearance while serving in the German army during World War II. His decision to participate as a volunteer on a kibbutz near Jerusalem draws several other characters into the plot, which is laid out, chapter by chapter, on a digitally measured time-line. Sameh Lahem, a Palestinian who sneaks across the border every day to work as a dishwasher in a popular diner, expresses the frustration and religious zeal of the Palestinian youth ready to give up their own lives to kill Israelis. The tension grows as the inevitable crossing of their paths ends explosively. Real Time succeeds in balancing many points of view in the context of everyday reality in Israel. My own enthusiasm for Real Time is apparently shared by many others as it was recently awarded the prestigious Sydney Taylor Award. I plan to recommend it most highly to high school students and adults.

REAL TIME is set in contemporary Israel, telling a story in real time, in which the lives of so many people come together, minute by minute. The narration switches back and forth between several different characters, telling one story but also many stories.

These characters include Thomas, a German boy who has come to Israel looking for answers about his family. Baruch, a Holocaust survivor who now works on a kibbutz. Vera, another kibbutz worker who is finding her Jewish roots and escaping her tragic past in Odessa. Sameh, a Palestinian working illegally at a diner. Saheh's friend Omar, a reporter, and many, many others. All of these people are different, looking for different things, but there is a moment when all of their lives come together, and it is a tragedy.

So much sadness, so much despair, is evident. Can there be healing and hope for those who survive this tragedy? Only time will tell.

This novel is a breathtaking story, but it's more than that. For one thing, it's a behind-the-scenes look at what is usually seen only on television. And yet it's more than behind-the-scenes; it's the secrets, thoughts, hopes, and dreams of every person involved. The way this story is told, in (as the title suggests) real time, switching back and forth between several narrators, is a part of what makes it amazing. If just one character told the story, so many aspects of it would not be seen. Pnina Kass Moed is a brilliant writer, and the story she tells in REAL TIME is equally brilliant.

Reviewed by: Jocelyn Pearce

Set in contemporary Israel, with narations from multiple characters, this novel shows how people struggle with terrorist attacks. Thomas Wanninger is a 16 year old from Berlin. He came to Israel to find out information about his grandfather who was a WW2 nazi officer. Him and other characters such as Baruch and Vera join a kibbutz. In the book it shows how they change from one moment to another. From the terrorist bus bombing by the Palestinian boy, some characters are followed throughout the whole novel while some are briefly shown.

While starting with the book, it was a little confusing with the different narrations, but we eventually got used to them. The novel is very powerful in the sense of its realism. Every character seems to have the perfect position to fit with the seeting and time.

Real Time is a pretty straightforward, surprisingly gritty tale of a bomb, and how it explodes into the lives of several different people all searching for understanding. The style takes some adjusting, reading like Jack Bauer's diary and taking a somewhat detached stand on violence and morality. This is a novel perfect for someone looking for an uncomplicated format with an interwoven plot that reads as effective, but not preachy.
Personally, I found it a bit difficult to be accessible at first, but overall it developed into what felt like a raw look into the violence that plays a role in these character's lives, and the reflection of violence in our own lives. An unblinking yet cautionary tale, after one gets settled into the book, it becomes very difficult to put down. I read it in one sitting.

Sahem, a sixteen year old Palestinian boy, drops his backpack full of explosives on a bus in Israel and unwittingly interweaves the lives of all of those on board. The tale is told in diary entries that depict the lives of those who managed to survive: Thomas who was looking for answers to family secrets, Vera who was reconnecting with her Jewish heritage, Baruch Ben Tov a man you also survived the Holocaust, Sahem himself, and many others. With an array of characters, this minute-by-minute tale unveils the connection between seemingly unattached characters and their own contribution to the after effects of tragedy.
This clock-based novel by Pnina Moed Kass is a heart pounding addition to the assortment of literature dedicated to warning young adult readers about violence. As an American born freelance writer, Kass has spent thirty-five years in Israel and expertly illustrates her first hand knowledge of its culture and the atrocities of violence into a concrete, shockingly realistic view of what many now refer to as "terrorism".

In her novel Real Time, Pnina Moed Kass examines the effects of one fateful moment on the lives of many different people. Seemingly unrelated people are linked through their direct or indirect involvement in the explosion of an Israeli bus by a suicide bomber.
Kass narrates through the perspective of many characters, including a teenage German trying to find information on his Nazi grandfather, a Holocaust survivor trying to keep his life from being disrupted again, and a young Palestinian trying to support his family by agreeing to become a shaheed. Kass's characterization is excellent. Each character has a voice that is not only distinct from all the others, but is also extremely believable. The reader may appreciate and even personally feel the dreams, hopes, and fears of each character.
Kass complicates the "good guy-bad guy" dichotomy in this novel. We are led to sympathize with one of the potential suicide bombers, seeing his family's oppression and hearing his story in his own words. He sees Israel as his people's oppressor, like Nazi Germany was the Jewish people's oppressor. We also, however, sympathize with the victims of the explosion on the bus. Kass depicts life as it is--complicated. For every action, there is a long back story for each person involved.
Through this fictional account, Kass allows us to see what the back story of a breaking news report might be. The number injured or killed is representative of individual people, each with his or her own story. Also, those charged with the crime have their own stories to tell. We cannot say that anyone is purely good or purely evil.
Kass also examines how different people deal with grief. Some must keep order in their lives, scheduling each moment in a predictable way so as to eliminate the possibility of remembering. Others must escape in a geographic sense, abandoning the stimuli that might conjure up a memory. Though Kass allows some of her characters a happy ending, they are still indelibly altered by the bombing and will need to learn how to cope with their grief. Also, some of the characters learn that not all of lives' questions can be answered.
I would suggest this book to young adults because it provides another perspective on events and themes that have shaken our world, from the Holocaust to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Also, it tackles difficult themes such as grief, hatred, and uncertainty. The book is also enjoyable to read. Kass's characterization and decision to depict the situation in "real time" through the voices of many different characters makes this novel engaging. This is not a novel, however, for someone that requires clear-cut answers or completely happy endings. Kass does not suggest that the suicide bombings will end. In fact, she suggests that they will continue. Also, the problems of the "innocent" characters are not completely solved. It is these details that make this novel realistic.

I first read Real Time because it was required as part of my Young Adult Literature class in college. However, I quickly realized that this book was more than just one more required reading book that I would just read and then forget. Real Time is especially effective in conveying the personal effect of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict through its first person perspective. It shows the perspectives of young people caught up in a bus bombing as well as that of the adults who are left helpless in the bombing's aftermath. The author, Pnina Moed Kass, takes her audience into the heads of everyone involved in the conflict including the young victims, the young suicide bombers, and the loved ones of those who are caught up in the bomb explosion. I would heartily recommend this book to anyone who is interested in learning more about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.