This was published 4 years ago
When grief becomes a weapon for peace: an unlikely friendship crosses the Arab-Israeli divide
By Nicole Abadee
FICTION
Apeirogon
COLUM MCCANN
Now seems a good time to read books that give hope. And what could be more hopeful than the possibility of peace in the Middle East?
Irish novelist Colum McCann’s seventh novel, Apeirogon, is based on the true story of the friendship between Rami, an Israeli, and Bassam, a Palestinian. They meet through an Israeli-Palestinian organisation of former combatants committed to non-violence.
Rami’s 13-year-old daughter has been killed by a suicide bomb attack, and Bassam’s 10-year-old daughter has been shot dead by an Israeli soldier. Neither man wants revenge; instead, they advocate together, at home and abroad, for a just, peaceful resolution of the Arab-Israeli conflict.
From that story, McCann, a gifted novelist whose award-winning Let the Great World Spin is one of my all-time favourites, has crafted an extraordinary book which does justice to this remarkable friendship.
Neither man is a saint. Rami is a former soldier who for many years did not see Palestinians as fellow human beings. Bassam spent seven years in prison for throwing hand grenades at Israeli soldiers. Following the deaths of their daughters, each man learns to see things from the other’s perspective.
Rami reflects on the misery of life under occupation for Palestinian people, and Bassam studies the Holocaust and begins to understand its impact on the Israeli psyche.
Both resolve “to use the force of their grief as a weapon” in their fight for peace.
Apeirogon made me think about how many disagreements, in our own lives and in our increasingly polarised world, might be resolved if we could only step back and consider the other side’s point of view.
The idea of grief as a catalyst for change and a force for good is also relevant to the Black Lives Matter movement.
Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Partners has snapped up the movie rights, with Australia’s Luke Davies to write the script. It should be a cracker of a film.
To read more from Good Weekend magazine, visit our page at The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and Brisbane Times.