Apeirogon is a novel by Colum McCann, published in February 2020. The novel explores the conflict in the Middle East. It follows the story of two men who each lost a daughter. One is Palestinian, the other Israeli.
.jpg) First edition | |
| Author | Colum McCann |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Genre | Novel |
| Publisher | Random House (US) |
Publication date | 25 February 2020 |
| Publication place | United States |
| Media type | Print (hardback) |
| Pages | 480 |
| ISBN | 9781400069606 |
| Preceded by | TransAtlantic |
Plot
editThe story follows two real life figures: Rami Elhanan, an Israeli graphic designer, and Bassam Aramin, a Palestinian scholar who, when he was 17, had been sentenced to a 7 year term of imprisonment for throwing stones at Israeli soldiers. Consisting of 1001 short sections, the two central figures bond over the violent deaths of their respective daughters. The 14 year old Smadar Elhanan was one of 5 people killed in 1997 as a result of a Hamas suicide bombing attack along the pedestrian mall of Ben Yehuda Street. Abir Aramin, aged 10, died from a gunshot wound to the head fired by an Israeli Border policeman, while she was returning home from school in 'Anata in 2007.
Reviews
editReviews for the book have been generally positive. Charles Finch in The Washington Post described the book as "a loving, thoughtful, grueling novel.[1] Shoiab Alam, writing in The Daily Star, hailed the novel as "a masterful and timely literary response to [the] region's neverending horrors."[2] However, the international best-selling Palestinian-American writer Susan Abulhawa calls it "Another colonialist misstep in commercial publishing" that "mystifies the colonisation of Palestine as a ‘complicated conflict’ between two equal sides".[3]
Awards
edit| Year | Award | Category | Result | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | Booker Prize | — | Longlisted | [4][5] |
| Prix du Meilleur Livre Étranger | Novel | Won | [6] | |
| Prix Médicis | étranger | Shortlisted | [7] | |
| 2021 | Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence | Fiction | Longlisted | [8] |
| Dalkey Literary Awards | — | Shortlisted | [9] |
References
edit- ^ Finch, Charles (10 March 2020). "TColum McCann's 'Apeirogon' takes an elliptical approach to the unending Middle East conflict". Retrieved 26 August 2020.
- ^ Alam, Shoiab (May 20, 2021). "Fatherhood, loss, and healing in Colum McCann's 'Apeirogon'". The Daily Star. Archived from the original on 2021-05-29. Retrieved 2021-06-20.
- ^ Abulhawa, Susan. "Apeirogon: Another colonialist misstep in commercial publishing". www.aljazeera.com. Retrieved 2022-02-18.
- ^ Doyle, Martin. "Booker Prize 2020: Colum McCann on longlist heavy with debuts and US authors". The Irish Times.
- ^ "Apeirogon | The Booker Prizes". thebookerprizes.com. 25 February 2020.
- ^ Chevilley, Philippe; Lesniak, Isabelle (4 December 2020). "Prix littéraires étrangers : le palmarès des Echos". Les Echos (in French). Retrieved 7 July 2022.
- ^ "Prix Médicis : Éric Reinhardt, Camille de Toledo et Hervé Le Tellier dans la deuxième sélection, Emmanuel Carrère n'y figure plus". France Info (in French). 3 October 2020. Retrieved 24 November 2020.
- ^ "2021 Winners". Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence. 18 October 2020. Retrieved January 12, 2021.
- ^ "Novel Of the Year Award Shortlist 2021". Zurich Ireland. 19 April 2021. Retrieved 5 May 2021.
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