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A review by fa_biene
Apeirogon by Colum McCann
5.0
Yet another brilliant novel by my favorite writer, Colum McCann.
The novel's title, "Apeirogon," refers to a geometric shape: a polygon with an infinite number of sides. Like its namesake, the novel provides a kaleidoscopic view of the conflict between Palestine and Israel. At the center of the story are two fathers, Bassam and Rami, who each have lost a daughter in the conflict. As the novel progresses, we learn more about their stories and how their tragic losses led to their joint activism for peace. (The two men exist in the real world.)
What makes this novel especially remarkable is its non-linear storytelling. It does not simplify or over-explain; rather, it is told in 1,001 short vignettes—sometimes just a sentence or two, sometimes a couple of pages long. Each vignette focuses on something different: birds, a bullet, the story of a Palestinian, a city, and so on, echoing and evoking one another. You'll move from migrating birds to the tragic death of a child, and get a perfect description of Philippe Petit's tightrope walk over the Hinnom valley.
Especially in these current times of war and an increasing refusal to allow complexity, this novel's kaleidoscope of 1,001 small vignettes is a thought-provokin, touching, and stunning read.
To give you just one example why I LOVE Cann's prose:
Forty-eight years old, he moves through the dark with a slight limp, a cigarette cupped in the well of his hand. He is thin, slim, fit. His limp imprints him into the world: otherwise he might slip through almost unnoticed. Still, an agility lurks underneath, a wiry surprise, as if he might burst away from the limp at any moment and leave it abandoned behind him.