Feathers

More about the book

A vibrant novel set in Jerusalem recounts the memories of a young man from a religious neighborhood who, with the help of his older friend Mordechai Leder, seeks to break free from the constraints of his upbringing. The story of their friendship ends tragically with Leder's suicide. Influenced by the utopian ideas of the philosopher Popper-Lynkeus, introduced to him by Leder, the young man serves in a burial unit during the Yom Kippur War. Death, which had been a constant presence in his childhood, manifests in grotesque and tragic events, taking on a new face through the war. The narrator loses the innocence of a naive child who once absorbed the world with wonder. From then on, everything he thinks and experiences is tinged with the colors of war. The backdrop is a vivid Jerusalem populated by eccentric characters, some of whom appeared in a previous novel, including the Ringel family celebrating Emperor Franz Joseph's birthday in 1959, the supposed communist Dr. Pele, and the grave digger Riklin with his macabre tendencies. Be’er masterfully intertwines characters, narrative layers, and historical and political events, sharpening the focus on the details.