by עמוס עוז
First published 2015
At kibbutz Mezudat Ram, the daily rhythm feels like any small provincial town. One part tedium, two parts gossip fill the hours between work and sleep. Unknown enemies fire shots through the darkness, but the real danger comes from within the community itself. Adultery spreads through whispered conversations. Malicious rumors poison relationships between neighbors who have lived side by side for decades. Restless young people, trapped between idealism and reality, turn to petty destruction. The external threats that should unite the kibbutz members pale beside the corrosive forces eating away at their shared dream. Oz captures a community where the greatest enemies may not be the ones shooting from beyond the fence, but the impulses that turn friends into adversaries and transform a utopian experiment into something far more ordinary and human.
Genres: fiction, drama, literary-fiction, contemporary
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, found-family
Setting: Israel, Kibbutz Mezudat Ram
Period: 20th-century
352 pages · Paperback · Feltrinelli