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| Version 1 | Version 2 |
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| The People of Forever Are Not Afraid by Shani Boianjiu – review | The People of Forever Are Not Afraid by Shani Boianjiu – review |
| (about 1 month later) | |
| This unflinching debut novel depicts with depth and acuity the disorientating effects of fear on young minds. Set in northern Israel in a small town by the Lebanese border, its three main characters are also at a psychological border crossing: female schoolfriends Yael, Avishag and Lea are conscripted into the army on turning 18 and their usual concerns – love, friendship, family – are suddenly replaced by fear and violence as the political intrudes upon the personal. | This unflinching debut novel depicts with depth and acuity the disorientating effects of fear on young minds. Set in northern Israel in a small town by the Lebanese border, its three main characters are also at a psychological border crossing: female schoolfriends Yael, Avishag and Lea are conscripted into the army on turning 18 and their usual concerns – love, friendship, family – are suddenly replaced by fear and violence as the political intrudes upon the personal. |
| "Are you afraid to die?" the commanders ask, but it is life the girls dread. "Waking up every morning was a tragedy" for Lea, who is billeted to work at the checkpoint. Imagination is a source of unknown terrors yet also of escape and empathy as she invents the lives of Palestinian strangers. Yael tries to "scare away scares" when she sees news reports of a suicide bomb. "I am so scared I can't feel my fingertips," she confesses. Brutality is juxtaposed with tenderness; a mother brushes her daughter's hair before sending her to war. | "Are you afraid to die?" the commanders ask, but it is life the girls dread. "Waking up every morning was a tragedy" for Lea, who is billeted to work at the checkpoint. Imagination is a source of unknown terrors yet also of escape and empathy as she invents the lives of Palestinian strangers. Yael tries to "scare away scares" when she sees news reports of a suicide bomb. "I am so scared I can't feel my fingertips," she confesses. Brutality is juxtaposed with tenderness; a mother brushes her daughter's hair before sending her to war. |
| The story begins when the schoolgirls have almost finished studying "all of Israeli history. We finished the history of the world in 10th grade". Yet this narrative's power lies in its revelation of hidden histories, the way it opens up the inner emotional worlds of its characters beyond news headlines. | The story begins when the schoolgirls have almost finished studying "all of Israeli history. We finished the history of the world in 10th grade". Yet this narrative's power lies in its revelation of hidden histories, the way it opens up the inner emotional worlds of its characters beyond news headlines. |
| The girls are often lost for words, but the author successfully finds a voice to express the dehumanising horror of warfare in this fragmented plot held together with a passionate, poetic eloquence. | The girls are often lost for words, but the author successfully finds a voice to express the dehumanising horror of warfare in this fragmented plot held together with a passionate, poetic eloquence. |
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