A Pigeon and a Boy, the First Two Chapters

            I have started my outside reading with a book titled A Pigeon and a Boy.  It is a novel written by Meir Shalev, and originally published in Hebrew as Yona V’naar in 2006.  It was translated into English and published in the United States in 2007.

                  Chapter one starts out with an old man describing a battle that he was in, and an old pigeon raiser that let a pigeon go free right before dying in the battle.  We learn that the author is listening to the story; he is a travel guide, leading a group of tourists (bird watchers, I believe) in modern Israel.  The book is addressed to his mother, whom he appears to be writing a letter to about his experiences.  The first chapter is somewhat detached from the second, and I have not figured out the exact relationship between the author, the old man telling the story, and the pigeon raiser.  We also get a glimpse in this chapter into the author’s failing marriage.

                  Chapter two takes us back to the author’s childhood, and tells us about his experiences as he grows up in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.  His father, whom he affectionately calls Yordad (Your Dad), is a well-known pediatrician.   He has a brother named Benjamin, whom he is always jealous of because of his abilities.  His mother’s name is Raya, and she is an independent-minded woman.  The author is obviously very attached to both his parents, but especially his mother, and constantly details exactly how he saw or heard his mother react in any given situation.  He relates many stories of his childhood, including their move from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, a move that seemed to break his mother’s heart.  The second chapter is sad, though, as it chronicles how his parents drifted apart, and eventually his mother leaves his father and moves to a different part of town.  The chapter continues to relate different stories and memories, all the way until the author and his brother are married and his mother dies at a young age.

                  I can’t wait to see what happens in the next chapters… so far, the author brings in several different “trails,” and I can’t wait to see how he brings them all together!