[ About Apeirogon ]
How do we continue living once we have lost our reason to live?
Rami and Bassam live in the city of Jerusalem – but exist worlds apart, divided by an age-old conflict. And yet they have one thing in common. Both are fathers; both are fathers of daughters – and both daughters are now lost.
When Rami and Bassam meet, and tell one another the story of their grief, the most unexpected thing of all happens: they become best of friends. And their stories become one story, a story with the power to heal – and the power to change the world.
[ My Review ]
Apeirogon by Colum McCann published in 2020 (the edition I read was published with Bloomsbury in 2021). There have been so many well deserved accolades for this extraordinary book, one that is now, unfortunately, more relevant than ever.
Bassam Aramin and Rami Elhanan are both fathers who have suffered terrible tragedies. Together, they have dedicated their lives working across the entrenched divide between their respective communities of Palestine and Israel, always hopeful that someday they will witness peace. With permission from both men, Colum McCann has written their story, one that he himself describes as a ‘hybrid novel with invention at its core‘.
In 1997 Rami Elhanan’s daughter, Smadar, was killed by Palestinian suicide bombers. In 2007 Bassam Aramin’s daughter, Abir, was shot by the Israeli military and died from her injuries days later. Both are now involved with The Parents Circle – Families Forum, a joint Israeli-Palestinian organisation for bereaved families. Together they travel to events across the globe sharing their personal stories, while also promoting their message of peace and reconciliation as the only way forward.
Colum McCann delves into their lives, combining fascinating insights and differing perspectives, with intriguing snippets of historical events, all incredibly woven through this magnificent book. I was left gobsmacked on multiple occasions, literally stopped in my tracks, unable to process fully what I was reading. The magnitude of research that has gone into this phenomenal piece of work is staggering, sweeping the reader across borders and centuries.
Why the title? An apeirogon is a mathematical term used to describe ‘a shape with a countably infinite number of sides. The idea that this shape – and this novel – had an infinite number of sides was attractive to me because I knew this wasn’t a two-sided situation, that it wasn’t balanced…The title throws us off for a moment. It disrupts us a little. We have to step out of our realm of comfort.’ – Colum McCann, The Booker Prize
The book’s layout was inspired by the classic tale of One Thousand and One Nights, unfolding across 1001 sections/chapters of varying length. Experimental in its execution, Apeirogon does ask commitment from its reader which, in my case, was easily given, leaving me in awe of the skill of this master wordsmith.
Sensitivity and compassion come to mind when describing Colum McCann’s handling of this remarkable story. Bassam and Rami trusted McCann and he lived up that trust with an ambitious and powerful tale that carries so much weight. Complex, vital and daring, Apeirogon is an exquisite telling of this very human story of grief and loss, and of a friendship that has continued to strengthen over the decades, against all the odds.
[ Bio ]
Colum McCann is the Dublin-born author of thirteen books. He has won numerous international honours including the U.S National Book Award and an Oscar. His work has been published in over 40 languages. He is the co-founder of Narrative 4, a global non-profit that uses story telling to build community engagement in schools around the world.
