Roman Guttman is a successful Russian-born Israeli architect. He has a lovely 13-year-old daughter Anna and a nice home. But when he is injured in a suicide bombing at a bus stop, his life, and that of his daughter, begins to unravel quickly. The decapitated head of the bomber, Amir, seems to follow him now, and yet he and Amir are unable to communicate. Amir, stuck in a limbo which is not at all the paradise of flowing water and beautiful women he had anticipated, is forced to wander Tel Aviv and his home village near Bethlehem thinking about the past and unable to connect with those he has wounded or killed. Both men become obsessed with Dasha Cohen, a beautiful young woman who lies in a hopeless coma since the bombing. And while Roman drifts away from reality, Anna moves toward a dangerous new group of friends.
Well constructed, suspenseful, and very readable, this is also one of the bleakest books I've read in awhile. A substantial portion of the plot involves Roman's musings about Anna's mother, a refusenik and political prisoner who died shortly after Anna was born. She is a thoroughly unsympathetic character and I wish this portion of the book had been condensed. A good book, but I won't recommend it.
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