I was deeply engaged with this novel, translated from the original Hebrew, until I got to the unsatisfying and somewhat perplexing last chapter. I have a theory on it, but I'm not sure if I'm right about my conclusion.
Yaakov Fein, a successful middle-aged Israeli businessman and former army officer living in Tel Aviv, travels to Szydowce, Poland, the small village where his parents lived before World War II, and who managed to flee when most of their relatives and friends were murdered by the Nazis, in particularly horrific circumstances. He's been feeling restless and alienated lately, and having an interior conversation about his distant relationship with his parents, who have passed on. Yaakov's wife, Rivka, and his grown daughters are skeptical, even hostile, towards his wish to see where his ancestors lived. The marriage is tense, and the daughters are aligned with their mother.
Nevertheless, he flies to Warsaw, takes a train to Krakow, where he spends a few days seeking out the remnants of the former Jewish community, and enjoys the European atmosphere, which is so different from Tel Aviv. A taxi driver takes him the rest of the way. There, he boards with Magda, an attractive but lonely widow, and her adult daughter Maria, who has emotional and mental impairments.
The village is small, and is the hub for the many farmers who live in the vicinity. There is a grocery, a tavern, and a few other businesses. No Jews remain, nor does Yaakov immediately notice any sign of their former residence.
Magda also has a small farm, including cows and other livestock. She puts Yaakov up in her pleasant home, where she serves him homemade meals of foods made of the produce of her garden, and the milk of her cows. They talk, and Yaakov learns that she knew members of his family when she was a child. Her stories about his family helps bring them to life, and the two of them grow close, and passionate, before long. Yaakov dreams vivid, complicated dreams of his parents and his lost relatives.
While Magda works on her farm chores, Yaakov walks around the village, seeking out whatever else he can learn about his murdered relatives and the fate of all the village's Jews. At first the villagers are pleasant enough, though guarded, but then Yaakov learns that many of the paving stones in the center of the village are made from the broken headstones of the murdered Jews, including the visible remnants of that of his great-grandfather. Tensions rise when Yaakov expresses a desire to pay for the stones to be removed and be shipped to Tel Aviv. He makes an offer. The hidden resentment and anti-Jewish attitudes of the villagers come to the forefront when the mayor, as their representative, asks for an exorbitant sum, and Yaakov refuses. Then, of course, the hate bubbles up.
It's different with Magda, but they both know that their liaison is temporary. After a week or so, Yaakov calls home, and his wife continues with her skepticism and criticism. When he calls next, she tells them that their younger daughter has been hospitalized and is having tests. With this news, and the hostility that has surfaced in the town, he knows he must return home. Magda understands and accepts the situation. She brings him to the Krakow train station in her wagon, pulled by her horses and they say their sad goodbyes. Yaakov returns to Warsaw, where he catches his plane home.
At this point, the book unravels. On the plane to Tel Aviv, Yaakov falls into conversation with another Israeli man, another businessman, as it turns out. Here's the question? Is Yaakov dreaming? Is the other man real, or is he Yaakov's father, or even a version of himself. Hmm...
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