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A Pigeon and a Boy: A Novel | 
 enlarge | Author: Meir Shalev
Creator: Evan Fallenberg
Publisher: Schocken
Category: Book
List Price: $25.00
Buy New: $14.07
You Save: $10.93 (44%)
New (29) Used (7) Collectible (1) from $12.99
Avg. Customer Rating:  9 reviews
Sales Rank: 8136
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 320
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.3
Dimensions (in): 9.3 x 5.9 x 1.4
ISBN: 0805242511
Dewey Decimal Number: 892.436
EAN: 9780805242515
ASIN: 0805242511
Publication Date: October 16, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
From the internationally acclaimed Israeli writer Meir Shalev comes a mesmerizing novel of two love stories, separated by half a century but connected by one enchanting act of devotion.
During the 1948 War of Independence--a time when pigeons are still used to deliver battlefield messages--a gifted young pigeon handler is mortally wounded. In the moments before his death, he dispatches one last pigeon. The bird is carrying his extraordinary gift to the girl he has loved since adolescence. Intertwined with this story is the contemporary tale of Yair Mendelsohn, who has his own legacy from the 1948 war. Yair is a tour guidespecializing in bird-watching trips who, in middle age, falls in love again with a childhood girlfriend. His growing passion for her, along with a gift from his mother on her deathbed, becomes the key to a life he thought no longer possible.
Unforgettable in both its particulars and its sweep, A Pigeon and A Boy is a tale of lovers then and now--of how deeply we love, of what home is, and why we, like pigeons trained to fly in one direction only, must eventually return to it. In a voice that is at once playful, wise, and altogether beguiling, Meir Shalev tells a story as universal as war and as intimate as a winged declaration of love.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 4 more reviews...
 Love does not survive life! July 21, 2008
A less than satisfactory read. While it tries to glorify love, and the power of love, in the end what does love mean . . nothing. Perhaps that is the real message, that love does not survive life.
The characters seem to meander through the narrative without cogent purpose. The protagonist, Yair, appears to lake will or conviction other than his desire for his own home. His wife has such different priorities that it is just not credible that she would marry him. His lover comes and goes, seemingly without a life of her own, but not really part of his life either. Her father is a caricature, and a boring one at that. The insistence of the Baby and the people around him that home must be the seat of love (or the pigeons will not return there) is repeated so often that it fades into irrelevance.
The one worthwhile aspect of the book is the feeling for the country. These people live in almost constant terror of a ubiquitous enemy. And why? They appear to be interested in a life, a fulfilling life, like any one else, and they are not allowed that luxury. But what does it all mean in the author's view. None of it means anything, apparently written with MacBeth in mind . . signifying nothing . . .
 Sorry to dampen the general enthusiam July 9, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
I read the book in the original Hebrew, which is far superior in its poetic qualities, rhythm, and precision to the sometime careless and awkward English translation. Of course, translation always diminishes the original, but this one seems to do so more than other translations I've read of Hebrew novels.
But even reading this novel in the original could not, in my view, hide its flaws. Indeed, there is something haunting and mystical in the novel, which sustains the reader's interest, and some of the characters--particularly Yair's mother--are drawn with deft and assured strokes. The theme of the search for home, central in the novel, also has a universal appeal. However, as soon as novel reaches its climax, which involves the pigeon, its energy seems to be spent. And there are many pages still to read, and in spite of a few glorious love scenes, they become tediously laborious and at times even incomprehensible. It is as if the writer didn't know what to do with the rest of the novel and couldn't make up his mind about the characters' motivations.
 Pure Poetry May 13, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
A friend from Israel notified me that this book had just been translated from the Hebrew, a friend I trust with literary choices. I will forever be in her debt. This is a moving story, actually two stories. The boy with the pigeon, known as Baby is introduced to the training and "dispatching" of homing pigeons by the Palmach during Israels' fight for independence. The love the boy has for the pigeons is eventually secondary to the love for a girl, another handler of homing pigeons. The story is narrated by Yair, a tour guide whose own story of love and growth is yet one more wonderful thing to read. Every character in this book is drawn with love and attention to the smallest virtue and flaw. Shalev's prose is what I always hoped to find in poetry. His use of personification of houses makes them come alive as Yair builds a house of his own from which he becomes a mensch.
Yair's mother sums up what is important when she says,"What does a person need?...not much: something sweet to eat, and a story to tell, and time and space, and gladioluses in a vase, and two friends, and two hillttops, one on which to stand and the other upon which to gaze. And two eyes for watching the heavens and waiting." This is "a story to tell" and beautifully done it is.
A must! April 11, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This is one of the best books I have recently read . It is poetry in prose. The wealth of the language and the elegance of style are well reflected in this superb translation. The hardship of the period and the continuation of the life cycle are presented almost like in a thriller. Meir Shalev shows how thorough he is in his research by sharing with us all the details relating to the period and to the tools used for communicating. It is a pure and idealistic love story that reflects the pure and idealistic love of the pioneers for the land of Israel.
It is literature at its best!
beautiful book March 25, 2008
A beautiful book- a love story and a book about living an engaged life. I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to be transported into another world. The imagery is gorgeous, the writing is poetic and the world of pigeonry is transportive.
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