Apeirogon: A Novel by Colum McCann

An apeirogon is a polygon with an infinite number of sides. Similarly, Apeirogon, is a ‘documentary novel’, as McCann defines it, with an infinite number of stories.  The essential narrative at its core is the profound grief of two fathers, Rami Elhanan, an Israeli Jew and Bassam Aramin a Palestinian Muslim, whose young daughters were senselessly killed: Abir, 10, shot by an 18 year old Israeli soldier in 1997 and Smadar, 13, by a Palestinian suicide bomber in 2007. Surrounding this real-life account of Bassam and Rami are tales that sometimes complete and other times distract from the raw emotion of the families in this unending Israeli-Palestinian conflict, in a world ‘gone mad with violence’. United in their loss, they joined the Parents’ Circle of grieving parents at home and together they travel the world to tell their story.

Called ‘odd’, dazzling’, an ‘empathy engine’, ‘loving, thoughtful, grueling’ by critics, Apeirogonconsists of 1001 Cantos or paragraphs of all lengths suggesting One Thousand and One Nights, and Scheherazade’s story-telling to ward off death. McCann stresses that this is ‘not a political book’ but hopes that the stories will “reach some who are agents of change.” Apeirogondelves deeply into the complicated Middle East world that caused these two young girls’ deaths and, the fathers hope “gives some sense to senseless killings…we want to use our grief as a weapon for peace.” They speak all over the world in order to help others understand that “the killers are also victims…. We are brainwashing our children.”   Some of the most moving parts are the fathers’ first-person accounts of their lives before, during and after the killings.   

Most of the readers in our HILR (Harvard Institute for Learning in Retirement) book club loved the stories that include: Mitterand’s last meal; Philippe Petit’s high wire walk from Palestine to Israel; a mad missionary; ballistics studies; migrating birds; Senator George Mitchell in the Northern Ireland peace talks; correspondence between Freud and Einstein; water clocks and more. Some of these add to the main narrative but, in my opinion, more often distract from the raw emotion of the book. This is a minority view. Julie Orringer in the New York Timesnoted: “Throughout the novel, McCann deftly connects these micro-narratives… they are complex stuff of life in Israel.” Charles Finch in the Washington Post wrote that, although the drawbacks to the stories are obscurity and lack of momentum, they “allow the author to introduce various ideas and facts without the awkward carpentry that can make traditional novels about politics or history seem strained.” 

In spite of several reservations, I still recommend Apeirogonfor anyone who wants to delve more deeply into the complexity that is the Israeli-Palestinian conflict through the lives of  Bassam and Rami as they forever relive their daughters’ senseless deaths and put their heartaches to work for peace. For more information on Bassam, Rami, and McCann check out this informative and moving interview of Colum McCann by Claire Messud followed by a panel discussion with Bassam and Rami at WBUR Cityspace, sponsored by Porter Square Books. 

https://www.wbur.org/events/546228/colum-mccann-in-conversation-with-claire-messud-apeirogon

Jane Hilburt Davis