Look for Me

June 21, 2004
This follow-up to Ravel's much-admired Ten Thousand Lovers
(2003) strikes many of the same notes as the previous novel, albeit with lesser force and resonance. Once again, love is at stake against the backdrop of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, as an impetuous young woman is separated from her older lover by violence and politics. Dana Hillman has been searching for her husband, Daniel, for 11 years, ever since he was horribly burned in an Israeli Army accident and subsequently disappeared. Believing him to still be alive, she searches for clues and takes out full-page ads in the newspapers asking him to return. To pay the bills, she writes romance novels in English. She also joins with other members of the Israeli left at demonstrations and engages in lukewarm affairs with fellow protestors Beatrice and Rafi. In Ten Thousand Lovers,
Ravel—a Canadian who grew up in Israel—seamlessly wove Israeli culture and politics with details of the everyday lives of both Jews and Arabs. This time around, she achieves a less perfect union of ideas, plot and character; Dana's idealized, sometimes whiny search for Daniel is hard to applaud, and its resolution feels hurried and improbable. This is the second of three planned novels about war and its impact on the region, leaving open the possibility that Ravel will return to form in the next installment. Agent, Richard Curtis.

July 1, 2004
Like its predecessor, Ten Thousand Lovers, this arresting second novel in a trilogy unfolds in Israel, where the relative comforts of urban life stand in stark contrast with the dangers of settlements and Palestinian communities. Narrator Dana is a thirtysomething photographer, peace activist, and "widow." Her beloved husband, Daniel, vanished 11 years ago after suffering serious burns in an accident during army reserve duty, and Dana has been searching for him ever since. When she finally discovers his address, though, she has begun to forge a new life, and so, bound to suffer either way, she must choose between loyalties. Like Israel itself, Dana is caught in a double bind, victim to irreconcilable loves and duties. Born on a kibbutz, peace worker Ravel earned a Ph.D. in Jewish studies from McGill University, and it's no surprise that the searing immanence of her personal experience and her polished prose converge to make a truly compelling book. Recommended for larger public libraries and academic collections carrying works by writers like A.B. Yehoshua.-Lynne F. Maxwell, Villanova Univ. Sch. of Law Lib., PA

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