Eshkol Nevo’s first novel, Homesick, is the engrossing, interwoven story of an apartment community, told from about 8 different first-person perspectives, and a third-person omniscient narrator, as well. The novel was awarded the Book Publishers Association Gold Prize (2005), among other prizes. It was translated by Sondra Silverstein and published in English in 2009. Host Marcela Sulak reads two passages from Homesick on today’s episode.

Here is an excerpt from the beginning of the story:

“The man they asked at Doga made a mistake, and though they’d turned the right number of corners, Amir and Noa didn’t find the apartment that was for rent, but ended up instead in a house of mourners. A large woman wept endlessly. Other women passed around trays of pastries and tea. No one noticed Noa and Amir, but they didn’t feel right about leaving once they were there. Squeezed into a corner of the sofa, they listened to stories about the son killed in Lebanon and sneaked glances at their watches, wanting to be gone. Amir clasped his hands and thought: this is my chance to be really sad. Here I can stop trying to be happy and let the black squid ink of sadness flow through me freely. Noa played with her hair and thought, I have to pee. Funny how grief makes people want to eat.

“An hour later they stood up, nodded to the large weeping woman, made their way past knees and chairs to the door and went to find the apartment they’d been looking for. But their passion in the search was gone, and they didn’t feel the same urgency any more.”

Text:
Homesick by Nevo Eshkol. Translated by Sondra Silverstein. Vintage Books, 2009.

Music:
The Night Brings The Morning by The Bridge Project
Nikriz Peşrev by Derya Türkan