''Apeirogon'' is a novel by

Colum McCann Colum McCann is an Irish writer of literary fiction. He was born in Dublin, Ireland, and now lives in New York. He is a Thomas Hunter Writer in Residence at Hunter College, New York. McCann's work has been published in over 40 languages, and ...

, published in February 2020. The novel explores the conflict in the Middle East. It follows the story of two men who each lost a daughter. One is

Palestinian Palestinians ( ar, الفلسطينيون, ; he, פָלַסְטִינִים, ) or Palestinian people ( ar, الشعب الفلسطيني, label=none, ), also referred to as Palestinian Arabs ( ar, الفلسطينيين العرب, label=non ...

, the other

Israeli Israeli may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the State of Israel * Israelis, citizens or permanent residents of the State of Israel * Modern Hebrew, a language * ''Israeli'' (newspaper), published from 2006 to 2008 * Guni Israeli ...

Plot

The story follows two real life figures:

Rami Elhanan Rami Elhanan (; born c. 1950) is an Israeli graphic designer and peace activist. Early life Elhanan was born in Jerusalem and described himself as being a "sixth-generation Jerusalemite"; his father was a Holocaust survivor who made aliyah to ...

, an Israeli graphic designer, and Bassam Aramin, a Palestinian scholar and previous political prisoner. Consisting of 1001 short sections, the two central figures bond over the untimely deaths of their respective daughters.

Reviews

Reviews for the book have been generally positive. Charles Finch in ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

'' described the book as "a loving, thoughtful, grueling novel. Shoiab Alam, writing in '' The Daily Star'', hailed the novel as "a masterful and timely literary response to heregion's neverending horrors." However, the international best-selling Palestinian writer Susan Abulhawa calls it "Another colonialist misstep in commercial publishing" that "mystifies the colonisation of Palestine as a ‘complicated conflict’ between two equal sides".

Awards

* Longlist, 2020

Booker Prize The Booker Prize, formerly known as the Booker Prize for Fiction (1969–2001) and the Man Booker Prize (2002–2019), is a Literary award, literary prize awarded each year for the best novel written in English and published in the United King ...

* Longlist, 2021

Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction __NOTOC__ The Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction were established in 2012 to recognize the best fiction and nonfiction books for adult readers published in the U.S. in the previous year. They are named in honor of ni ...

* Won, 2020

Prix du Meilleur Livre Étranger The Prix du Meilleur Livre Étranger (Best Foreign Book Prize) is a French literary prize created in 1948. It is awarded yearly in two categories: Novel and Essay for books translated into French. Prix du Meilleur livre étranger — Novel *2020: ...

* Shortlist, 2020

Prix Médicis étranger Prix was an American power pop band formed in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1975 by Tommy Hoehn and Jon Tiven. The group ended up primarily as a studio project. Its recordings were produced by Tiven along with former Big Star member Chris Bell, who als ...

* Shortlist, 2021 Dalkey Literary Awards

References

2020 American novels Random House books Novels set during the Israeli–Palestinian conflict {{2020s-war-novel-stub