The Liberated Bride
Mood:  on fire
Topic: Books
A.B. Yehoshua has presented in his book The Liberated Bride a glimpse into the life of an Israeli Jew, a university professor by name of Yochanan Rivlin, and his judicial wife Hagit. The synopsis of the book is multi-veined, but summarized as a quest for freedom that is gained in attaining truth. Ironically, it is often the hunt for truth that binds Rivlin, and, it would seem, the Middle East itself, in self-imposed mental imprisonment.

I'm poised now at an impass; in one direction, I could easily turn this blog entry into a glowing book review, as I believe I have just finished the most intelligent and deeply meaningful work of fiction I have ever read. In the other, it is so tempting to spare you, Dear Readers, the boredom of reading praise for a book you likely have not yet read yourselves, and to turn this into a parable about our human condition - equally boring, no doubt.

And so I will offer you this: I, too, have a thirst for truth so compelling that it will often pull me into doing or saying things that not only cause chasms in my human relationships, but can blind me from the truth itself. Specifically? I can't let things go - you know, opinions, arguments, what have you - until I have hashed out the details before my enemies with such thoroughness as to have soaked them in my own brain fluid. Perhaps you've noticed. Understatement is not my stronghold. Yet, after a book that steeps itself in the land of Arab/Jew conflict, it occurs to me that a little understatement could go a lot farther than hashing the hell out of one side's perceived truth.

Peace, y'all. Shalom. And thanks, Mr. Yehoshua, for your enlightening tale.