The Confessions of Noa Weber: A Novel - Softcover

Hareven, Gail

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1933633689 ISBN 13: 9781933633688

Publisher: Melville House, 2009

Synopsis

Acclaimed author Noa Weber has a successful “feminist” life: a strong career, a wonderful daughter she raised alone, and she is a recognized and respected cultural figure. Yet her interior life is bound by her obsessive love for one man—Alek, a Russian émigré and the father of her child, who has drifted in and out of her life.

Trying to understand—as well as free herself from—this lifelong obsession, Noa turns her pen on herself, and with relentless honesty dissects her life. Against the evocative setting of turbulent, modernday Israel, this examination becomes a quest to transform irrational desire into a greater, transcendent understanding of love.

The Confessions of Noa Weber introduces a startlingly talented writer in a rich tale that illuminates the desires, yearnings, and complexities of life in Israel.

About this title

About the Author:

Gail Hareven is one of Israel’s leading writers; the author of five novels, three story collections, plays, nonfiction, and children’s books; and the winner of the prestigious Sapir Prize for Literature. She teaches writing and feminist theory in Jerusalem. This is her first book translated into English.

From Publishers Weekly:

Noa Weber is the complex narrator of Hareven's moving love story, the first of her works to be translated into English. In 1972, Noa is wrapping up her final exams and preparing to be drafted into the Israeli army when she meets a Russian student named Alek. They promptly sleep together, and Noa is transfixed by her paramour. She's helpless to resist her compulsive love and sexual addiction for Alek, and fantasizes about marrying him, even though she claims he doesn't love her. In fact, her love is so strong, it remains unwavering throughout various life changes and occupations—the birth of her daughter, Hagar; a stint in law school; and a career as an author of feminist thrillers—causing Noa to wonder if her love isn't part of some larger yearning. She's a likable character, and Hareven pulls off the difficult task of allowing the reader to evaluate Noa and Alek's relationship from both inside it and outside of it. This contemplative inquiry into the nature of love speaks across cultures and introduces a compelling new Israeli voice to English-speaking readers. (Feb.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

About this edition

• Publisher: Melville House
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 1933633689
• ISBN 13: 9781933633688
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 320