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Several months later, she realized that she was
homesick for a place she had never been before: while
watching CNN reports from Jerusalem at the outbreak of
the Gulf War, she was struck with an awareness that "the
Israelis on the streets ... all felt familiar. They
looked and dressed like me and my friends, were the same
age, had the same verbal intonations as they spoke."
Shortly thereafter, she visited Israel for the first
time. Not long after her visit, she packed eight
cardboard boxes, left her job, and took her young
daughter Eliza with her to Jerusalem, for what she
imagined would be forever.
The story that
follows, Coming Home to Jerusalem, is a
tightly plotted play in a "theatre of
incongruous, gruff, sexy, close-minded,
religious, secular, cruel, funny, and excitable
characters." Along the way, Orange offers plenty
of insight on the political and religious
conflicts that dominated Jerusalem's life during
her time there. But the real strength of this
book is its sprawling constellation of character
studies of Holocaust survivors, famous writers,
failed artists, politically elite people, and a
cab driver with whom Orange falls in love.
Coming Home to Jerusalem is essentially a
travelogue, and it does what good travel writing
should--it makes you want to go. |
