Waking Lions

Ayelet Gunnar-Goshen has written an intriguing, yet disquieting novel that makes us look at our feelings of self importance, prejudice and inner moral fiber.  It makes the reader think, what would I do in this situation?

Eitan Green is a neurosurgeon, who has relocated from a prestigious Tel Aviv hospital because of a disagreement with the head doctor.  Ironically it is Eitan’s ethical conscience that leads to his transfer to the outpost of a hospital in Beersheba.  One night shortly after transferring, still angry at this change in his career plans, he is driving through the desert on his way home from work. When he  takes his eyes off the road for a moment and hits a man walking along the side of the road.  In a moment of panic, as he gets out and looks at the man laying on the road, he makes a choice to save the life he knows, with his wife and two young sons, leaving the scene of the accident.

Seen only by the widow, Sikrit, who then comes and blackmails the doctor not for money but for medical care for the people who live in the Eritrean neighborhood of illegal immigrants from northeast Africa.

At first Eitan sees all these sick and injured illegals as one and the same, but over time he grows to realize his prejudice and see not only the patients but Sikrit for who they are beyond their skin color.

His wife, ironically, is the police detective assigned to the case of the hit and run driver.  As the story unfolds there is a sense of suspense that I found unnerving.  It kept me on the edge of my seat, as I waited for the happy family life that Eitan and his wife, Liat have built with their young sons to unravel.

This is a psychological tale of suspense that examines the refugee crisis, through a collision of cultures.  Every character, as the plot reveals, has a complicated relationship to the story.  No one is completely innocent.  

This novel explores a side of Israel society little talked about in the west.  This is a novel of raw disturbing exploration of the high price of walking away.  It could be from the scene of an accident or from the crisis of prejudice in Israel or in America.