Dinner at the Center of the Earth

Nathan Englander, has written what I think is a very confusing novel.  I absolutely loved What Do You Think About When You Think About Anne Frank.  It is one of my all time favorite books ever.  But I was let down by this newest book.  I even listened to an interview hoping to like the book more and understand the thought process behind it.  Though I  did come away from the interview with a better understanding I cannot say it made the book more enjoyable to finish or one that I would recommend.

Dinner At The Center of The Earth is a complicated novel.  A story that keeps you thinking and working to keep the plot and characters straight in your mind as you are reading.  Also working through who all the characters represent and the historical references that discussed in this novel are important.

Like other Englander novels, these books are edgy with a sense of dark humor, and complexity.  Englander takes on topics that are controversial, taking chances that are courageous and provocative.  This time, in Dinner At The Center of The Earth,  Englander has brought us to Israel with a political thriller that explores the Israeli-Palestinian tensions and failed peace process.  We meet X, a jailer and Prisoner Z, an American spy for Israel who is accused of treason.   We follow the thoughts of the General, who is modeled on Ariel Sharon, caught in his own prison of unconsciousness.   His nurse, who is hoping he will wake up and finish what he started, is the mother of Prisoner Z’s guard.  In this novel, Englander works through his personal “optimistic pessimism or pessimistic optimism for
Israel - Palestine, his true heartbreak over the peace process falling apart.”