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| Yehudit Hendel |
The Last Hamsin |
| Novel |
Tel Aviv, Hakibbutz Hameuchad/Siman Kriah, 1993. 220 pp. Previously entitled The Yard of Momo the Great, Am Oved, 1969
The Yard of Momo the Great, Am Oved, 1969.
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Shaul, a bachelor in his thirties, moves to a new home and in six hot summer weeks his world unravels. Alone in the country, shut inside his past horrors, Shaul is unable to steer his own life. He has an affair with Tamara while becoming obsessed with her husband.
Hendel’s basic premise is that a person alone cannot piece together the broken shards of his or her personality. Driven by memories and homesickness, Shaul needs male friendship to recover his life.
Crushed by guilt over her daughter's death, Tamara is unfocused, more concerned with her doll collection than her husband or lover. She fails to notice as the identities of the two blur, progressing to the point when it is unclear which one has spoken. Slowly, inexorably, the three move towards psychological disintegration and a violent ending.
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About the Book
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"On rereading this book, I discovered an outstanding psychological novel," wrote Dan Miron. Menahem Perry considers this book "a gem." He added, "With her fantastic realism, which combines restraint with restlessness, Hendel writes about people who live carelessly yet try to hold onto life." According to Yediot Aharonot, Hendel's "anti-heroes are astonishing...in their psychological complexity."
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