Amram
Amram and Avichai`s lives revolve around their love for a woman – for Amram, it is Tikva, his motherless daughter, and for Avichai, his wife Ella who gets pregnant through a sperm donation because Avichai is infertile. Yet in this unique novel, word and gestures of love are replaced by black masks, street cats, crushed bones and trails of blood, as love drives the two men through the city to wreak havoc.
The reason for this is only clarified slowly: Avichai is convinced that he is creating a safer world for the woman he loves, Amram wants to use the money he earns from these missions to make her future secure. Thus the two protagonists lead a double life: by day, they are ordinary people, bored and obedient clerks; by night they vent their rage and carry out summary justice on rapists, drug dealers and other criminals. In the midst of this, Amram finds Tikva`s new boyfriend Eytan in her bed and is outraged. Avichai is also obsessed with him, for Eytan`s looks and age match those of Ella`s sperm donor. The two men pursue Eytan, one of them runs him over and flees the scene of the crime. We do not know whether it is Amram or Avichai, but they meet again by the hospital bed of the dying victim. And there, in a fight that ends in yet another death, we see violence spinning out of control, and the link it creates between love and domination.
Winner of Bernstein Prize, 2007
Recipient of the Ministry of Culture Prize, 2007
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“ Asaf Schurr's first novel is extraordinary in its style and structure; this brilliant yet humble exposition of his fascinating literary ability leaves the reader in awe.”
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“ Amram is a brilliant and hypnotizing novel, distinct in its originality and audaciousness. ”
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“ One of the most interesting books in the literary landscape of late. ”