Anat’s Day of Illumination
Aharon Megged’s twentieth book is a satire directed at what he calls “the Israeli oligarchy.” Orly is the 24-year-old daughter of a wealthy Israeli army family following the Lebanon War. The high point is her lavish wedding, attended by top army brass and political figures. But Orly soon abandons her husband and strikes out on her own. Through passages from Orly’s diary and her experimental prose, the novel shifts between past and present. The title’s Anat is a tragic heroine with whom the romantic Orly identifies as she seeks meaning in a society that seems to have lost its vision and direction.
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“ Everyone gets stung by Megged's satire: the army and business, writers, kibbutzniks who go abroad to make money... This time Megged has addressed his social criticism to urban pretentiousness and the nouveau riche. ”
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“ A bitterly honest book. Megged's novel mercilessly attacks that aspect of Israel which focuses on the sources of power and influence. Orly's empty life is about the futility of things when they are stripped of vision and soul.”