Motti

A drunken driver. A woman is run over. This nightmare scenario is the hub of Asaf Schurr`s new book. Next to Menachem, the driver, sits his close friend Motti. But when the police arrive, Motti suddenly decides to take the blame for the woman`s death.  Menachem is stunned by the gesture but lets his friend sacrifice himself. Then the two friends go their separate ways – Menachem back home to his family, and Motti, always a loner, to prison. Despite these dramatic events, the tone of the novel is restrained. Motti almost never thinks about the sacrifice he has made, and Menachem returns to his life without a second thought.

On the other hand, the novel does dwell at length on the relationship people have with their pets. Motti, seemingly unemotional about human beings, finds the separation from his dog, Laika – named after the first space dog – almost unbearable. When Menachem, who is taking care of Laika, loses her, Motti cannot forgive him and the intensity of his feelings emerges when he describes his terrible pain at her loss.
Motti explores the gap between the protagonist`s personality and his extraordinary deed, and offers us a fascinating portrait of his closed, introverted world.