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The loneliness, the thoughts, the mental reckoning, the desire to escape: "nomads" hits these times

Stories about the IDF, battle shock and dealing with post-liberation crises are no stranger to us - in fact, it's a narrative that serves generations of writers, but in Roni Shakedi's debut novel there is something else.

• Roni Shakedi

David Rosenthal

I found myself connecting to Noa and Adam. Connecting and angry - about her, about him and especially about both of them. There is something condescending and boisterous about a man who is deep in the fifth decade of his life angry at two discharged soldiers ("What do you understand at all?", "How can you not see the warning lights?"), But that is the goal

A few weeks ago, a storm broke out on Twitter, when a number of women complained about a popular tweet that he was performing an operation called Stealthing - removing the condom without consent during intercourse. This phenomenon is prevalent, it turns out, among quite a few men, and moves on the very thin line between disagreement and rape, as long as there is indeed such a line, a small moment that can mark a bad turn in the life of the victim of the scam.

Stealth is also a part of Noa, the protagonist of "Nomads", Roni Shakedi's debut novel, and although it is not the main motif in the book, it is definitely one of the main nodes in it. Noa's story begins in August 2014, the peak days of Operation Resilient Cliff. She, a casualty officer in the city officer who has just experienced a painful breakup, meets Adam, a battle shocked who refuses to return to base after being hospitalized in rehabilitation. Both carry heavy loads, and as can be deduced from the outset, this journey will not be easy for them down the road. Loaded enough, there are more bumps waiting for both.

Stories about the IDF, battle shock and dealing with post-liberation crises are no stranger to us - in fact, it is a narrative that serves generations of writers, but in "Nomads" there is something else. Perhaps this is one of the first times we are introduced to battle shock. Millennials are no longer the musings in "Black and White" from the Yom Kippur War or Operation Peace of the Galilee, but painful IDF experiences of the iPhone generation, of people who can not simply disappear while the sounds of WhatsApp emanate in the background.

It looks closer and feels more tangible, and one does not have to read the back cover, which states that the novel is based on a true story, to know that it is like that. Shakedi writes from her heart's blood a small story for which he is a world in its entirety. "The book was written in memory of the late Yedidya Kellerman," she wrote on the headstart page where she obtained funding for the book within a week, "a tank commander who was killed as an officer during his honeymoon with his beloved Kesem, and who until a moment earlier was still there, "He shares with us his stories of fighting from a solid cliff. This guy fascinated me. The modesty and simplicity with which he presented his heroic deeds will go with me forever."

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There are more bumps waiting. "Nomads" by Roni Shakedi (Photo: PR)

"Nomads" is not a masterpiece that will bring you down, but it is a true book. As trivial as it sounds, honesty is not a very common commodity in the world of literature. His language is simple (one could have used less of the word "fucking" which is, and only she, serves as the only curse in the whole book), his idea is known to chew - and yet, he is cool. Just cool.

The success of any novel depends on the degree of the reader's connection to the protagonists, and I certainly found myself connecting to Noa and Adam. Connects and gets angry - about her, about him and especially about both of them. There is something condescending and boisterous about a man who is deep in the fifth decade of his life angry at two discharged soldiers ("What do you understand anyway?", "How do you not see the warning lights?"), But that is the goal, to arouse emotion, and "nomads" Definitely does it.

Maybe this is also the period, for which "nomads" seem to have been written. In many ways Shakedi, who completed the writing of the book just before the corona burst into our lives, scored a bull. The loneliness, the thoughts, the mental reckoning, the desire to escape from everything and especially from yourself, all of these have always existed in some of us, maybe even most of us, but these feelings intensified starting in March. After all, even the prominence of the phenomenon of removing the condom Shakedi caught before it became popular in the Israeli network.

"Nomads" is a small novel that produces great emotions and conveys the sense of delusion from the protagonists to the reader. The feeling is that if the book had been a little richer in language, it would have risen to one level of quality, but when you consider that it is a debut novel, the flow and emotional connection make it a fluid commodity that you will not have a hard time embracing.

"Nomads" / Roni Shakedi. Niv Publishing, 179 pages.