基本信息出版社：Back Bay Books
页码：264 页
出版日期：2005年10月
ISBN：031610664X
International Standard Book Number：031610664X
条形码：9780316106641
EAN：9780316106641
装帧：平装
正文语种：英语
内容简介 DESCRIPTION: A fictional Jarhead--a novel that artfully and viscerally conveys the emotional toll of contemporary warfare's random terror. In scenes that flicker with the restless intensity of an unguarded flame, we enter the life of a young American member of the Israeli Defense Force. Patrolling the streets of Gaza in the dead of night, playing a high-stakes off-duty game of Risk with his fellow soldiers, making passionate love to the wife of his best friend, Nathan Falk lives each moment with an increasing awareness of the arbitrary boundary between life and death. As MATCHES uncoils its searing tale of betrayal and guilt in love and war, the novel offers a revealing portrait of the damage war does to the soul of a man.
作者简介 Alan Kaufman is the author of the critically acclaimed memoir Jew Boy and a book of poetry, Who Are We? He is the editor of The Outlaw Bible of American Poetry. He lives in San Francisco.
专业书评 From Publishers Weekly
The title is an Israeli army term for a soldier, or one who "strikes, burns, and dies." Nathan Falk, an American-born Jew and the son of a Holocaust survivor, arrives in Israel seeking "for once, to be generally human, immersed in a kinky-haired majority"—and to do the three years of regular military service and subsequent one-month-a-year reserve duty required of every Israeli male. The narrative falls into 13 Israel Defense Forces patrol vignettes, centered by one novella-size chapter that follows Falk's affair with his best friend's alcoholic girlfriend, along with the honor killing of a 17-year-old Bedouin girl by a man in Falk's (very multi-culti) unit. Throughout, Kaufman (Jew Boy), an American Jew who did multiple IDF tours and now lives in San Francisco, sketches the fault lines of Israeli society as heightened by the highly charged, often violent patrols in the West Bank and Gaza: Sephardic vs. Ashkenazi; native vs. emigré; Arab vs. Jew. The political turmoil, ruined relationships, coiled anger and psychological damage the patrols leave in their wake is made vivid—and personal—at every turn, as are IDF procedures and moments of unexpected cooperation across borders. As a novel, it's baggy, but the result gives readers a fascinating look at the story behind the numbing newspaper tallies. (Oct. 24)
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From Booklist
Nathan Falk is an American expatriate serving in the Israeli Defense Force (IDF). His unit is repeatedly called up to serve in the West Bank and Gaza. The soldiers search for terrorists in squalid refugee camps and villages, then return to their camp to chain-smoke, drink muddy coffee, and play high-stakes games of Risk. When on leave, Nathan carries on a passionate affair with his best friend's wife. The author, who has served in the IDF, beautifully captures the absurdity of the war and the political situation in the Middle East. His vivid portrayal of nighttime patrols, conversations with fellow soldiers, and relationships with Bedouin trackers gives readers a taste of life on the edge. It also shows how war damages a man's soul. This is Catch-22 without the comic relief, a stunning tale of betrayal, guilt, love, and war. Barbara Bibel
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