Lior Tirosh is a semi-successful author of pulp fiction, an inadvertent time traveler, and an ongoing source of disappointment to his father. Tirosh has returned to his homeland in East Africa. But Palestina—a Jewish state founded in the early 20th century—has grown dangerous. The government is building a vast border wall to keep out African refugees. Unrest in Ararat City is growing. And Tirosh’s childhood friend, trying to deliver a warning, has turned up dead in his hotel room. A state security officer has identified Tirosh as a suspect in a string of murders, and a rogue agent is stalking Tirosh through transdimensional rifts—possible futures that can only be prevented by avoiding the mistakes of the past. From the bestselling author of Central Station comes an extraordinary new novel recalling China Miéville and Michael Chabon, entertaining and subversive in equal measures.
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4/5 stars. This was not what I expected in a very good way.
I was under the impression this was simply an alt-history story where the Zionist Congress approved the plan to settle a Jewish homeland near Uganda instead of Palestine. And this is that novel - Tidhar writes excellent and fascinating world building to bring state of Palesntina and its version of world history to life.
But this also a story of multiversal world-hopping which reminded me of This is how you lose the Time War. At times, the prose could be intentionally confusing and vague, but did so show the blurring of realities.
At its heart, this story wants to grapple with the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians. Whilst I would have enjoyed a book just about the alt-history setting, what Tidhar does with this premise is really unique and impactful.
That being said, it doesn’t always work. By nature of its story parts were confusing to follow, making this a harder read at points. As well, the main driving force of the main character’s missing cousin was dull, if I’m being honest. Nevertheless, I really enjoyed this.
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