All the Rivers

A Novel

By: Dorit Rabinyan, Jessica Cohen - translator

Narrated by: Gabra Zackman

Length: 9 hrs and 27 mins

Publisher's summary

A controversial, award-winning story about the passionate but untenable affair between an Israeli woman and a Palestinian man, from one of Israel's most acclaimed novelists.

When Liat meets Hilmi on a blustery autumn afternoon in Greenwich Village, she finds herself unwillingly drawn to him. Charismatic and handsome, Hilmi is a talented young artist from Palestine. Liat, an aspiring translation student, plans to return to Israel the following summer. Despite knowing that their love can be only temporary, that it can exist only away from their conflicted homeland, Liat lets herself be enraptured by Hilmi - by his lively imagination, by his beautiful hands and wise eyes, by his sweetness and devotion.

Together they explore the city, sharing laughs and fantasies and pangs of homesickness. But the unfettered joy they awaken in each other cannot overcome the guilt Liat feels for hiding him from her family in Israel and her Jewish friends in New York. As her departure date looms and her love for Hilmi deepens, Liat must decide whether she is willing to risk alienating her family, her community, and her sense of self for the love of one man.

Banned from classrooms by Israel's Ministry of Education, Dorit Rabinyan's remarkable novel contains multitudes. A bold portrayal of the strains - and delights - of a forbidden relationship, All the Rivers (published in Israel as Borderlife) is a love story and a war story, a New York story and a Middle East story, an unflinching foray into the forces that bind us and divide us. "The land is the same land," Hilmi reminds Liat. "In the end all the rivers flow into the same sea."

©2017 Dorit Rabinyan (P)2017 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

"A fine, subtle, and disturbing study of the ways in which public events encroach upon the private lives of those who attempt to live and love in peace with each other, and, impossibly, with a riven and irreconcilable world." (John Banville, Man Booker Prize-winning author of The Sea)

"I'm with Dorit Rabinyan. Love, not hate, will save us. Hatred sows hatred, but love can break down barriers." (Svetlana Alexievich, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature)

"Rabinyan's writing reflects the honesty and modesty of a true artisan." ( Haaretz)

Too easy

It was too easy to end with death. What would happen to these lovers who were kept apart because of the worlds they live in and their own prejudices.

Very touching love story between an Israeli and a Palestinian.

The animosity between their countries sneaks into their love and cuts into their love. They meet in New York fall in love and realize their relationship could never exist in Israel or Palestine. They each yearn for the other in their home countries but even though they are only about 40 miles apart the difficulty even to telephone each other, much less visit is extremely difficult. During this period of war between their two countries the little details from their childhoods helps us to understand how difficult it is to overcome the innate hatred between the two cultures. The fact they could love each other is hopeful but the depth of the hatred of their cultures is frightening

A perfect book and a perfect performance

The character development, language and love story were perfect
The descriptions of NYC and a divided Israel were perfect
The suspense and conclusion were riveting!!!

Excellent, moving story

This is a well written story that takes you along with it until the very end. The writing paints beautiful pictures of New York, Tel Aviv and Ramallah. This is a love story that’s fraught with angst and deep emotion. It captures the humanity in all of us.

Irreconcilable

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

Yes

Would you be willing to try another book from Dorit Rabinyan? Why or why not?

Yes

What does Gabra Zackman bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Excellent narration albeit some fine-tuning errors with accents.

Was All the Rivers worth the listening time?

Yes

Any additional comments?

A fine etching in a place and time which brings a Palestinian NYC based artist and an Israeli women into a complex relationship of deep love and attraction and stark difference in national identity. Doomed to failure due to the cultural, national and religious schisms a kind of slow motion intensity pervades. Excellently written with some crafting errors creating a few too many metaphorical references and a problematic ending whereby the author (spoiler alert from here onwards), rather that work through the issues and take it to its ultimate problematic end (or rebirth) she kills the hero off thereby exhibiting the exact critique of Israeli society she so scrupulously adheres to.Worth the read and the dissonance it generates far from the comfort zone.

Thrilling and beautiful

Dorit Rabinyan creates an utopian yet possible reality where a Jewish young woman and a Palestinian man can fall in love. You almost wish it was true. In the end, all the rivers flow to the same sea...

Beautiful story

Beautiful and poetic tale of 2 lovers from different (perhaps not that different really) cultures and conflicting cultures and realities.

Reality

It was a love story between two people, however, their countries were in the middle of a conflict—that they chose for the time being to ignore!

What I didn’t like was the ending—Hilmi drowning, but it definitely showed the humanistic side of Hilmi!

Left disappointed.

The storyline absorbed me fairly early on. It’s a typical star crossed lovers theme but with the complicated twist of the long standing animosity between the Israelis and the Palestinians. Sadly about midway through, the plot seemed to fizzle and the story began to drag. However, it got interesting again in the last few chapters, only to let me down with the ending. As another listener mentioned, Dorit Rabinyan took the easy way out. Despite her cop out, she writes exquisitely, painting pictures with her words. Gabra Zackman brings the story to life with her flowing voice.

Outstanding contemporary literary realism.

Joyful, painful, holding you to the very end. This is a book I would recommend to serious readers.