Apeirogon

A Novel

By: Colum McCann

Narrated by: Colum McCann

Length: 15 hrs and 20 mins

Publisher's summary

New York Times Best Seller

“A quite extraordinary novel. Colum McCann has found the form and voice to tell the most complex of stories, with an unexpected friendship between two men at its powerfully beating heart.” (Kamila Shamsie, author of Home Fire)

Finalist for the Dublin Literary Award

Longlisted for the Booker Prize

Winner of the National Jewish Book Award

Named One of the Best Books of the Year by The Independent • The New York Public Library • Library Journal

From the National Book Award-winning and best-selling author of Let the Great World Spin comes an epic novel rooted in the unlikely real-life friendship between two fathers.

Bassam Aramin is Palestinian. Rami Elhanan is Israeli. They inhabit a world of conflict that colors every aspect of their daily lives, from the roads they are allowed to drive on, to the schools their children attend, to the checkpoints, both physical and emotional, they must negotiate.

But their lives, however circumscribed, are upended one after the other: First, Rami’s 13-year-old daughter, Smadar, becomes the victim of suicide bombers; a decade later, Bassam’s 10-year-old daughter, Abir, is killed by a rubber bullet. Rami and Bassam had been raised to hate one another. And yet, when they learn of each other’s stories, they recognize the loss that connects them. Together they attempt to use their grief as a weapon for peace - and with their one small act start to permeate what has for generations seemed an impermeable conflict. 

This extraordinary novel is the fruit of a seed planted when the novelist Colum McCann met the real Bassam and Rami on a trip with the nonprofit organization Narrative 4. McCann was moved by their willingness to share their stories with the world, by their hope that if they could see themselves in one another, perhaps others could, too. With their blessing, and unprecedented access to their families, lives, and personal recollections, McCann began to craft Apeirogon, which uses their real-life stories to begin another - one that crosses centuries and continents, stitching together time, art, history, nature, and politics in a tale both heartbreaking and hopeful. The result is an ambitious novel, crafted out of a universe of fictional and nonfictional material, with these fathers’ moving story at its heart. 

©2020 Colum McCann (P)2020 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

"Every significant novel is an act of reckless originality. Colum McCann’s Apeirogon is nothing like any book you've ever read. Think of reading David Mitchell’s Cloud Atlas, Anne Carson’s Autobiography of Red, or George Saunders’s Lincoln in the Bardo for the first time. Think of discovering an entirely unprecedented, and profoundly true, narrative form. Think about feeling that the very idea of the novel, of what it can be and what it’s capable of containing, has been expanded, forever." (Michael Cunningham, New York Times best-selling author of The Snow Queen)

"Apeirogon is a brilliant dramatization of the tensions behind a universal problem, the contentious ownership of land and the location and nature of its borders. This novel arrives at a crucial time for us in the history of the world." (Barry Lopez, National Book Award-winning author of Outside)

"Colum McCann loves a high-wire act, and Apeirogon is a powerful, political tightrope walk of a novel. It’s the story of modern Israel and the story of modern Palestine. This beautiful, deeply felt book is first and foremost an extraordinary act of listening." (Nathan Englander, PEN/Malamud Award-winning author of Dinner at the Center of the Earth)

Lyrical

I haven’t listened to a book like this ever. Every line is like poetry. Read by the author, it captures every meaning of every line. I loved it and have set out on a mission to make sure everyone reads it. I’m going to buy the hard back just to have and to re-read.

You're supposed to get a little lost

Don't worry about trying to keep all the timelines and details straight. This book reads at times like Haiku, and at times like a cubist painting. The fractured style is intentional, and integral to its power. The author's own reading greatly enhances one's understanding, and the impact of his magnificent prose. This is not just literature, it's an artistic experience.

Moving and informative.

A brilliant non fiction book. The physical and literary structure brings clarity through repetition of the ongoing tragedy between Israel and Palestine.

Indeed like Poetry

I loved this book and was surprised to find that the author had written no books of poetry. I have never read the Palestinian experience so movingly described ( but know there are many books that do) and will be looking for more literature on this topic given the heartachingly injust situation the world accepts.

An amazing, truly important book

Few books in the last few years have touched me the way this one has. I also can’t think of any other book more current, given the recent events in Palestine and Israel. It is sweeping but at the same time so achingly human.

Beautiful reading by a beautiful writer

Lyrical, moving, subtle, nuanced writing and a reading by the author that richly conveys all those aspects.

soul touching moments

it has touched my heart and soul. Loss of a child is one of those heart breaks which never goes away. I know I had lost my precious daughter, 40 years later she is still with me.
writing skills are amazing and narrators is one of the best. I wish it didn't finish. I am going to listen it again.

A beautifully, haunting read

This is one of the best books I’ve listened to in a long time. I was captivated. I’ve recommended it to all of my reading friends.

Worth Re-Reading, by Msny

Thought provoking, emotional story beautifully interwoven between opposing points of view. Beautifully written, making it easy to identify each location and situation. Excellent read!

Outstanding

I have listened to more than 150 audible books and left only one review prior to this one. The story unfolds in short, sometimes seemingly unrelated segments that soon begin to integrate as McCann weaves together the unrelenting heartbreak that permeates every aspect the lives of two grieving fathers - one Israeli, the other Palestinian. Their personal stories reflect the difficult, complicated social constructs of life in a hotly disputed land. The resulting story is fascinating - it must be puzzled out. I loved everything about this listen.