Waking Lions

Author: Ayelet Gundar-Goshen

I have rarely been disappointed with international books that are translated into English. It isn’t surprising, given that they have first to be successful in their native land to even get the attention of American/English publishers. Then you have to find someone skilled in both languages who will painstakingly translate the book, making it readable in English without sacrificing the richness and nuance of the original story.

The translation for Waking Lions is so well done that if I had not seen the back cover, I would not have guessed that it was originally written in Hebrew. The author, Ayelet, tells the story of Doctor Eitan Green who is recently transferred to Beersheba and is taking his new SUV out for a spin after a tiring day at the hospital. It is dark and he doesn’t see the Eritrean man in front of him who he hits head on. He gets out of the car and being a doctor, quickly realizes that it is too late to save this man’s life.  The drama that unfolds is a rather fantastic tale of how he tries to cover up this incident.

The book is a page turner that also doubles as a view into the discrimination that the majority of African immigrants face in Israeli. Doctor Green describes Sirkit, a beautiful Eritrian woman as  "He knew that she was beautiful, and he knew that if he were to see her in the street, he would not give her a second glance”.  I had to read that twice to convince myself that it wasn’t a typo and the deep meaning it conveys on how we are all blind to the prejudices that we carry. 

Ayelet also seems to have done her research on medical procedures. There’s a ton of gory detail and some interesting trivia like the fact that the average human nail grows by 4 cm a year. 

I loved the depiction of everyday life of Israelis and their encounters with the Eritreans and the Bedouins. While the plot seems rather fantastic to believe, the life and struggles of people in and around Beersheba seem all too real.