Apeirogon

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Colum McCann: Apeirogon (2020, Bloomsbury Publishing Plc)

English language

Published March 1, 2020 by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc.

ISBN:
978-1-5266-2401-7
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5 stars (5 reviews)

9 editions

One side less than infinity

5 stars

Colum McCann took on a near impossible task here: Apeirogon is at least oral history, contemporary fiction, social history, protest, politics, polemic and philosophy. It is written in 1,001 short pieces, in homage to the Arabian Nights' 1,001 stories, which is also referenced throughout. The central story is that of two real-life people that McCann spent a long time with in Israel and Palestine: Bassam and Rami, best friends from the two places who both lost daughters and became members of the pacifist group 'Combatants for Peace'.

While this is their story, beautifully told, it also weaves and winds in moments of international politics and social theory. Some are broadly fictionalised, some historical accounts, some documentation.

An apeirogon is a shape with countably infinite sides, a perfect symbol of an unfathomably complex story. I cried several times at the heartbreaking loss of both fathers, and what their inner peace cost …

Review of 'Apeirogon' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

This is a transcendental novel.

It expands over the regular, over nuance, and over time. It also bends fiction and nonfiction to weave several arcs into one, not that it makes this book difficult or complicated.

The book focuses on the friendship between an Israeli man and a Palestinian man, their respective deaths in the families, and of how life works for most people; I'm being fuzzy, but the book—as well as human life—is; this book throws more nuance into the picture than most do, which is quite a feat, considering that this is all about human beings in Palestine and Israel.

This book engrossed and changed me. It's that big.

There are no other words that I can use to review the book other than say it's very human and beautifully pieced together; the book consists of 1,001 chapters. It's a marvellous and daring feat to write a book …

Review of 'Apeirogon' on 'Storygraph'

5 stars

This is a transcendental novel.

It expands over the regular, over nuance, and over time. It also bends fiction and nonfiction to weave several arcs into one, not that it makes this book difficult or complicated.

The book focuses on the friendship between an Israeli man and a Palestinian man, their respective deaths in the families, and of how life works for most people; I'm being fuzzy, but the book—as well as human life—is; this book throws more nuance into the picture than most do, which is quite a feat, considering that this is all about human beings in Palestine and Israel.

This book engrossed and changed me. It's that big.

There are no other words that I can use to review the book other than say it's very human and beautifully pieced together; the book consists of 1,001 chapters. It's a marvellous and daring feat to write a book …

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