Book Review: "My Michael" by Amos Oz

Amos Oz's writing is always so beautifully done. I remember back when I first started university, I read his book entitled "Judas" which was a masterpiece. But I think that "My Michael" definitely goes deeper into his writing style and the way in which he uses pace and tone to create atmosphere - especially the one concerning the dreams of the two boys in the state of Israel.

Another thing I have found to be incredible about this book is the voice. Normally, the argument is that men cannot write women properly and I would agree with that in most degrees, but in this one - I will not. This book is told from the perspective of a woman married to a doctor who feels plagued by nightmares and her marriage is drifting away from her. All in all, I feel like these moments of despair would be internally similar for males and females - we cannot and must not pretend that males do not feel as strongly for their spouses as well. When it comes to the way in which Amos Oz puts her personality together, we see that she is a woman of depth and thinks and dreams incredibly deeply about all of these things. I think when it comes to the negative traits regarding men writing women narrators, this book must be used as one to counter that negative assumption and bias.

The book is not only rich with the personality of the narrator, but contains some really beautifully and melancholic written passages that give us more and more information about what this woman is feeling in situations of great tensions. As with many people who are subjected to the plagues of their own mind - she simply shuts down and the quotations support her internalisation. Just take a look at the opening:

"I am writing this because people I loved have died. I am writing this because when I was young I was full of the power of loving, and now that power of loving is dying. I do not want to die. I am thirty years' of age and a married woman. My husband is Dr. Michael Gonen, a geologist, a good-natured man. I loved him. We met in Terra Sancta College ten years ago. I was a first-year student at the Hebrew University in the days when lectures were still given in the Terra Sancta College. This is how we met: Ons winter's day at nin o'clock in the morning I slipping coming downstairs. A young stranger caught me by the elbow. His hand was strong and full of restraint. I saw short fingers with flat nails. Pail fingers with soft black down on the knuckles. He hurried to stop me falling, and I leant on his arms until the pain passed. I felt at a loss because it is disconcerting to slip suddenly in front of strangers: searching, inquisitive eyes and malicious smiles. And I was embarrassed because the young stranger's hand was broad and warm. As he held me I could feel the warmth of his fingers through the sleeve of the blue woollen dress my mother had knitted me. It was winter in Jerusalem."

I am not going to lie when I say that I think that Jerusalem is one of the most beautiful cities on earth. It has its own character through rich and intense history and simply imagining this encounter happening in 'winter in Jerusalem' adds so much to the very feeling of romance, satisfaction and happiness that we get that when the character loses this happiness, it is an even bigger blow than the reader would be used to. It is one of the many ways that Amos Oz pens his masterpieces.

In conclusion, if I were you, I would read this book for the emotional connections and the interest surrounding a man who can write a woman narrator properly and thoroughly with all the amount of feeling that a true person would have. If I am being perfectly honest, once in a while within the book you kind of forget that she is only a character - you build such a strong attachment to her it is unreal.