Book Review: The Covenant by Naomi Ragen

The Covenant is at once deep, rich, dark, traumatising and hopeful. It brings the reader to tears of distress and then to tears of joy. It is emotive and powerful and it is really an extraordinary little book. This is the type of book that makes you think. The type of book throughout which you feel your views, opinions and beliefs evolving and adapting.

I first came across it when it popped up on that oh-so-dangerous ‘More Items to Consider’ list on Amazon. I was intrigued and so I went about trying to find it in several bookstores. Unfortunately it seems that Ragen’s books are not widely sold in the UK, nor are they available on kindle so eventually I caved and bought a second hand copy from Amazon. I started reading it the evening the package arrived and basically didn’t put it down again until I was finished.

I am quite sure that in some circles this book could prove to be rather controversial but it really needn’t be. Yes, the author is an Israeli woman. Yes, it contains clear views on the legitimacy of Israel and the entire notion of a Jewish state (both of which I fully support though this is neither here nor there) but this is really not the central purpose of the book. This is not necessarily a story about an Israeli mother but about the horror of terrorism and the evils that we are all capable of. It is also about the will to live and the beauty of life. Its central message is really that life is a gift that we should all, regardless of creed or color, grasp with both hands, cling to and fight for.

The main character Elise is a Jewish mother but she could be a Catholic mother or a Muslim mother or a Hindu mother……

One of the crucial aspects of the book is that no character emerges from the calamitous events without suffering immeasurable grief. Not Elise, not her grandmother, not her grandmothers’ friends and family, not the terrorists, not the IDF, not the uncomfortably over ambitious journalist (it is a testament to Ragen’s abilities that it is impossible not to like this character a little bit, even though you so want to hate her). Even the brave woman who ends up rescuing Elise’s daughter, Ilana, does not get away free and happy. The message is quite clear—this is what apathy towards the gift of human life brings. I think the whole story is most succinctly summed up in the following quote:

“The two women, their souls seared and dissolved by shock waves of grief and loss, rocked together in a desperate embrace. The Arab woman’s ululation of mourning mingled with the Jewish woman’s heartrending cries of grief.

Arab and Jew, the tears were the same tears. The broken heart, the grief, the mourning, both the same….”

Excerpt from: Naomi Ragen (2004) The Covenant (NY, NY: St Martin’s Press) p. 271