The Wolf Hunt

Ayelet Gundar-Goshen

Award-winning author Ayelet Gundar-Goshen returns with a timely exploration of the fault lines in a community, a school, and a family, as a mother begins to suspect her teenage son of committing a ter...rible crime. Lilach has it all: a beautiful home in the heart of Silicon Valley, a successful husband and stable marriage, and a teenage son, Adam, with whom she has always felt a particular closeness. Israeli immigrants, the family has now lived in the U.S. long enough that they consider it home. But after a brutal attack on a local synagogue shakes their sense of safety, Adam enrolls in a self-defense class taught by a former Israeli Special Forces officer. There, for the first time, he finds a sense of confidence and belonging. Then, tragedy strikes again when an African American boy dies at a house party, apparently from a drug overdose. Though he was a high school classmate, Adam claims not to know him. Yet rumors begin to circulate that the death was not accidental, and that Adam and his new friends had a history with Jamal. As more details surface and racial tensions in the community are ignited, Lilach begins to question everything she thought she knew about her son. Could her worst fears be possible? Could her quiet, reclusive child have had something to do with Jamal’s death? Praised for “instilling emotional depth into a thriller plot” (New York Times Book Review on Waking Lions), Ayelet Gundar-Goshen once again brings together taut, page-turning suspense, superb writing, and razor-sharp insight into the fault lines of race, identity, and privilege and the dark secrets we hide from those we love most.
Viac

Sumár recenzie
V románe "Tam, kde číha vlk" spisovateľka Ajelet Gundar-Gošen ukazuje názory na izraelsko-palestínsky konflikt, pričom sa zaoberá aj psychologickými aspektmi postáv a násilím v spoločnosti. Príbeh sa odohráva v kalifornskom meste Palo Alto a zdôrazňuje vplyv konštrukcie spoločnosti na životy jednotlivcov.

Sumár recenzie
V reakcii na masaker izraelského civilného obyvateľstva popri Pásme Gazy, zosnovaný teroristickou organizáciou Hamás v októbri 2023, sa spisovateľka a televízna scenáristka Ajelet Gundar-Gošen pre prestížny spravodajský časopis Time jasne vyjadrila, že okupáciu palestínskych oblastí považuje za nesprávnu, no kruté vraždenie malých detí s politickými požiadavkami nemá vskutku nič spoločné. V jej komentári rezonuje niekoľko rovín: píše ho z pozície miestnej občianky, avšak otvorenej kritičky ultrapravicovej vlády Benjamina Netanjahua; rovnako si ako klinická psychologička uvedomuje dlhodobú traumu, ktorej budú čeliť preživší a ich blízke okolie; a v neposlednom rade nezabúda i na pohľad matky.Román 'Tam, kde číha vlk' z roku 2021 je v princípe beletristickou variáciou na tému moslimsko-židovského konfliktu. Gundar-Gošen príbeh umiestňuje na pacifické pobrežie Spojených štátov, kde rozprávačka Lilach spolu s manželom Michaelom, pracujúcim v Silicon Valley, vychovávajú šestnásťročného syna Adama.Gundar-Gošen sa vyhýba tendenčnej angažovanosti, postavy totiž nevykresľuje kategoricky kladne ani záporne, naopak, je empatická k ich slabostiam. Zdôrazňuje tiež, ako sa etnokultúrna identita a sociálny status stávajú prizmou, ktorá láme komplexný obraz sveta na osamotené odrazy.Hoci Jamal neoplýval príkladnými móresmi – okrem potešenia zo šikanovania mu na stene izby visel plagát radikálneho hnutia Nation of Islam –, farba pleti bola predsa priťažujúcou okolnosťou, ktorá podľa mnohých jeho smrť pod vplyvom drog prirodzene predurčovala. Naturalizovaná Lilach v tichosti vstrebáva Dwaynov dodatok na margo Annabelly: 'Matka toho mŕtveho chlapca sa v Amerike narodila [...], ale môžem ťa uistiť, že ona sa tu nikdy nebude cítiť tak doma ako ty.' (s. 108).

Award-winning author Ayelet Gundar-Goshen returns with a timely exploration of the fault lines in a community, a school, and a family, as a mother begins to suspect her teenage son of committing a terrible crime.

Lilach has it all: a beautiful home in the heart of Silicon Valley, a successful husband and stable marriage, and a teenage son, Adam, with whom she has always felt a particular closeness. Israeli immigrants, the family has now lived in the U.S. long enough that they consider it home. But after a brutal attack on a local synagogue shakes their sense of safety, Adam enrolls in a self-defense class taught by a former Israeli Special Forces officer. There, for the first time, he finds a sense of confidence and belonging.

Then, tragedy strikes again when an African American boy dies at a house party, apparently from a drug overdose. Though he was a high school classmate, Adam claims not to know him. Yet rumors begin to circulate that the death was not accidental, and that Adam and his new friends had a history with Jamal. As more details surface and racial tensions in the community are ignited, Lilach begins to question everything she thought she knew about her son. Could her worst fears be possible? Could her quiet, reclusive child have had something to do with Jamal’s death?

Praised for “instilling emotional depth into a thriller plot” (New York Times Book Review on Waking Lions), Ayelet Gundar-Goshen once again brings together taut, page-turning suspense, superb writing, and razor-sharp insight into the fault lines of race, identity, and privilege and the dark secrets we hide from those we love most.