Noah Beck’s The Last Israelis captures the fear of apocalypse that is at the core of some Israeli political policy discussion and much American understanding of that one might call the ‘Israeli predicament’.
Beck is at the front edge, rather than the middle or the late/mature chapter, of his career as a novelist. His characters are sometimes thin, even brittle, but this does not keep him from telling a riveting tale.
His characters manage to exemplify many features of contemporary Israeli demographics, and to undermine reductive myths about what ‘Israel’ and ‘Israelis’ are like. Exhibit A: Israeli submariners of divergent origins cite their rabbis an debate that runs for and against preemptively annihilating their Persian foes.
The fact that serious people live with the fears that motivate this novel should be enough to give The Last Israelies a toehold on your reading list. The fact that it’s a page-turner of a read might get it up and over the hump.
Canter Bridge 
Leave a Reply