Apeirogon

(The first half of the novel goes from Section 1 to 500, then there is a Section 1001, followed by the second half of the novel, which begins at Section 500 and counts down to 1.)

The first of the two Section 500s begins with Rami writing in the first person. He relates some biographical details about his life before launching into the story of his daughter’s death. Rami was driving to the airport when he heard about the bombings over the radio, he hoped it didn’t harm anyone he knew. He starts to search for his daughter and to get her on the phone; he and his wife call and call before driving down to the bombing site. They call out her name before finally seeing her on a medical tray.

Smadar’s funeral, because of her grandfather’s notoriety as a fighter for peace between the two nations, was widely attended. After the funeral they sat shiva for seven days; people came to pay their respects, offer condolences.

Rami’s first thought is to get revenge: “[G]o out and kill an Arab, any Arab, all Arabs” (220). He admits to seeing Arab people as other, remote, abstract. This path of thought leads nowhere, and Rami arrives at an important set of questions: “Will killing anyone bring my daughter back? Will killing every other Arab bring her back? Will causing pain to someone else ease the unbearable pain that you are suffering?” (221).