Summary:
This memoir covers the life of Valerie Zenatti during her time as a conscripted soldier in the Israeli military from age 18 to 20. When we are first introduced to Valerie, she is anticipating the fast approaching day that she will enter basic training. She is the first of her girlfriends to enter, and she shares her hopes and fears through her poignant words. By the time she leaves the military, she has had heartbreak and joy, lost friends and found new ones, and learned more about herself through the entire process.
My Evaluation:
Before I read this book, I knew that every eighteen-year-old in Israel was drafted into the military. This book took that small grain of knowledge and helped me see what it is like through the eyes of a girl who is much like me. She had many of the same thoughts and feelings that I remember having when I was eighteen, yet I never had the task of spending two years of my life in the military. I was anticipating college not basic training. There are many stories to be found about what it is like for boys to be drafted in the military, but this gives an entirely new perspective. The fact that the book is completely true only adds to the relevancy and reality of the story. While we can never fully understand what it is like for these girls without having experienced the Israeli military, this book gives us a small glimpse of what their lives are like.
Reviews:
Samuels, D. (2005). Sisters in Arms. The Guardian. Retrieved from http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2005/may/07/featuresreviews.guardianreview29
When we first meet Valerie she is preoccupied with the final preparations for her bac exams, working after school at Extrapharm, wrapping perfumes and stacking shelves, hanging out with her close girlfriends, Russian immigrants Yulia and Rahel, and nursing a broken heart after being phased out by her boyfriend Jean-David. She is in many ways an ordinary girl with recognisable concerns and a modern, western lifestyle."Here," she writes, "the army is part of lives. Soldiers — boys and girls — are the heroes of the past." She is daunted, excited and disoriented by taking on this heroic mantle, only too aware that she lives in a country "where there are widows of 30, where the cannons have never fallen silent and where, when someone says their neighbour's son has 'fallen', everyone knows that that's in a war."
And so she joins the pack of expectant 18-year-olds bussed into the training base, where they are given their kit, uniforms and weapons and told that "in two years' time, if everything goes as it should, you will be young women".
Valerie's progress from rookie to corporal in the top-secret intelligence service includes waking daily at 4am, acclimatising to the strict discipline of military life — gruelling runs, latrine, kitchen and guard duties — learning how to handle her machine gun, and intensive memorising and testing. Her old friendships change as life moves on, new friends are made and the love affair is revisited and finally let go. When she is released from the army after what feels like an "eternity", there are rumblings in Iraq (just before the first Gulf war) and, even as she heads for the beach, she is aware that this relished freedom might be short-lived.
Now in her 30s and living in Paris, Zenatti is writing retrospectively about a formative period in her life. She manages to capture her younger voice (and credit must go here also to the book's translator, Adriana Hunter) so authentically that the writing feels green and fresh, wide-eyed, truly from a late-teen perspective. And the story she tells is one that is at once normal and exceptional, providing an insight into the personal struggle to deal with huge political realities without making a point about it. She does not balk from sharing her commitment to taking up arms and spying on Israel's neighbours to serve her country while also questioning the use of those arms and attempting to face the reality for the Palestinians living under Israeli occupation. She returns to base one day taking a bus that drives right through a number of Palestinian villages and, against advice, places her face against the window to see clearly. A rock thuds against the reinforced glass and then more follow. "I burst into tears and the other passengers try to reassure me. I don't feel like explaining that I'm not crying because I'm frightened."
Even though When I Was a Soldier becomes sketchier in its depiction of Valerie's second year in the army, overall it paints an illuminating portrait of what it is to be a young woman maturing in a society where violent conflict is as much a feature of "normal" life as longing for love, loud music and trips to the beach.
Cheng, G. (2007). Book Review: When I Was a Soldier By Valerie Zenatti. BCTELA. Retrieved from http://www.bctela.ca/resources/english-practice/fall2007/book-review-when-i-was-soldier-val%C3%A9rie-zenatti
When Valérie Zenatti was thirteen, she and her parents moved from France, her home country, to Israel. After finishing school and writing the baccalauréat in her advanced school program, Zenatti went the way of other eighteen-year-old Israeli girls and joined the army for two years of national service. Her experiences and coming of age in the Israeli Defense Force prompted her to write this book. It is not a traditional memoir. This is not Zenatti's autobiography, but simply an insight into the mind of an eighteen-year-old Israeli girl using her own personal history.
Those who like stereotypical teen girl books may tend to shy away from this one. Don't let that happen. This is an important story with no fluff, and some girls find that intimidating, boring, or hard to identify with. Don't worry, for our protagonist is very easy to befriend. In fact, many younger teen girls may be pleasantly surprised by how much they have in common with Valérie. After all, she is just trying to pass her exams while working part-time at the local pharmacy, and most importantly, she is trying her best to forget about her ex-boyfriend.
When I Was A Soldier is not suitable for a class on military operations. Zenatti is careful to tread lightly on heavy topics. This book is not a political statement but a traditional coming of age story with classic themes found throughout literature. Valérie is a young woman striving for achievement, but her weekends at home temptingly give question to her loyalty. With a friend who is already a deserter, her own devotion to the army wavers when she gets a chance to reunite with her ex-boyfriend in Jerusalem. Valérie finds herself homesick and longing for her mother's cooking, not unlike every student who has left home for their first year at university. One of the most hurtful situations she experiences has nothing to do with her service; rather, it occurs when she finds out her ex-boyfriend has found a new girl.
This is a great novel for grade nine and above, offering a unique view to students who have never been exposed to this kind of life, whether because of the geographical setting or the idea that when you reach a certain age, your country expects something of you that is not just voting or driving.When I Was A Soldier paints a solid portrait of one face, one girl, to represent all. Military service is something that everyone in Valérie's life has been required to face at the same age, but becoming a woman is something Valérie must achieve on her own terms.
My Suggestions for Use in a Library Setting:
I would use When I Was a Soldier as part of a "Girl's Day" at the library. We would read this book, among others, to learn more about the lives of girls around the world. After reading these books, we would have a discussion finding parallels in their lives and also where their lives diverge. It would be an entire day celebrating women.
No comments:
Post a Comment