The Kanner Aliyah

Louise H. Girard was Head of Book Selection, University of St. Michael's College Library, Toronto.

The Kanner Aliyah describes the aliyah, or “growing up,” of a young Canadian émigré to Israel during his three-year stay in that country. On the whole the book is short on plot but rich in incidents and characters. As the story begins we find nineteen-year-old Martin Kanner on a kibbutz in Israel. During the course of the novel Martin spends extended periods of time in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem and also does some travelling in Israel and outside of it (the latter in an unsuccessful attempt to return to Canada). Throughout his three years in Israel, Martin gets involved in a great number of relationships with both men and women. None of these relationships really satisfies the needs of this would-be writer, however, and at the end of the novel we find him on his way back to Canada still absorbed in his search for the meaning of life and love.

This book, which is Mark Gordon’s first novel and by his own admission partly autobiographical, has been generally well received. Hugh MacLennan has referred to it as “compulsive reading” and in the April 1982 issue of The Fiddlehead onefinds Andrew Seaman describing it as “a work of genius.” Admittedly this is a book that is likely to have general appeal (except for its length). However, whether done deliberately or not (some critics imply that it is deliberate), the novel suffers from the fact that none of the characters (except Martin Kanner) is particularly well developed. This is especially true of the women characters, the only exception being Josephine; even in her case, her acute observations are too readily ascribed to psychic powers. Similarly, in exploring his past in relation to his present, Martin pays scant attention to incidents that obviously must have affected him greatly — i.e., leaving Canada in disgrace, being reduced to a life of poverty after a life of plenty. Again, this may be deliberate, but the novel would have been better if these aspects had somehow been explored because, as it stands, what we are presented with is essentially only Martin’s view of himself and what is happening to him within a fairly narrow focus. Many readers will undoubtedly soon tire of Martin and his very self-centered search for meaning.