When I picked up the book, The Way Back, at the store, it didn’t look anything fancy. I had not read anything by Gavriel Savit before and was curious. While I was going through the back cover to understand the plot, I picked up the word Jewish tale and that intrigued me. I enjoy learning about new cultures and this was an wonderful way to peek into a whole new world. And wow! was I surprised! So I purchased the book and hurried home. Along the way I picked up 2 other books of Murakami and Poet Rumi but I will write about them another day.
Now the story of ‘The Way Back’ is a historical fantasy that follows two children, Yehuda Leib and Bluma, on a journey through the Far Country, a Jewish land of spirits and demons. Lack of background knowledge on Jewish folklore made it a bit difficult for me to follow the plot at the beginning. But slowly, as the story unfolded, I slowly started recognizing various words and Jewish traditions detailed in the book and picked up the pace. The book, in the first chapters, largely covered how the children evolved as they suffered through the loss of family overcoming grief while trying to return home.
The story starts providing the context, the societal structure, the customs and traditions of shtetl (shtetl: a small Jewish town/village in eastern Europe) of Tupik, where our little heroes live. While the story starts slow, it picks up pace as death shows up at the door making the little heroes scurry for their sanity. The story is told from the perspective of multiple characters which is often challenging to follow. Nevertheless, it a marvelous story and an eye opening read if you are not familiar with Jewish fantasy and folklore. You can buy the book from here: Amazon (affiliated link)
Do let us know how you find the book in the comments. We look forward to reading your views.