Look for Me
by Edeet Ravel

List Price: $13.95
Pages: 320
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 0060586222
Publisher: Perennial

Look for Me tells the story of Dana and her quest to find her husband who disappeared while serving in the Israeli army. Every year Dana places a newspaper ad that says, "I will never ever, ever stop waiting for you," the word "ever" repeated so that it fills the entire page. She gives interviews hoping her husband will contact her. She knows for a fact that he is alive ...

In the midst of curfews, demonstrations, and confrontations with the police, Dana falls in love with another man -- just as she learns her husband’s whereabouts. Will she forget the past and follow her heart with a new love, or face the dangers involved in setting out to find the man she has sought for eleven years?

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1. How does Dana's reluctance to take orders from her sergeant tie in with her empathy for the Palestinians?

2. How do Dana's years of being uprooted influence her efforts to help the Palestinians?

3. Dana writes romance novels to pay her mortgage. Does life imitate art? Does Dana over-romanticize her relationship with Daniel?

4. Dana tells Rafi that it's impossible to love two people at the same time. Rafi disagrees. What do you think motivates Dana's initial refusal to give in to her feelings for Rafi?

5. When Dana tells Rafi about Benny's proposal, Rafi answers, "People are picking up that things are changing for you." What do you think is changing?

6. Daniel's decision to leave Dana was at least in part based on a hallucination he had in the hospital. So much of their lives were wasted because of this misunderstanding and their inability to communicate, despite how close they believed they were. How does this tie into the backdrop of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict?

7. Tanya, Benny, Volvo, Jacky, and Dana all live in the same apartment building. They all have conflicted lives, many a direct result of the war. Together, they represent a dysfunctional family, with Dana taking on a maternal role with all of them. Why does Dana take on this responsibility of caring for those around her?

8. Dana began taking photographs soon after Daniel left. She also began writing romance novels around the same time. How do these two activities tie in with the themes of the novel?

9. Dana is optimistic that her protest struggles will help the Palestinians, that her efforts will help her troubled neighbors, and that once she finds Daniel, everything will be all right again. Would you describe Dana as optimistic or naïve, and why?

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