Freefall by Anna Levine

September 14, 2008 at 8:03 am · Filed under young adult novels ·Tagged Israel, Jewish, love, teen

I’m so excited about Freefall by Anna Levine for a number of reasons:

1. It’s written by an author I love
2. It’s a great YA read
3. It takes place in modern day Israel

Freefall

Freefall tells the story of Aggie, an 18 year old girl getting ready to start her compulsary military service. But while she’s at it, she’s also falling in love, discovering her personal strength and learning who she is.

Anna Levine does a great job of making this first and foremost a story about an 18 year old girl, with Israel, the 2nd Lebanon War and the issues it bring up in the background. When I was 18, I don’t think I could have made the choice Aggie is faced with. As much as I would have wanted to jump on a train to the North to help out while rockets were flying, I’m just not sure that I would have done it. And I certainly wouldn’t have been able to make the choice to become a soldier instead of doing national service, as girls like Aggie choose between. But that’s the difference between living in North America and living in Israel and that’s what makes this book such a good read: it’s easy to close your eyes and picture yourself right beside Aggie, making the same choices, falling in love.

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