Souls caught in the balance.
The Human Scale is a new novel by Lawrence Wright and what an ambitious, tender and unflinching book it is. Perhaps only Wright could have created a story like this – his background in the Middle East is well-established* and his writing chops are undisputed. The Human Scale is beautiful in its humanity, and I loved it.
The story, set in the months and days leading up to October 7, 2023, focuses on two peoples – Israeli and Palestinian – and two people, Yossi the Jewish policeman and Malik the American FBI agent with Palestinian roots.
Roots are everywhere in The Human Scale, in the form of intertwined lives and crossed paths. Malik is recovering from a bomb-related brain injury and is in Hebron in the West Bank for a wedding – a relative he’s never met is getting married. It’s all new to Malik, he’s discovering his extended family and learning things about his father who left to come to America. He can’t help but discover things about his own identity as well. He’s an American but all anyone sees is an Arab.
Yossi is a hard-ass Jewish policeman with little authority in the Palestinian West Bank. He’s carrying on after his wife died and his daughter left home to study abroad. Sara has a major role in the story; she’s visiting her father from Paris, and we get a glimpse of a life torn by loyalty, love, and the desire for something different than the same old story.
Malik isn’t back full time with the FBI, but he is helping out while he’s in Hebron. He has an appointment with the Chief of Police, a man who ends up murdered and beheaded hours after they connect. The Chief had suspicions about drug-funded terror and didn’t trust anyone around him. He wanted to run it by the Feds and Malik was tapped for the meeting.
Wright is such a talented writer, serving up rich descriptions and slowly unfolding plots. Another sign of a great novel and novelist? Compelling supporting characters like Malik’s niece Dina, the bride-to-be, and her mother, both smart, beautiful and somewhat trapped. Also Dina’s angry fiancé Jamal, who only wants peace, and Omar and Benny, children acting and reacting with fear and defiance. They’re all unforgettable.
There are some comic moments in this tragedy, including a car chase through the crazy, crowded streets of the city. But there are even more harrowing scenes, like when Malik is captured – twice – and many acts of violence. It’s a region on the edge, on the verge of exploding at any time. How does a psyche endure in such a place? As Jamal’s relative in the Gaza Strip tells him –
…we’re all a bit…I guess the word is distracted…Mood problems, anger. We have these moments where everyone goes crazy. It’s like a virus that runs through the family and then we’re fine.
It took me a few chapters to realize where The Human Scale was headed: the Hamas attacks of October 7th. Wright captures the terror and despair of the day with realism and respect. He describes the Hamas fighters loading up on the amphetamine-type stimulant captagon, morphing into the inhumane thrill killers and kidnappers we saw on video.
I don’t think I’ll ever get over the report of the terrorist calling his family on his murdered victim’s cellphone, sending images and boasting “Look at how many I killed with my own hands. Your son killed 10 Jews.”
The novel ends with much sadness but also a touch of that optimistic state of mind, hope. Where would we be without it?
*here’s my review of his Pulitzer Prize winning work The Looming Tower
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