“The Tunnel” is a novel by A.B. Yehoshua that explores the complexities of family relationships and the challenges of reconciling with the past. The audiobook is narrated by a full cast, including Mark Bramhall, Gabrielle De Cuir, Robertson Dean, Arthur Morey, and Stefan Rudnicki. The story follows Zvi Luria, a retired engineer who is asked to travel to Turkey to retrieve the body of a friend who died during a protest. As he travels through Turkey, he reflects on his past, particularly his relationship with his deceased wife and his estranged son. Along the way, he meets a young man who is also struggling to come to terms with his own family history.

The use of a full cast in the audiobook helps to bring the characters to life and adds a layer of depth to the storytelling. Each voice actor perfectly captures the nuances of their character, making them feel like real people with complex emotions and motivations. The story itself is thought-provoking and introspective, exploring the themes of grief, identity, and the role of family in shaping our lives. Yehoshua’s writing is engaging and insightful, and the audiobook does a great job of conveying the emotional depth of his work. Overall, “The Tunnel” is a beautifully written novel that will resonate with anyone who has grappled with issues of family and identity. The use of a full cast in the audiobook adds to the immersive experience, making it a must-listen for fans of literary fiction.

• The Tunnel

• By: A.B. Yehoshua, Stuart Schoffman – translator
• Narrated by: Rick Zieff

From the award-winning and internationally acclaimed Israeli author, a suspenseful and poignant story about a family dealing with the sudden emotional breakdown of their beloved husband and father— an engineer they discover is involved in an ominous secret military project.

Until recently, Zvi Luria was a healthy man in his 70s, an engineer living in Tel Aviv with his wife, Dina, visiting their two children whenever possible. Now he is showing signs of early dementia and his work on the tunnels of the Trans-Israel Highway is no longer viable. To keep his mind sharp, Zvi decides to take a job as an unpaid assistant to Asael Maimoni, a young engineer involved in a secret military project: a road built inside the giant Ramon Crater giant in the northern Negev Desert.

However, the challenge of the road is compounded by strange circumstances. Living secretly on the proposed route, among the ancient Nabatean ruins, is a Palestinian family under the protection of a mysterious archeological conservator. Zvi takes this opportunity, proposing a tunnel that will not disrupt the family. But when his wife fell ill, circumstances began to turn…

The tunnel—humorous, meditative, and the site of important social commentary—is Yehoshua at his best.

When Zvi Luria was diagnosed with dementia, the doctor and his wife decided that he needed a plan to slow the disease. Retired (translation uses the English term “retiree” throughout) The road engineer becomes an unpaid assistant to Maimoni, the son of a former colleague, and together they plan to build build a tunnel through a hill to the south instead of tearing it down, because a Palestinian family lives in limbo up there.

This all sounds like a complicated plot-wise but it’s actually a very sweetly simple book. We see a lot of luria in his car, shopping, interacting with his beloved wife of 48 years. The dialogue is fantastic, and it has an unmistakably funny, straight Israeli accent.

It’s such a light-hearted story that sometimes it’s hard to stick with it, not much seems to be happening. But it is beautifully written with a great atmosphere. If you can’t afford a quick trip to Israel, this will get you there.

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