Non­fic­tion

Out There: A Mem­oir of an Israeli soldier

  • From the Publisher
September 1, 2023

It’s time to raise the unheard voice of Israeli sol­diers who’ve sur­vived com­bat, but didn’t return from war — a nar­ra­tive that reflects the broad­er sto­ry of Israeli soci­ety.

This mem­oir will take you on a jour­ney across the land­scapes of Israel, shed­ding light on the chal­lenges many Israelis are like­ly to con­front in the years ahead, par­tic­u­lar­ly in cop­ing with PTSD. Omri’s sto­ry starts when the Sec­ond Lebanon War ends, and he cross­es the bor­der fence back into Israel. His home­com­ing forces him to con­front the hero­ic image of the Israeli man. It’s an image he’s already famil­iar with as the son of a 1973 Yom Kip­pur War vet­er­an.

Upon his return, Omri is con­front­ed with a new bat­tle that blurs the line between macabre night­mare and monot­o­nous real­i­ty.

In 2017, Omri start­ed writ­ing his mem­o­ries. It wasn’t until he read his own sto­ry that he could under­stand the rea­sons for his tor­ment. He also decid­ed that his sto­ry should be told to all Jew­ish peo­ple around the world.

Discussion Questions