In 1986, a Palestinian terrorist shot author Laura Blumenfeld’s father. More than a decade later, Blumenfeld, a reporter for The Washington Post, decided to find the man who tried to kill her dad; she also wanted to learn about vengeance. “I was looking for the shooter, but I also was looking for some kind of wisdom,” she writes. “I wanted to master revenge.” Blumenfeld interviews a variety of people, from religious figures to assassins, about the meaning of revenge. The heart of the book, though, is her own journey to find the man who pulled the trigger. First she locates his family and learns vivid details about his life--he was a standout in his public-relations course at the University of Bethlehem. Blumenfeld’s own emotions aren’t far from the surface of this narrative. When she meets the shooter’s own father, for instance, she asks herself: “Am I supposed to shoot him now?” Finally she begins a creepy correspondence with the gunman, who is in prison. Their letters back and forth are oddly compelling--at first the shooter doesn’t know her real identity, though she eventually reveals it. In the end, Blumenfeld says her quest helped her find hope in a dangerous world, even as the final words of her book reflect upon September 11 and its immediate aftermath, when so many other Americans longed for their own vengeance. --John Miller

From Publishers Weekly
At its heart, this remarkable tale is a rite-of-passage story, an intense and deeply personal journey. For newlywed and successful Washington Post reporter Blumenfeld in 1998, life appeared to be just about perfect. But she had a score to settle. In 1986, the same year her mother declared she wanted a divorce, her father was shot by a Palestinian terrorist while visiting Israel. Fortunately, the young man had poor aim. But the impact on Blumenfeld was dramatic. That year, as a college student, she wrote a poem in which she addressed the shooter: "this hand will find you/ I am his daughter." In 1998, the shooter was released from prison. Blumenfeld saw her chance and grabbed it. She traveled to such places as Bosnia, Sicily and Iran, and interviewed both perpetrators and victims of violence to determine the rituals and rites of revenge. She tracked down and spent hours with the shooter's family, telling them only that she was American journalist working on a book. She and the shooter became pen pals. The book's only flaw, and it's minor, is a sense of detachment, though Blumenfeld is an able and expressive writer and is not sparing when it comes to personal revelations. The climax is astonishingly powerful a masterfully rendered scene, crackling with the intensity of which great, life-changing drama is made. (Apr. 4)Forecast: Needless to say, a book about revenge against terrorism could not be better timed, and aided by powerful writing and an excerpt in the New Yorker, this has bestseller potential.Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
When her father was shot in Jerusalem, this prize-winning Washington Post journalist sought revenge the smart way: she talked to other avengers, from Rabin's assassin to the Albanian Blood Feud Committee to Palermo's mayor. Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From AudioFile
Poignant, riveting, suspenseful--this is the story of how journalist Laura Blumenfeld contemplated and acted on a vague and shifting plan to take revenge on the Palestinian terrorist who shot but failed to kill her father. Blumenfeld narrates her own story successfully, managing to sound as if she's telling it for the first time. Merging the personal and the political in a surprisingly intimate and self-exposing manner makes this book a unique addition to both sides of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The book has sparked controversy and is likely to provoke strong and disparate reactions in listeners. Sadly, recent events in the Middle East make Blumenfeld's story more compelling and more urgent. E.S. © AudioFile 2002, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine

From Booklist
As a college student, Blumenfeld vowed to avenge the shooting of her father, a rabbi. Years later, as a Washington Post reporter covering many of the world's hot spots, she develops an obsessive curiosity about revenge. She uses the occasion of a one-year stay in Israel to find the Palestinian who tried to kill her father and to exact some kind of revenge. She saw Israel as an ideal place to study this most primitive of emotions, a land that "possessed an archaeology of revenge that layered all the way down to the beginning of time." Blumenfeld took her own desire for avenging the shooting of her father as a pivot point of her investigation, exposing her own vulnerabilities and the glaring difference between her visceral emotions and those of her father, mother, and brother, who were quite willing to get on with their lives. Blumenfeld is eloquent and insightful as she grapples with the role of detached journalist and impassioned daughter. Vanessa Bush
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review
Baltimore Sun A remarkable, affecting book...unlike any other reportage from the Middle East.

Book Description
In 1986, Laura Blumenfeld's father was shot in Jerusalem by a member of a rebel faction of the PLO responsible for attacks on several tourists in the Old City. Her father lived, but Blumenfeld's desire for revenge haunted her. This is her story. Traveling to Israel, Blumenfeld gathers stories and methods of avengers as she plots to infiltrate the shooter's life. Through interviews and extensive research, she explores the mechanics and the psychology of vengeance. But ultimately it is a journey that leads her back home -- where she is forced to confront her childhood dreams, her parents' failed marriage, and her ideas about family. In the end, her target turns out to be more complex -- and in some ways more threatening -- than the stereotypical terrorist she'd long imagined. A rare, ambitious, personal, and intellectual tour of dark urges often denied, Revenge: A Story of Hope is a beautifully written story about family, loyalty, and home, about the personal passions behind public events, and about the thin line between love and hate.

About the Author
Laura Blumenfeld holds a master's degree in international affairs from Columbia University and has been a staff writer at The Washington Post since 1992. She has also written for The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine, Elle, and the Los Angeles Times. She currently lives in New York City.

FROM OUR EDITORS

The Barnes & Noble Review
In the complex reality of life and death in the Middle East, contradictions are commonplace. This compelling story, a deeply personal one, shares that irony, as journalist Laura Blumenfeld blends themes that are at the heart of the troubles between Israelis and Palestinians: the tradition of revenge and the human heart's need to sustain hope.

Blumenfeld's father, a noted rabbi, was shot on the streets of Jerusalem's Old City in 1986 by a Palestinian terrorist. He recovered completely, but in the wake of the event, Laura felt an overwhelming need for revenge. "￯﾿ﾽThis hand will find you. I am his daughter," she wrote bitterly in a poem. She then set out to find her father's attacker. This book recounts the journey she took to find understanding, satisfaction, and ultimately, personal healing.

Blumenthal's book is deeply disturbing and penetrating, moving on multiple levels. It brilliantly makes the political personal and intimate. And in the end, there are no Israelis or Palestinians, no occupiers or terrorists. There are only people, families, and deeply wounded lives. Revenge: A Story of Hope raises as many questions as it tries to answer. All of them are questions we all need to confront before we can stop the madness that has become daily life in the lands holiest to three of the world's major religions.

Of course, books cannot bring peace. Peace can only come one heart at a time. But reading can help initiate understanding, and that is where healing begins. This book, filled with the myriad contradictions that have framed an age-old conflict, is one good place to start. (Elena Simon)

Elena Simon lives in New York City.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

In 1986, Laura Blumenfeld's father was shot in Jerusalem by a member of a rebel faction of the PLO responsible for attacks on several tourists in the Old City. Her father lived, but Blumenfeld's desire for revenge haunted her. This is her story. Traveling to Europe, America, and the Middle East, Blumenfeld gathers stories and methods of avengers worldwide as she plots to infiltrate the shooter's life. Through interviews with Yitzhak Rabin's assassin; with members of the Albanian Blood Feud Committee; the chief of the Iranian judiciary; the mayor of Palermo, Sicily; an Egyptian heroin smuggler; the Israeli prime minister and the military chief of staff; priests; sports fans; fifth-grade girls; and prostitutes, among others, she explores the mechanics and the psychology of vengeance. But ultimately it is a journey that leads her back home -- where she is forced to confront her childhood dreams, her parents' failed marriage, and her ideas about family. In the end, her target turns out to be more complex -- and in some ways more threatening -- than the stereotypical terrorist she'd long imagined. A rare, ambitious, personal, and intellectual tour of dark urges often denied, Revenge: A Story of Hope is a beautifully written story about family, loyalty, and home, about the personal passions behind public events, and about the thin line between love and hate.

SYNOPSIS

In 1986, Laura Blumenfeld's father was shot in Jerusalem by a member of a rebel faction of the PLO, which had been responsible for attacks on foreign tourists in the Old City￯﾿ﾽseveral of whom were also killed. when the desire for revenge manifested itself in a deeply personal way, Blumenfeld went undercover to find the Palestinian terrorist who injured her father. Along the way, she learned "lessons" in revenge by gathering stories of avengers, assassins, and the people they left behind from around the world, including Sicily, Albania, Iran, Greece, Egypt, Israel, England, and Germany. Combining the suspense and danger of a personal revenge story, and serious international affairs reporting, Revenge: A Story of Hope is a personal and intellectual tour of the human darkness we try to deny

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

At its heart, this remarkable tale is a rite-of-passage story, an intense and deeply personal journey. For newlywed and successful Washington Post reporter Blumenfeld in 1998, life appeared to be just about perfect. But she had a score to settle. In 1986, the same year her mother declared she wanted a divorce, her father was shot by a Palestinian terrorist while visiting Israel. Fortunately, the young man had poor aim. But the impact on Blumenfeld was dramatic. That year, as a college student, she wrote a poem in which she addressed the shooter: "this hand will find you/ I am his daughter." In 1998, the shooter was released from prison. Blumenfeld saw her chance and grabbed it. She traveled to such places as Bosnia, Sicily and Iran, and interviewed both perpetrators and victims of violence to determine the rituals and rites of revenge. She tracked down and spent hours with the shooter's family, telling them only that she was American journalist working on a book. She and the shooter became pen pals. The book's only flaw, and it's minor, is a sense of detachment, though Blumenfeld is an able and expressive writer and is not sparing when it comes to personal revelations. The climax is astonishingly powerful a masterfully rendered scene, crackling with the intensity of which great, life-changing drama is made. (Apr. 4) Forecast: Needless to say, a book about revenge against terrorism could not be better timed, and aided by powerful writing and an excerpt in the New Yorker, this has bestseller potential. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

KLIATT - Nola Theiss

In the winter of 1986, an American rabbi, David Blumenfeld, was shot in the head as he visited Jerusalem. He was one of four random victims in Jersualem that winter. Two of the victims died and two survived, as did the desire for revenge in Blumenfeld's daughter, Laura. Twelve years later, Laura was living in Jerusalem as a newlywed and as a reporter for the Washington Post. She decided to seek revenge for her father's shooting by getting to know the imprisoned shooter and his family without letting them know that she was the daughter of his victim. While doing so, she studied the historical concept of revenge and tracked down the other victims and their families to see how they felt about the event and whether they too needed to seek revenge. The nature of her revenge for her father's death and the journey she took to achieve it is the substance of this book. The fact that she was discovering the meaning of love and marriage at the same time as hate and revenge adds a real depth to the story. Although the story and subject are serious, Blumenfeld does not take herself seriously, giving her story a wonderfully human and affecting twist. KLIATT Codes: SA￯﾿ﾽRecommended for senior high school students, advanced students, and adults. 2002, Simon & Schuster, Washington Square Press, 367p. illus. index.,

Library Journal

When her father was shot in Jerusalem, this prize-winning Washington Post journalist sought revenge the smart way: she talked to other avengers, from Rabin's assassin to the Albanian Blood Feud Committee to Palermo's mayor. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

AudioFile

Poignant, riveting, suspenseful—this is the story of how journalist Laura Blumenfeld contemplated and acted on a vague and shifting plan to take revenge on the Palestinian terrorist who shot but failed to kill her father. Blumenfeld narrates her own story successfully, managing to sound as if she's telling it for the first time. Merging the personal and the political in a surprisingly intimate and self-exposing manner makes this book a unique addition to both sides of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The book has sparked controversy and is likely to provoke strong and disparate reactions in listeners. Sadly, recent events in the Middle East make Blumenfeld's story more compelling and more urgent. E.S. (c) AudioFile 2002, Portland, Maine

Kirkus Reviews

Journalist Blumenfeld builds ties with the man who shot her father ten years earlier, explores her own family history, and documents the practice of revenge around the world.

In 1986, a Palestinian terrorist took aim at Blumenfeld's father and squeezed off a single shot, grazing Blumenfeld pere's scalp but leaving him very much alive. At the time, Harvard student Laura vowed revenge. Over a decade later, she returned to live in Jerusalem with a twin purpose: to start a life with her new husband, and to find the man who tried to take her father's life. Revenge is not a comfortable impulse for this child of privilege, but Blumenfeld finds herself possessed with a need to do something, although she's not sure what. She spends her time seeking out the shooter's family, attempting to visit the gunman in jail, and flying around the world researching how other cultures process the revenge drive. In Sicily, "cradle of the vendetta," she interviews priests and Mafia victims. In Albania, she learns of the canon, a catalogue of revenge obligations as ubiquitous as the phone book. Iran's Grand Ayatollah, who bears a marked resemblance to the author's grandfather, pronounces that she is entitled to even the score but not overshoot it. In Israel, she interviews plenty of people with opinions on revenge, Leah Rabin and Benjamin Netanyahu among them. Meanwhile, her parents are uneasy with her obsession, and her husband begins to keep a log of days when he finds the marriage "intolerable and insufferable." This interweaving of daily life with a drive for vengeance, of the revenge stories of others, and of a final startling showdown of mercy for the shooter himself, makes for a gripping read.