SAFARI
Hebrew, Agam Books, 2011
Translated to English by Ayala Avitzor
Hagar Beckman, a hardcore party girl, recently fired from her job and freshly dumped by her loser boyfriend. She packs her bags and jets off to Berlin to meet Edgar, her bald and sweaty 52 year-old lover who buys her expensive gifts and cigarettes. Sleeping with him makes her sick, to say nothing of enduring his intellectual monologues. One night, after a neurotic shopping and eating binge, she decides to kill Edgar and take the next plane back to Tel Aviv.
Back home, her paranoia drives her back into the arms of Tel Aviv's coke-fueled techno scene, where she meets Louie Cooke, a successful young and wealthy writer. Cooke is writing about Israeli sexuality, and she is fascinated by Hagar’s self-destructive sexual freedom. The writer makes Hagar an offer that she, now strapped for cash, cannot refuse.
The relationship between the two women evolves into a disorienting spiral of jealousy, co-dependency, and covert sadism, eventually leading to a final showdown at Louie Cooke's glamorous house in Jaffa. The party’s theme is "Safari", but as the evening progresses and her so-called friends close in on her, Hagar begins to realize that in this expedition, she is not a participant, but the prey.
Hebrew cover.