As Figs in Autumn: One Year in a Forever War

by Ben Bastomski

Overview

Set against the diverse landscapes of Israel, Bastomski’s journey from Ivy League university to the Israeli army is a deeply personal memoir chronicling his journey out of grief and finally finding his own way back home. 

In his final college semester, Ben awakens to read on his computer screen about the death of his classmate and childhood friend Avi. Avi’s death is sudden and senseless, killed by a drunk driver on his way back to his dorm. Here begins Ben’s story of coming to terms with loss and finding his way to adulthood. 

In the fall of 2010, with his new degree in Moral Philosophy, Ben boards a plane to Israel to enlist in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). Though Ben has never held a gun, before the next summer ends, he is a trained sharpshooter. His service takes him from the Negev Desert to the Occupied Territories and Gazan border, all while finding "home" at a southern kibbutz where he is adopted as a brother and son. From Providence, Rhode Island to California and at last to Israel where Ben joins Mahal, the special set of non-Israeli-born Jews who volunteer in the IDF, he finds family where never expected, a place of his own in the Israeli mosaic. In a memoir that is both a coming-of-age story and epic ballad, Bastomski’s lyrically told story is intensely personal and ultimately universal.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781953002396
Publisher:	Delphinium
Publication date:	07/16/2024
Pages:	244
Sales rank:	904,643
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.25(h) x (d)

About the Author

Ben Bastomski, a Southern California native and Israel Defense Forces veteran, moved to Santa Monica, CA to practice law after graduating from Harvard Law School in 2015. In the years since, Ben has become an accomplished civil litigator, while pursuing a parallel career as a fashion model with a Los Angeles talent agency. He has recently returned to live in Israel and is now based in Jerusalem. Ben was raised in a Jewish home with a love of furry and feathered animals, creation myths, and the outdoors. Among his most beloved childhood memories were the signings he attended at his favorite local bookstore, Chaucer's Books. As Figs in Autumn is his début book. Ben currently resides in Israel.

Editorial Reviews

06/26/2023

In this lyrical debut memoir, Bastomski chronicles his time in the Israel Defense Forces. Born and raised in California, Bastomski, who is Jewish, did not feel a powerful connection to Israel, and certainly not to combat—until his beloved cousin, an IDF veteran who was pursuing his college degree at Brown University, was struck and killed by a drunk driver. Searching for meaning in the senseless loss, Bastomski decided to follow his cousin’s footsteps and enlist in Machal, a pathway to IDF service for noncitizens. From there, the American philosophy major in his early 20s who had “never touched a gun” traveled to Israel, learned Hebrew, and trained as a sharpshooter. Bastomski meticulously recounts the minutiae of everyday military life, lingering over semantic differences in uniforms as often as breathless moments of fear or triumph in training. These memories are rendered in elegant prose that elevates even moments of absurdity, such as the recruit who farts at his superiors, or the indignity of having a shelf of ammunition dropped on one’s toe: “At the sight of it, I stopped thrashing, and like a trapped gazelle I laid my neck down—today there would be no more running,” Bastomski writes of the resulting injury. The result is a lyrical and elegaic portrait of a young man coming-of-age as he learns the art of war. (July)

Publishers Weekly

". . .this glimpse into this alternate universe is what makes the book most compelling. . . a chronicle of character, trust, patriotism, and unity. It exudes love of the land, of the Jewish state, of the Jewish people, and of humanity. All of that makes As Figs in Autumn a timeless celebration of Zionism and Israeliness at their best."

Jewish Journal

"Elegant prose elevates even moments of absurdity... a lyrical and elegiac portrait of a young man coming-of-age as he learns the art of war."

"Elegiac passages mourn armed combat in a land replete with both beauty and history."

". . .this glimpse into this alternate universe is what makes the book most compelling. . . a chronicle of character, trust, patriotism, and unity. It exudes love of the land, of the Jewish state, of the Jewish people, and of humanity. All of that makes As Figs in Autumn a timeless celebration of Zionism and Israeliness at their best."

From the Publisher

07/14/2023

In the fall of 2010, newly minted American college graduate Bastomski volunteered for the Israel Defense Forces, an impulsive act especially since, although raised in a Jewish home, he understands only a little Hebrew. Additionally, he had never held a rifle before. This man vs. self account is debut author Bastomski's maturation into a truer version of himself, "an agnostic who has decided to make it personal." His induction and acculturation are conveyed in elegiacal passages that mourn armed combat in a land replete with both beauty and history. The title comes from the late Israeli poet Yehuda Amichai's "A Man in His Life," which reads in part, "He will die as figs die in autumn, shriveled and full of himself and sweet." When readers finish this book, they may be left with the thought that Bastomski's decision to leave the word "die" out of this work's title signifies that this story is closer to the Hebrew word "dayenu," which translates to sufficiency, or in this case, a sufficient life. VERDICT A memoir worthy of recommending to fans of personal, coming-of-age stories with universal themes. —Sandra Collins

Library Journal