Black Box (novel)


Black Box is a novel by Israeli writer Amos Oz, first published in 1986. The book is written in the form of letters, which the various characters write to each other. The correspondence ultimately proves a metaphor for the fractiousness and contention between Israeli Jews of different political and religious outlooks.
The book's plot deals with the tensions resulting from a destroyed marriage. The behaviors of a wild and rebellious son, spiraling out of control, serve as an excuse for a rejected wife to write to her ex-husband and conjure up their past demons.

Characters

The book begins with Alex in Chicago, Ilana, Michel-Henri Sommo, and their daughter Yifat in Jerusalem, and Boaz at his agricultural school somewhere to the north. Key places in the book include: