A MAN WALKS HOME

By: ESHET, Yoram

Nonfiction, 2010

In October 1973, an exploding Egyptian artillery shell left Yoram Eshet with a devastating brain injury. Defying expectations, he managed to survive, but without the ability to read or write. With epic fortitude and perseverance, he went on to become a university professor. A MAN WALKS HOME traces the events leading to Eshet’s injury as well as the excruciating years that followed. Eshet’s narrative, written in a unique literary style, chillingly exposes the terrors of war and its aftermath. This forthright, moving, deeply intimate memoir is an excursion into the human spirit, written by a man who had to re-learn everything he thought he knew. Through Eshet’s journey we witness the trauma of war, marvel at a human being’s resilience and share the wonder of single life lived to its fullest.

A MAN WALKS HOME was cited by the Yitzhak Sadeh Prize for military literature.

Published by: Israel, Keter Books

“I read Yoram Eshet’s A Man Walks Home in Hebrew, and the experience  has been walking with me in many ways since I started reading it. It is a deep and touching analysis of Yoram’s personal journey during his injury and his initial recovery, but more generally it is a story of memory and reality, and the struggles we all have with who we are and what we are able to do. I can’t wait for the book to come out in English so that I can share it with the people I love (the ones who can’t read Hebrew).” – Dan Ariely, bestselling author of The Honest Truth About Dishonesty: How We Lie to Everyone – Especially to Ourselve

“Eshet's book is one of the best accounts ever written by an Israeli soldier and a rare literary accomplishment. Surviving the traumatic Yom Kippur war and a painful injury, Eshet's novel is brutally honest and courageously insightful.“ – Yuval Neria, Professor of Clinical Psychology, Columbia University

”A literary masterpiece on rehabilitation and a voyage of self-discovery that starts with a severe trauma.” – Avi Uri, Ha’aretz

”The story of an anti-hero that describes with a gentle literary hand the long road back to a meaningful life.”– Amia Leiblich, Ha’aretz

”This piercing depiction of one’s soul and destiny make this book universal. Not only is it a testimony to how willpower can overcome bodily limitations, it is also a testament to man’s existential state.” – Avi Ofer, Ha’aretz

”Yoram is inviting us on a trip to the wildernesses of his world, identifying the sights and opening his life for us.”– Hagit Hof, Makor Rishon