Mia Levitin

Violence in Silicon Valley: The Wolf Hunt, by Ayelet Gundar-Goshen, reviewed

When a man with a machete infiltrates a local synagogue on Rosh Hashanah, the peace of one of the ‘greenest, quietest, safest’ places in America is shattered

A view of Silicon Valley, the setting of Ayelet Gundar-Goshen’s latest novel. [Getty Images] 
issue 12 August 2023

‘I believe it’s the writer’s job to force the reader to look where they usually avoid looking,’ Ayelet Gundar-Goshen has said. The Wolf Hunt, her fourth novel translated from the Hebrew by Sondra Silverston, shines a light on racial tensions in America.

Israeli-born Lilach and Mikhael Shuster live in Silicon Valley with their 16-year-old son Adam. Like many men in the community, Mikhael works in tech, although rather than developing apps his company makes weapons. Having given up an academic career to follow her husband, Lilach works as a cultural coordinator at a retirement home. ‘Most of the women here coordinated something,’ she observes wryly.

When a man with a machete infiltrates a local synagogue on Rosh Hashanah, the peace of ‘one of the greenest, quietest, safest cities in America’ is shattered. The anti-Semitic attack leaves four people injured and one person dead – a college-aged girl who was the only one to intervene.

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