Adjusting Sights

Adjusting Sights by Haim Sabato is a war story in the vein of For Whom the Bell Tolls (Hemingway), The Things They Carried (O'Brien), and Sunrise over Fallujah (Myers).  It is a book about war and returning from war, about mourning lost friends and lost sense of self, about the power of religion and tradition.

At times the book reads like a war memoir, at others like a yeshiva discussion.  Narrated by Haim as a remembrance of his time serving in the Yom Kippur war of 1973, the book weaves stories of the war (both his and his comrades'), his time on leave, and his childhood along with Jewish stories and prayers.  The timeline jumps from present to past and back again, reminiscent of The Things They Carried.  Another similarity between the two books is the discussion of what "truth" really means during a war.  At times it is difficult to differentiate between what actually happened to the narrator, what are stories he heard from someone else, and what are the traditional Jewish stories he's telling himself.

Adjusting Sights reads like Sunrise Over Fallujah - it is a quick read with short compelling chapters.  Teachers will appreciate discussing the moon symbolism and the wordplay of "adjusting sights" (as one reviewer said, Haim has to "adjust not only the sights of his tank, but his understanding of the world he lives in.") Students will enjoy the war stories and Haim's search for news of his childhood friend Dov, and will appreciate the glossary of Hebrew terms included at the end of the novel.