Pumpkinflowers is an incredibly well-written little book hard to categorize.

It waltzes like a multidirectional swing between documentary, memoir, journalism and history around the war that never was — a time between the two Lebanon wars, with soldiers left in limbo for years at the outposts on the Lebanon side of the border.

It is apolitical in a sense that it doesn’t carry any agenda common to other books focused on Israeli wars. But having a massive career in journalism, Matti still finds ways to embed and illustrate his sharp observer talent.

What there is though, is a captured feeling of the Israeli society in a very special moment which eludes regular scholarly timeline, captured like a frozen insect between the chapters and shown through the eyes of 3-5 soldiers, including Matti himself.

It is extremely easy and quick to read, sometimes poetic in the best sense of the word, but punches you in the nose at every other chapter, without drama one would expect of a war memoir, which makes it even more haunting.

It's probably one of the best non-fiction books I've ever read.