Isn't that a surprising little book? A friend of mine in Haifa of all places found stacks of this book in a used book store and sent me a copy last year. Another novel on a similar topic (with South African politics thrown in) is Disgrace by J.M. Coetzee (Nobel Prize for Literature, 2003).
New York Times Magazine or somebody rediscovered it a few years ago so I knew it was well regarded. But it's surprising in that nothing really happens and you can't put it down (if you're into quiet books with no lazer gun battles). It's a series of minor dramas delivered in such a tender way that it invites you into an ordinary life that parallels your own struggles. I can't say enough about it and can't explain why anyone should read it because the plot sounds so boring. Those stacks might be worth something if they aren't the 2003 reprint.