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3.59 AVERAGE
3.59 AVERAGE
lighthearted
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual content
Amazing cover. Wish I could say the same for the book.
challenging
emotional
funny
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
emotional
funny
informative
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This novel was totally new to me and I loved it. Raizel, the 18-year-old main character comes from a family of Hasidic Jews and while her parents are attempting to match her up with a nice Jewish boy to marry, she is struggling in secret with an extreme pornography addiction. What an immediately captivating premise. I loved all the Yiddish peppered throughout the narrative, and I loved learning more about Raizel’s culture.
On top of the porn issue, Raizel faces a lot of significant struggles: sexism within her own family and religion, feelings of otherness at school, pressure to make money to support her brothers in their Torah studies, weirdness at her job, uncertainty around new friends who like but don’t quite understand her. She is an easy character to sympathize with and pull for. I was worried about the ending and thought I didn’t like where things were headed, but a single small plot twist ultimately saved it for me.
I read this one with my book club and it made for an excellent discussion!
On top of the porn issue, Raizel faces a lot of significant struggles: sexism within her own family and religion, feelings of otherness at school, pressure to make money to support her brothers in their Torah studies, weirdness at her job, uncertainty around new friends who like but don’t quite understand her. She is an easy character to sympathize with and pull for. I was worried about the ending and thought I didn’t like where things were headed, but a single small plot twist ultimately saved it for me.
I read this one with my book club and it made for an excellent discussion!
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Covers can be deceiving. I expected from it and the basic description to be in for a comedy. I've been sitting with my thoughts and feelings since finishing the book for how to encapsulate them in this review. Bottom line, this is not a light-hearted journey of shmutz folded in a hamentaschen, as promised by the cover.
The story is told from the first-person point of view, so we readers are very trapped in the narrow worldview of the protagonist. Consequently, her porn addiction is anything but fun. In its compulsive self-destructiveness, the addiction is disturbing, painful, violent, and ultimately self-sabotaging, and we experience every corner of it. Yet when 'real life' intervenes, the author doesn't give us the same level of psychological processing we get with the character's encounters with the digital. I felt robbed. If I've gone down a dark hole with the narrator, then stay there when it counts.
Instead the author takes the easy way out. Perhaps this ending is redemptive, but it's logic isn't easy, or believable. It is fairy-tale-ish, so that might suit some readers. I'm left unsettled and disgruntled--and not in a way that I think was intentional.
Some of the writing is lovely. The story with its setting is certainly distinctive. Perhaps you can assess whether you will find it compelling or distasteful, or perhaps a mash-up of both.
Thank you to Atria and NetGalley for an advance reader copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
The story is told from the first-person point of view, so we readers are very trapped in the narrow worldview of the protagonist. Consequently, her porn addiction is anything but fun. In its compulsive self-destructiveness, the addiction is disturbing, painful, violent, and ultimately self-sabotaging, and we experience every corner of it. Yet when 'real life' intervenes, the author doesn't give us the same level of psychological processing we get with the character's encounters with the digital. I felt robbed. If I've gone down a dark hole with the narrator, then stay there when it counts.
Instead the author takes the easy way out. Perhaps this ending is redemptive, but it's logic isn't easy, or believable. It is fairy-tale-ish, so that might suit some readers. I'm left unsettled and disgruntled--and not in a way that I think was intentional.
Some of the writing is lovely. The story with its setting is certainly distinctive. Perhaps you can assess whether you will find it compelling or distasteful, or perhaps a mash-up of both.
Thank you to Atria and NetGalley for an advance reader copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
wow that was a very sweet very sad look at a young Hasidic Jewish girl realizing who she is and what her autonomy is capable of and i deeply deeply enjoyed this and very much recommend listening to the audiobook if you can!
I loved the plot of this book and enjoyed following Raizl through all of the questions she was having about the modern world vs her world