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3.59 AVERAGE
3.59 AVERAGE
funny
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
funny
lighthearted
reflective
tense
medium-paced
I liked the relationship of client and therapist, great story about sexuality
As someone who is married into a fundamentalist family, I was immediately drawn to Shmutz because although I am only familiar with Hassidic culture on a surface level from movies and tv shows, I understand the forbidden nature and rebellion of very strict religious communities. Plus, I like smutty romances.
What started off as a great reflection on the struggle between religion and addiction, yet tempered with enough light hearted moments, quickly became bogged down with far too many descriptions of the pornography Raizl is viewing and less on the type of future she truly was seeking. Although I loved her personality and also the supporting characters, I wanted more insight into everyone. I felt the ending was extremely abrupt and unsatisfying based on the journey the author wanted us to seemingly take with the main character.
Light hearted romance with plenty of spicy self-discovery, but could have been so much more. For fans of Netflix’s Unorthodox and rebellious romances.
Thank you to NetGalley, Atria Books, and Felicia Berliner for an advanced reader’s copy in exchange for an honest review.
What started off as a great reflection on the struggle between religion and addiction, yet tempered with enough light hearted moments, quickly became bogged down with far too many descriptions of the pornography Raizl is viewing and less on the type of future she truly was seeking. Although I loved her personality and also the supporting characters, I wanted more insight into everyone. I felt the ending was extremely abrupt and unsatisfying based on the journey the author wanted us to seemingly take with the main character.
Light hearted romance with plenty of spicy self-discovery, but could have been so much more. For fans of Netflix’s Unorthodox and rebellious romances.
Thank you to NetGalley, Atria Books, and Felicia Berliner for an advanced reader’s copy in exchange for an honest review.
adventurous
emotional
funny
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The premise of this book was incredibly interesting! At the same time, I struggled with the cringey-ness of it all.. but I guess that’s the point. I wouldn’t recommend picking this up if you don’t already know a decent amount about Judaism but if you do it was definitely interesting.
challenging
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
This was so interesting as a book concept. How does a Hasidic Jew reconcile religion with a sex addiction?
wanted to love this book but just couldn’t get into a rhythm!
I’m deeply conflicted about Schmutz. I think all depictions of the colour and shade of Chasidic families are welcome, though I know this would absolutely be trafe. As a girl who grew up in a conservative Modern Orthodox household, this book felt both familiar and entirely foreign but not in the ways I thought it might.
I think a lot of this is in the fact that a lot of the time, while I read, I could feel the intended audience being non-Jewish people. That’s totally fine (and will presumably be the majority of people reading the book) but it made the character feel a little inauthentic. The book felt heavy with explanation and entry points in a way that felt, to myself as a Jewish reader, a bit over the mark.
I also found myself really thrown out of the reality every time I caught something inconsistent with halacha or chasidism - it really threw me off centre. It only happened a couple of times (a reflection of a Jewish author writing about Judaism) but it did throw me.
so I truly don’t know whether I really liked this book, but I certainly found it interesting.
I think a lot of this is in the fact that a lot of the time, while I read, I could feel the intended audience being non-Jewish people. That’s totally fine (and will presumably be the majority of people reading the book) but it made the character feel a little inauthentic. The book felt heavy with explanation and entry points in a way that felt, to myself as a Jewish reader, a bit over the mark.
I also found myself really thrown out of the reality every time I caught something inconsistent with halacha or chasidism - it really threw me off centre. It only happened a couple of times (a reflection of a Jewish author writing about Judaism) but it did throw me.
so I truly don’t know whether I really liked this book, but I certainly found it interesting.