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3.67 AVERAGE
3.67 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
hopeful
inspiring
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book is just unnessecary. The author just needs to go to therapy to deal with her issues. I read one of her other books and this is just the same crap different characters. I left the religion she writes about and its still just 300 pages too long with no characteristics other than painting people in bad light.
challenging
hopeful
reflective
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:
Complicated
Content Warnings
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Physical abuse
emotional
hopeful
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
SPOILERS! 18 år gamle Batshevas far gifter henne bort til en begavet hassidisk skriftlærd i Jerusalem. Formålet er å sikre familiens framtid ettersom hele slekten omkom i holocaust. Den vakre, intelligente, bortskjemte (og dermed naive) Batsheva synes Isaac Meyer Harshen er en interessant mann, og å flytte til Jerusalem virker spennende, så innledningsvis har hun få motforestillinger. Kulturforskjellen mellom de to er enorm, og den bortskjemte Batsheva er slett ikke klar for å underkaste seg sin manns ønsker og behov. Han på sin side, er en plaget sjel som betrakter alt som smaker av fryd og glede som en potensiell synd. Ekteskapet er en katastrofe, og ektemannen oppfører seg stadig verre mot Batsheva. Handlingen er lagt til et interessant miljø som forfatteren åpenbart kjenner godt. Hun har også (så langt denne leseren kan bedømme) solid kunnskap om jødedommen. Dette kunne vært en svært god bok, for innimellom viser forfatteren at hun virkelig kan skrive. Det er vanskelig å forstå at det er ett og samme menneske som har skrevet denne romanen. Det virker som to personer har fått utdelt en historie de skulle skrive om, og den ene av dem er blodfan av Barbara Cartland. I første del er det ikke så ille, men i del to er vi i en dameroman mesteparten av tiden: Batsheva havner, av grunner jeg ikke skal røpe, i London, og der får hun ikke mindre enn TO adelige beundrere. Hun er innledningsvis uten arbeid og understøttelse hjemmefra, likevel er penger åpenbart ikke noe problem. Forfatteren beskriver om og om igjen hvor vakker Batsheva er, og hun eier åpenbart knapt et eneste plagg som ikke er av silke. Slutten på boka er uten enhver troverdighet: den kristne prestestudenten (o skrekk) hun elsker finn brått ut at moren hans er jøde, (da er jo han det også), og konverterer til jødedommen.
Although it was interesting to read about Orthodox Jews and their rules and religion I found the writing far to over blown and romantic for my tastes. If I had to read one more description about how sweet, beautiful and spiritual Bathsheva was I think I might have tossed this book across the room.
I really enjoyed reading this book, so I can't figure out why my main feeling about it now is irritation. I think it's because of the way it ties up. The whole story is so real and so honest, like a detailed photograph, and it feels like Ragen tacked on an ending where the characters suddenly appeared in cartoon form - recognizable, but dumbed down, caricatured. While they seemed to breathe a life of their own all along, the ending is like catching a bit of Ragen's shadow in the picture, and I suddenly had a sense of someone controlling the story and making the characters do things that didn't seem quite believable. The ending is what you hope for, and yet it comes off contrived and so it doesn't quite satisfy.
I think the beauty of this book can only be appreciated by a truly religious person, because a huge part of the plot is the attachment to God. Naomi Ragen clearly has a great love for Judaism and for Yahweh, and she writes that eloquently into her characters. I could relate to the heroine's struggle between doing what she wanted and what she believed God wanted her to do. I was touched by another character's struggle with his Catholic faith, and the truths he found in Judaism. I found myself thinking a lot about my own faith and its connections to both traditional religions, and how - just as Ragen presents in this book - there are people in every religion who are hypocrites, others who are so truly good, and many who try to be so. Reading Jephte's Daughter made me want to try even harder.