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3.96 AVERAGE
3.96 AVERAGE
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
“What is a friend? A single soul dwelling in two bodies.”
― Aristotle, quoted by Diogenes Laertius in Lives of the Philosophers
This is my first Chaim Potok novel and my goodness was it lovely. It's a small story, really, between two Jewish young men, Reuven (Modern Orthodox) and Danny (Hasidic) set in 1940's Brooklyn, New York who become friends after one inflicts an injury on the other during a baseball game. I think, however, that no story about a true friendship can ever be small. These two teenaged boys helped me to imagine how to navigate deep-seated difference, to make room for pain and silence, and to cherish another person as they grow no matter how circuitous the journey. What a gift.
― Aristotle, quoted by Diogenes Laertius in Lives of the Philosophers
This is my first Chaim Potok novel and my goodness was it lovely. It's a small story, really, between two Jewish young men, Reuven (Modern Orthodox) and Danny (Hasidic) set in 1940's Brooklyn, New York who become friends after one inflicts an injury on the other during a baseball game. I think, however, that no story about a true friendship can ever be small. These two teenaged boys helped me to imagine how to navigate deep-seated difference, to make room for pain and silence, and to cherish another person as they grow no matter how circuitous the journey. What a gift.
adventurous
emotional
informative
slow-paced
This book was fabulous. I don't know how to explain it...but it was.
I read this book in 8th grade. I remember only the bare plot structure now, but I do remember how I fell in love with it and immediately tried to get my hands on the sequel. And I remember a rabbi coming to school to talk to us about Jewish culture in the context of this book, and having some conversation with him in which he said he remembered how Christians make the sign of the cross with the catchphrase "spectacles, testicles, wallet, and watch," which stuck with me and really made it hard for me when I later became a liturgical Christian, because while that's an amusing joke, it's actually the wrong order if you're an Anglican. To this day, I still am not comfortable making the sign of the cross, and it's all because of The Chosen.
Anyway, back to the book - thematically speaking, what I remember most about it was the tension that results from the two boys trying to find their own paths in life, one becoming more conservative than his father, one more liberal, and how well that story can speak to generations of people of all religions as they come of age. (Or did that happen in the sequel? I think it's all one book to me now.)
I want to read this again, but I'm afraid to, as I am with all books I remember loving deeply in my youth.
Anyway, back to the book - thematically speaking, what I remember most about it was the tension that results from the two boys trying to find their own paths in life, one becoming more conservative than his father, one more liberal, and how well that story can speak to generations of people of all religions as they come of age. (Or did that happen in the sequel? I think it's all one book to me now.)
I want to read this again, but I'm afraid to, as I am with all books I remember loving deeply in my youth.
I haven't gotten all my thoughts together about this book just quite yet. I liked it. I just haven't come to any kind of conclusion about how to apply it to my life just yet. I'm forever trying to apply books to me, and maybe that's my trouble. This one definitly raised some interesting questions in my mind, that's for sure.
The book is about two Jewish boys who are growing up in NY during WWII. They are differnt sects of Judaism (which I never knew there were) and should be enemies, but they aren't. They become best friends. Danny, the boy practices his religion more fanatically, you might say, is expected to inherit the position Rabbi someday from his father. Danny is a genious with a photographic memory, and begins to seek for knowledge in forbidden books (anything that's not Jewish lit, pretty much) without telling his father. Danny and his father don't speak to each other, except when they study the Talmud together, and it's been this way since Danny was about 4.
Reuven comes along, he is Jewish but not fanatically so, and his father is a brilliant Jewish scholar. They have a great relationship. Reuven helps Danny by listening to his problems, and acting (unknowingly) as a go between for Danny and his Father. The book is about how these two boys grow up together.
It was a pretty suspenceful book. I kept wanting desperately to know why Danny's father never spoke to him except when they studied. I spent most of the book absolutely hating Danny's father. And then in the very last chapter you discover the answer and it turns everything on it's head, in a way. I don't agree with what Danny's father did,I think there must be a better way, but now that I know the reason, I don't think I'm inclined to hate him anymore. And it defintily begs the question, "How far would you go to see that your kids turned out the way you wanted them to?" The last chapter happened so fast, I don't know, I still can't make up my mind about it.
There are a lot of Jewish things (words, traditions, vocab, etc.) in there that I didn't understand, but I don't think that not understanding it took away from the story at all. I thought this book was really good, and I recommend it.
The book is about two Jewish boys who are growing up in NY during WWII. They are differnt sects of Judaism (which I never knew there were) and should be enemies, but they aren't. They become best friends. Danny, the boy practices his religion more fanatically, you might say, is expected to inherit the position Rabbi someday from his father. Danny is a genious with a photographic memory, and begins to seek for knowledge in forbidden books (anything that's not Jewish lit, pretty much) without telling his father. Danny and his father don't speak to each other, except when they study the Talmud together, and it's been this way since Danny was about 4.
Reuven comes along, he is Jewish but not fanatically so, and his father is a brilliant Jewish scholar. They have a great relationship. Reuven helps Danny by listening to his problems, and acting (unknowingly) as a go between for Danny and his Father. The book is about how these two boys grow up together.
It was a pretty suspenceful book. I kept wanting desperately to know why Danny's father never spoke to him except when they studied. I spent most of the book absolutely hating Danny's father. And then in the very last chapter you discover the answer and it turns everything on it's head, in a way. I don't agree with what Danny's father did,I think there must be a better way, but now that I know the reason, I don't think I'm inclined to hate him anymore. And it defintily begs the question, "How far would you go to see that your kids turned out the way you wanted them to?" The last chapter happened so fast, I don't know, I still can't make up my mind about it.
There are a lot of Jewish things (words, traditions, vocab, etc.) in there that I didn't understand, but I don't think that not understanding it took away from the story at all. I thought this book was really good, and I recommend it.
I don't know what took me so long to finally pick up this book. It was fantastic. An excellent study of the unlikely friendship between two boys. I couldn't put it down - excellently written. I appreciated learning more about the different aspects of Jewish culture.
32: The Chosen by Chaim Potok...more times than I can count, but I just finished it again with my last group of sophomores. I still love this book, and I love reading it with kids, and I love all that this book does well.
It teaches us all that it's possible to be interested in something so much that you are willing to do some research, learn some more, and maybe even study that subject so hard that you understand it. It happens in a somewhat parallel way as we all learn more about Jewish culture and practices while reading the book including vocabulary and ideas previously unfamiliar to us...and then also watching Reuven and Danny each interested, respectively, in mathematics and psychology, while also both being diligent students of the Talmud, and willing to spend hours learning and learning.
And even if it's subtle and more subliminal, my readers saw these two teenaged boys care that much about learning and studying, and maybe they'll be inspired at some point. And they saw friendship cross boundaries of differences, and children respecting their parents but becoming strong and independent, and addressing with and dealing with challenges in one's life...so many good things.
And...so many indicated that they liked the book. I sure do...or I wouldn't have...chosen...it as the penultimate work of my final semester teaching literature.
It teaches us all that it's possible to be interested in something so much that you are willing to do some research, learn some more, and maybe even study that subject so hard that you understand it. It happens in a somewhat parallel way as we all learn more about Jewish culture and practices while reading the book including vocabulary and ideas previously unfamiliar to us...and then also watching Reuven and Danny each interested, respectively, in mathematics and psychology, while also both being diligent students of the Talmud, and willing to spend hours learning and learning.
And even if it's subtle and more subliminal, my readers saw these two teenaged boys care that much about learning and studying, and maybe they'll be inspired at some point. And they saw friendship cross boundaries of differences, and children respecting their parents but becoming strong and independent, and addressing with and dealing with challenges in one's life...so many good things.
And...so many indicated that they liked the book. I sure do...or I wouldn't have...chosen...it as the penultimate work of my final semester teaching literature.
I read this as a teenager and liked it then. 30+ years later, I still have the same taste and enjoyed it all over again. Next up, I'm going to re-read The Promise to continue the story of Danny and Reuven.