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k_lee_reads_it's review
4.0
Consider this a 4.5
From the book jacket:
"Sotah is the story of beautiful, fragile Dina Reich, a young woman in Jerusalem's ultra religious haredi enclave who is accused of the community's most unforgivable sin: adultery. Although Dina was brought up to be an obedient daughter and dutiful wife, she has yearnings -- for knowledge, for romance, for excitement -- that she knows her life will never satisfy. In her willing, but arranged marriage, Dina finds these deeply repressed passions increasingly difficult to ignore, Even her loving and generous husband cannot completely satisfy her, and eventually, her frustration find a dangerous outlet in a sudden and intense obsession with a married man. But when the flirtation is exposed by the community's self-appointed vigilantes, Dina is separated from her husband and child and forced to leave the country. In New York City, the freedom and the shallowness of modern American life appall Dina, but they also inspire her to fashion her own tradition, one that will enable her to confront her accusers and reclaim her life."
I greatly enjoyed this novel. While I did find the beginning a bit long winded in its description of the haredi traditions and laws, it was still fairly interesting and probably necessary for an understanding of the culture that drove Dina to become who she became in the novel.
I was fascinated with Ragen's treatment of the theme of the oppression of women. The world judges that women, particularly women who are members of a religious group, are oppressed by the men and/or the religious teachings, but are they? This question, and to me, the answer to this argument is illustrated by this quote from near the end of the novel:
"All her life [Dina:] had accepted the world of her parents as a whole, organic and indivisible: charity to strangers and Mrs. Morganbesser's rules on how long to wear your sleeves. The smell of citron and willow branches on the Feast of Tabernacles and throwing rocks at cars that passed through the neighborhood on the Sabbath. But it wasn't a whole she realized. Just as Joan's [Western:] world was neither the fearsome, despicable entity her teachers had portrayed it nor utopia. It too had good and bad.
She did not want to live her mother's good life or her sister's, but a good life of her own choosing filled with the rich bounty of all that she loved and respected in both worlds."
Finally, the epilogue, if it were my novel, I probably would have left it off. Or written it a little differently. As much as I love all the loose ends tied up, I didn't love the way Ragen chose to write it.
From the book jacket:
"Sotah is the story of beautiful, fragile Dina Reich, a young woman in Jerusalem's ultra religious haredi enclave who is accused of the community's most unforgivable sin: adultery. Although Dina was brought up to be an obedient daughter and dutiful wife, she has yearnings -- for knowledge, for romance, for excitement -- that she knows her life will never satisfy. In her willing, but arranged marriage, Dina finds these deeply repressed passions increasingly difficult to ignore, Even her loving and generous husband cannot completely satisfy her, and eventually, her frustration find a dangerous outlet in a sudden and intense obsession with a married man. But when the flirtation is exposed by the community's self-appointed vigilantes, Dina is separated from her husband and child and forced to leave the country. In New York City, the freedom and the shallowness of modern American life appall Dina, but they also inspire her to fashion her own tradition, one that will enable her to confront her accusers and reclaim her life."
I greatly enjoyed this novel. While I did find the beginning a bit long winded in its description of the haredi traditions and laws, it was still fairly interesting and probably necessary for an understanding of the culture that drove Dina to become who she became in the novel.
I was fascinated with Ragen's treatment of the theme of the oppression of women. The world judges that women, particularly women who are members of a religious group, are oppressed by the men and/or the religious teachings, but are they? This question, and to me, the answer to this argument is illustrated by this quote from near the end of the novel:
"All her life [Dina:] had accepted the world of her parents as a whole, organic and indivisible: charity to strangers and Mrs. Morganbesser's rules on how long to wear your sleeves. The smell of citron and willow branches on the Feast of Tabernacles and throwing rocks at cars that passed through the neighborhood on the Sabbath. But it wasn't a whole she realized. Just as Joan's [Western:] world was neither the fearsome, despicable entity her teachers had portrayed it nor utopia. It too had good and bad.
She did not want to live her mother's good life or her sister's, but a good life of her own choosing filled with the rich bounty of all that she loved and respected in both worlds."
Finally, the epilogue, if it were my novel, I probably would have left it off. Or written it a little differently. As much as I love all the loose ends tied up, I didn't love the way Ragen chose to write it.
starrburst112's review against another edition
3.0
I did not like the main character. She was ungrateful to things in her life.
dianem18's review against another edition
5.0
It wasn't perfect and did loose a little momentum in the middle, but I loved the rich story and the writing was beautiful.
lanikei's review against another edition
3.0
Hmm. This isn't quite trashy enough to be 'romance', but is definitely poorly written chicklit. But! It is about a culture I'm not familiar with, and I am a sucker, so I read it and enjoyed it. Despite the often ham-fisted writing and embarrassingly cliched characters.
I read some other reviews that were really angry about the portrayal of Orthodox Jews, but I wasn't left with a negative feeling about the culture. I don't know enough about Judaism, let alone this particular side of it to judge the accuracy of the book, but I didn't feel like it was exactly unfair to any society it presented. All orthodoxy contains absurd strictures that don't fit well into modern times, but also present a simplicity that I can appreciate. I felt that the author presented both sides and showed that it's not the religion that is the problem, but the corruption of religion into hate and judgement.
The story follows three sisters in Jerusalem through their teenage years which amounts to school, marriage, and babies. Each has a challenging romance/marriage, but the plot mostly follows the middle daughter Dina. Her 'perfect daughter' complex is familiar to lots of people regardless of religion, so even her mistakes seemed believable.
The author bothers to give Dina some depth over the course of the story, but most of the other characters are pretty one-sided and often are just obvious foils to Dina. Pretty much every character can be reduced to one word cliches. The main exception is the younger sister who I was particularly fond of as she raged against her life's limitations in ways I could really relate to.
Mostly I enjoyed the book for the education I got about some of the customs and cultural expectations of Orthodox Judaism. It's hardly great literature, but it held my interest and didn't devolve into awful cheesy romance sex which was my big concern based on the cover. Enjoyable laundry room find.
I read some other reviews that were really angry about the portrayal of Orthodox Jews, but I wasn't left with a negative feeling about the culture. I don't know enough about Judaism, let alone this particular side of it to judge the accuracy of the book, but I didn't feel like it was exactly unfair to any society it presented. All orthodoxy contains absurd strictures that don't fit well into modern times, but also present a simplicity that I can appreciate. I felt that the author presented both sides and showed that it's not the religion that is the problem, but the corruption of religion into hate and judgement.
The story follows three sisters in Jerusalem through their teenage years which amounts to school, marriage, and babies. Each has a challenging romance/marriage, but the plot mostly follows the middle daughter Dina. Her 'perfect daughter' complex is familiar to lots of people regardless of religion, so even her mistakes seemed believable.
The author bothers to give Dina some depth over the course of the story, but most of the other characters are pretty one-sided and often are just obvious foils to Dina. Pretty much every character can be reduced to one word cliches. The main exception is the younger sister who I was particularly fond of as she raged against her life's limitations in ways I could really relate to.
Mostly I enjoyed the book for the education I got about some of the customs and cultural expectations of Orthodox Judaism. It's hardly great literature, but it held my interest and didn't devolve into awful cheesy romance sex which was my big concern based on the cover. Enjoyable laundry room find.
jennseeg's review
5.0
This book was sort of like "The Chosen" meets "The Scarlet Letter". I'll admit, that the first one-hundred pages passed a bit slowly for me, and I almost gave up. The story started to pick up, though, and I was hooked. Some of the descriptions, particularly putting certain Jewish laws in their historical or religious context, were wordy and excessive. This criticism aside, I really liked it.
pokeybear1's review
3.0
I wanted to like this. It was a quick read. I kept expecting the characters to become more interesting. Instead they were pretty one dimensional and ultimately boring.
gglazer's review
4.0
This novel really gets into the head of an Orthodox Jewish woman, describing her life and her motivations in depth. It's not astoundingly well written or imaginative, but it was really absorbing and I found I couldn't put it down toward the end.