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4.02 AVERAGE
4.02 AVERAGE
An Orthodox Jewish teen falls for a Christian girl and begins to question things in their small town as antisemitism escalates. Give to readers who enjoy sarcastic wordplay and religious introspection. 7th grade and up
Hoodie made me laugh out loud when I was sick. He also shattered my heart. It hit close to home.
emotional
hopeful
informative
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
This book took me a shockingly long time to read. It isn't overly long (not really long at all), nor is it a particularly complex or involved story. There was just something about it--maybe the writing, maybe the characters, I'm not sure--that didn't fully click with me the way I'd hoped it would.
It was a perfectly fine book, moving at times, effective for the most part, and educated me about aspects of the orthodox Jewish faith I did not know before without feeling dry or lecture-y.
But something just never fully connected for me and so some of the more deeply emotional moments didn't totally land the way they were intended to.
I'm glad I read this and would be open to reading more from Blum down the line, but I, sadly, don't think this book will stick with me for very long.
It was a perfectly fine book, moving at times, effective for the most part, and educated me about aspects of the orthodox Jewish faith I did not know before without feeling dry or lecture-y.
But something just never fully connected for me and so some of the more deeply emotional moments didn't totally land the way they were intended to.
I'm glad I read this and would be open to reading more from Blum down the line, but I, sadly, don't think this book will stick with me for very long.
3.5
This book is about Hoodie, short for Yehuda, who is a member of the Orthodox Jewish community in his town. A community that recently relocated, and is not finding as much acceptance in their new town. The gentile people, or non-Jewish people, are first just not understanding of them, then standoffish, and later transition to being purely hateful and exclusionary.
I actually knew next to nothing about Orthodox Jews, so getting into this book was a slow process for me, just because hearing about the culture was a different kind of worldbuilding for me to process. I hope that doesn't come off in a bad way, because the worldbuilding was really good, and I can appreciate the author for providing such a clear view into a culture that I'm not familiar with. Although Hoodie questions aspects of his faith, he never talks down on it, he just is at a stage, and in life circumstances, where he wonders if there's any way to modernize.
The life circumstances, specifically, is that he meets a girl named Anna-Marie. She happens to be the daughter of the shitty mayor who is sort of leading a little campaign against having Jewish people in their town. It is painfully cringe to watch Hoodie believe that he's dating her just because they've spoken and spent some time together, but it also makes total sense because of what he's been taught, and also what he hasn't been taught.
This book gets surprisingly dark, in a way that I don't believe is alluded to. So please check trigger warnings. There's already the trigger warning for antisemitism, which is a huge aspect in this book, but there is an event that is quite intense near the end of the book.
It was very enlightening to read about someone in a very strict religion sort of question their religion and test the limits of it, and sometimes go past its limits. Hoodie's narration style is pretty self-centered, just in the way that it's mostly about him, so there really isn't a hugely clear picture of what other characters are like. They all have personality traits and they have conversations with Hoodie and stuff, but at the same time, I just don't know how connected I ended up feeling to any of them. Conversely, Hoodie was a funny main character to read from, and I did feel connected to him.
This is a short book, but with pretty impactful content, and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this to pretty much anyone. It provides a view into another culture, but not in a way that really feels super educational, just from the POV of a sorta dumb teenage boy who is coming of age and learning more about himself and how he fits in to both his community and the world outside that.
This book is about Hoodie, short for Yehuda, who is a member of the Orthodox Jewish community in his town. A community that recently relocated, and is not finding as much acceptance in their new town. The gentile people, or non-Jewish people, are first just not understanding of them, then standoffish, and later transition to being purely hateful and exclusionary.
I actually knew next to nothing about Orthodox Jews, so getting into this book was a slow process for me, just because hearing about the culture was a different kind of worldbuilding for me to process. I hope that doesn't come off in a bad way, because the worldbuilding was really good, and I can appreciate the author for providing such a clear view into a culture that I'm not familiar with. Although Hoodie questions aspects of his faith, he never talks down on it, he just is at a stage, and in life circumstances, where he wonders if there's any way to modernize.
The life circumstances, specifically, is that he meets a girl named Anna-Marie. She happens to be the daughter of the shitty mayor who is sort of leading a little campaign against having Jewish people in their town. It is painfully cringe to watch Hoodie believe that he's dating her just because they've spoken and spent some time together, but it also makes total sense because of what he's been taught, and also what he hasn't been taught.
This book gets surprisingly dark, in a way that I don't believe is alluded to. So please check trigger warnings. There's already the trigger warning for antisemitism, which is a huge aspect in this book, but there is an event that is quite intense near the end of the book.
It was very enlightening to read about someone in a very strict religion sort of question their religion and test the limits of it, and sometimes go past its limits. Hoodie's narration style is pretty self-centered, just in the way that it's mostly about him, so there really isn't a hugely clear picture of what other characters are like. They all have personality traits and they have conversations with Hoodie and stuff, but at the same time, I just don't know how connected I ended up feeling to any of them. Conversely, Hoodie was a funny main character to read from, and I did feel connected to him.
This is a short book, but with pretty impactful content, and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this to pretty much anyone. It provides a view into another culture, but not in a way that really feels super educational, just from the POV of a sorta dumb teenage boy who is coming of age and learning more about himself and how he fits in to both his community and the world outside that.
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
informative
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This one started a bit slow for me, but I loved it once it got going. I enjoyed reading about an Orthodox Jewish life and learned quite a bit. I enjoyed the development of the main characters and their coming of age story. Definitely recommend this one, and the audio was well done.
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
I really love Hoodie's voice as the narrator. There were multiple times i would have highlighted a quote if i was a person who annotated things just to look back at it and laugh.
That being said, some incredibly difficult topics of hate crimes and identity struggles within a minority community come up. I think the book handled them well, and I liked the balance of comedy and tragedy. Being 15 is hard and Hoodie experiences things no one should, on top of things many people do.
A super quick read and enjoyable.
The use of hebrew is very reminiscent of the Spanish in Cemetery Boys where some less common things are explained in English, but you frequently need to use context. I like that style
That being said, some incredibly difficult topics of hate crimes and identity struggles within a minority community come up. I think the book handled them well, and I liked the balance of comedy and tragedy. Being 15 is hard and Hoodie experiences things no one should, on top of things many people do.
A super quick read and enjoyable.
The use of hebrew is very reminiscent of the Spanish in Cemetery Boys where some less common things are explained in English, but you frequently need to use context. I like that style
Content Warnings
Graphic: Hate crime, Antisemitism
challenging
emotional
funny
informative
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Love love love this book! the writing style is just amazing, and the story is told with such detail, clearly lets you picture the exact events and setting, everything! the plot isn’t too fast nor too slow, and you can clearly see all the events being used. many other books will use a scene, and then never let it affect the character or come into action later on, but this isn’t the case! its a quick read and a really good book, def recommend!