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4.2 AVERAGE
4.2 AVERAGE
This book was the subject of my English 30 departmental (sort of like the SAT's for Canadians). I campaigned for this book to be read at the start of the year instead of Great Expectations, about which many of my older friends had complained. Having spent three years dissecting the Great Classics, I wanted to read something from the teaching list that hadn't been ground into dust already. The teacher later thanked me for helping to choose a book with a modern subject.
If you are interested in learning about the day-to-day life of Hasidic Jews, this is an excellent place to start.
If you are interested in learning about the day-to-day life of Hasidic Jews, this is an excellent place to start.
The audio book was engaging from the very beginning. Every time I turned it off, I couldn't wait to get back to it. I loved the descriptions of all the art in the book. The only thing I was so curious about was where the story came from because it so read like a memoir. Excellent writing. I am very impressed and can't wait to read more from this author.
Beautifully written. Very worthwhile to read and better for it.
Why have I never read any Chaim Potok until now? This is a simple book of one boy's coming of age, trying to find his place like any other kid. And yet. It is a conversation about obligation: of the artist to his work and to his loved ones, of parents to child and vice versa, of religion to its adherents and vice versa, of humans to God and to our ancestors and to our dreams and to ourselves. And it is beautiful.
Caveat: the main character is a Hasidic Jew and if you aren't Jewish, in the beginning the prayers may be confusing. Hang in there; I think it's still worth reading anyway.
Caveat: the main character is a Hasidic Jew and if you aren't Jewish, in the beginning the prayers may be confusing. Hang in there; I think it's still worth reading anyway.
Potok's prose is beautiful. I was completely captured by Asher, by his strange, aching need to create art. What a loss to the literary world it was when Potok died....
My Name is Asher Lev by Chaim Potok is the story of a young Hasidic Jewish boy who has an uncanny gift for drawing. This gift flies in the face of his parent's - especially his father's - religious beliefs and plans for Asher's life.
Over the years, and despite his father's anger, Asher continues his deep compulsion for drawing. The tension between them is very strong, and Asher's mother is caught in the middle.
It's a good story, an easy read, and you don't need a religious background to appreciate it - although you may spend some time googling certain Yiddish words! I highly recommend it.
Over the years, and despite his father's anger, Asher continues his deep compulsion for drawing. The tension between them is very strong, and Asher's mother is caught in the middle.
It's a good story, an easy read, and you don't need a religious background to appreciate it - although you may spend some time googling certain Yiddish words! I highly recommend it.
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
This book definitely held my attention. Sometimes I really wanted to yell at Asher and I didn't care too much for the ending, but it was an enjoyable book. I would like to give this book 3.5 starts. For some reason three doesn't seem like enough, but four seems like to many. :)
Beautiful, beautiful book.
This tells the story of Asher Lev, an observant Hasidic jew in 1950s Brooklyn. Unlike everyone else in his community, Asher is an artist and this book is the story of how art leads Asher down a different path to that expected of him.
I had very limited knowledge of the lives of hasidic jews before reading this and so I needed to look up quite a few of the rituals, prayers and significant days to understand what was going on, but this was so beautifully written and so evocative of a misfit's state of mind that I was just swept into Asher's world.
This tells the story of Asher Lev, an observant Hasidic jew in 1950s Brooklyn. Unlike everyone else in his community, Asher is an artist and this book is the story of how art leads Asher down a different path to that expected of him.
I had very limited knowledge of the lives of hasidic jews before reading this and so I needed to look up quite a few of the rituals, prayers and significant days to understand what was going on, but this was so beautifully written and so evocative of a misfit's state of mind that I was just swept into Asher's world.
This was a truly marvelous book. It was was almost as existential as anything I've read by Albert Camus, and yet, it was from the Orthodox Jewish perspective for which Chaim Potok was known. Asher Lev's development as an artist is a fascinating tale. I don't know if it was quite as good as The Chosen, but it still deserves the same five stars I gave that book.