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4.2 AVERAGE
4.2 AVERAGE
my dad has always loved this book all growing up and i actually read it and named my son asher! it is a really good one. it is always interesting to me learning about different beliefs, in this case the Jewish beliefs.
Absolutely masterclass. A must read to anyone.
“You and I will walk together now through the centuries, each of us for our separate deeds that unbalanced the world.”
“You and I will walk together now through the centuries, each of us for our separate deeds that unbalanced the world.”
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I added this book to my favorites for its powerful storytelling, living and breathing characters, perfectly rendered themes, and the emotional weight of a dying star the ending provides. This is a perfect novel, and I can’t wait to read more by Potok.
World building: the historical world set in Brooklyn is perfectly realized, and then there is the Hasidic community: so richly and intimately rendered for the reader share in the weight of betrayal that the community feels when Asher Lev paints his final painting in the book, +++++
World building: the historical world set in Brooklyn is perfectly realized, and then there is the Hasidic community: so richly and intimately rendered for the reader share in the weight of betrayal that the community feels when Asher Lev paints his final painting in the book, +++++
Characterizations: the characters are incredibly realized and beautifully humanized by Potok; no characterization belongs to a puppet for every character is intentionally crafted with whole worlds/lives beyond the narrator’s perspective; the narrator so interestingly rendered because we get what he sees and does, but a lot of how he feels has to be inferred based on what he does or how others react to him, which makes for a mysterious and interesting narrator, +++++
Plot: completely character driven, simple and yet complex because of the inner lives of the characters, heartbreaking ending
Pacing: slow and thoughtful, doesn’t meander or drag its heels because every moment has careful nuance crafted within, +++++
Themes: A novel long conversation about if an individual owes their life to who they are meant or their beliefs, family, and community; themes of destructive artistry, the drive of artists, religious identity, religious parameters being forced to be flexible with “outside” influences; more smaller themes about art, religion, abuse, hatred and anger, family, and fate, +++++
Prose: simple, purely showing over telling, thoughtful, poetic, revelatory, +++++
emotional
informative
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I read this in middle school and didn’t remember it. This read as an adult was a complex journey. Middle school me just didn’t understand. I really enjoyed this.
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
challenging
dark
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Self-indulgent drek.
sometimes people are born different, this hurts their parents
emotional
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Portrait of the artist. Captures the meaning of art, becoming, and steadfastness in the face of powerful conformity and misunderstanding.