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4.2 AVERAGE
4.2 AVERAGE
Amazing read. From the synopsis it doesn't sound particularly interesting. But holy crap is it a powerful book.
This was such a hard book! It really made me think and pulled at (or rather tried to rip out) my heart strings. It was hard to decide who to agree with and decide what was “right” because each lifestyle had good to it and had such far reaching consequences. But no matter who was right or wrong or neither, my heart hurt for the parents. As a mother, this family situation would be so hard to deal with. Loving your kids can hurt. And I hurt for Asher, who just wanted to be himself. What would I have done if I were him? I have no idea.
It really made me think of my own relationships and life choices. This is a very relatable story. It stuck with me for weeks. It was hard to get into anything else because I was so emotionally effected by this.
So, in conclusion, not as good as The Chosen, but more emotional and relatable. Both are great books that I will read again. But I need to remember how hard this one was to read!
It really made me think of my own relationships and life choices. This is a very relatable story. It stuck with me for weeks. It was hard to get into anything else because I was so emotionally effected by this.
So, in conclusion, not as good as The Chosen, but more emotional and relatable. Both are great books that I will read again. But I need to remember how hard this one was to read!
Reread this for a group read.
I vaguely remember reading this years ago and thinking it was good but so depressing that I didn't like reading it, and certainly would not have imaged reading it a second time.
No complaints this time. I was fascinated throughout the book, which reads fast, and I was strikingly moved at the end (even though I knew exactly how it ended). What I enjoyed about rereading was that I could think about what made the book work the way it does. Potok is not world-class Nobel prize deserving author, but he is a master at world building. Early in the book we are brought deeply in the world of Hasidic Judaism, with it's ritual and structure and beliefs, and how it consumes and fulfills the lives of its members. This world is presented beautifully and we stay there throughout the book, even as Asher progressively separates himself.
Once we are so intimate with this world, Potok can refer back to in a variety of ways. As Asher, a natural artist, involuntarily breaks out of this world, we feel what he is losing and what he loses.
A wonderful read.
I vaguely remember reading this years ago and thinking it was good but so depressing that I didn't like reading it, and certainly would not have imaged reading it a second time.
No complaints this time. I was fascinated throughout the book, which reads fast, and I was strikingly moved at the end (even though I knew exactly how it ended). What I enjoyed about rereading was that I could think about what made the book work the way it does. Potok is not world-class Nobel prize deserving author, but he is a master at world building. Early in the book we are brought deeply in the world of Hasidic Judaism, with it's ritual and structure and beliefs, and how it consumes and fulfills the lives of its members. This world is presented beautifully and we stay there throughout the book, even as Asher progressively separates himself.
Once we are so intimate with this world, Potok can refer back to in a variety of ways. As Asher, a natural artist, involuntarily breaks out of this world, we feel what he is losing and what he loses.
A wonderful read.
I first read this book for a class on macro organizational behavior in my MBA program. I know, that seems like an odd choice for a business class, but it generated a terrific discussion, and hooked me on Chaim Potok. It takes up the story of Asher Lev, a child who is a gifted artist with parents who neither understand nor approve of his passion for painting. It follows his struggles to fulfill his innermost desire to paint juxtaposed with his loyalty to his Jewish faith and his love for (and frustration with) his parents. It is a terrific coming of age story, with the added twist of a young man learning to balance his involvements in secular and spiritual worlds that are both important to him.
2019 review: I enjoyed this even more the second time. I empathized more with all of the major characters (especially Asher’s parents and Asher himself) and found the book to be incredibly emotional. This may be a book I find myself reading every five years or so.
2015 review: A rich book that captures the deep joys and sadness of Asher's artistic talent, the complexity of his relationships, and the steadfastness of his Jewish faith. An abundance of information about art in general as well. Another "5" for me although I still like "The Chosen" better.
2015 review: A rich book that captures the deep joys and sadness of Asher's artistic talent, the complexity of his relationships, and the steadfastness of his Jewish faith. An abundance of information about art in general as well. Another "5" for me although I still like "The Chosen" better.
3.5 ★
Themes of family expectation, religion and pursuing your passion in spite of it all. The Chosen is still my favorite of Potok’s work, but enjoyed reading this especially for all the focus on art.
Themes of family expectation, religion and pursuing your passion in spite of it all. The Chosen is still my favorite of Potok’s work, but enjoyed reading this especially for all the focus on art.
Oh my this book was a journey. An emotion-filled, thought-provoking, transformative journey. I ought to be writing an essay rather than a review on it but I'm not in school anymore so haha this is what we get.
My primary experience of this novel was "heaviness." Everything felt weighty. Here I was carrying childhood depression (the best and most relatable representation of this I think I've ever read in a novel), Russian progroms (which while existing on the periphery of Asher's life seem to be the dense center of gravity anchoring his whole family's existence), the torture of growing up gifted and different in an Orthodox community (you would think fundamentalist religion would be a larger piece of the trauma in this book than it is, but rather it is the weight of family expectations and the weirdness of being brilliant that causes far more turmoil).
I did begin to feel the book was a bit self-indulgent 2/3-3/4 of the way through and I became annoyed with it the same way I became annoyed with Dead Poets' Society and other such cloying stories of tortured rich boys. At one point a character tells Asher Lev he's had such a terribly difficult life and I'm like...I'm sorry, ok, some bad things happened around you, true, but every person in your life moved heaven and earth so you could do what you wanted from the time you were a child. You had a loving, heavily invested family, there were NO repercussions to your failure at school or to your stealing or to disrespecting your parents. As a matter of fact, there are many moments when Asher is not a sympathetic narrator at all, falling into the narcissism of the artistic prodigy that I can't determine was intentional or not on Potok's part.
But the end...dear Jesus (
My primary experience of this novel was "heaviness." Everything felt weighty. Here I was carrying childhood depression (the best and most relatable representation of this I think I've ever read in a novel), Russian progroms (which while existing on the periphery of Asher's life seem to be the dense center of gravity anchoring his whole family's existence), the torture of growing up gifted and different in an Orthodox community (you would think fundamentalist religion would be a larger piece of the trauma in this book than it is, but rather it is the weight of family expectations and the weirdness of being brilliant that causes far more turmoil).
I did begin to feel the book was a bit self-indulgent 2/3-3/4 of the way through and I became annoyed with it the same way I became annoyed with Dead Poets' Society and other such cloying stories of tortured rich boys. At one point a character tells Asher Lev he's had such a terribly difficult life and I'm like...I'm sorry, ok, some bad things happened around you, true, but every person in your life moved heaven and earth so you could do what you wanted from the time you were a child. You had a loving, heavily invested family, there were NO repercussions to your failure at school or to your stealing or to disrespecting your parents. As a matter of fact, there are many moments when Asher is not a sympathetic narrator at all, falling into the narcissism of the artistic prodigy that I can't determine was intentional or not on Potok's part.
But the end...dear Jesus (
Props to Alex for a good recommendation. Very enjoyable and a little bit sad at the same time. I couldn't put it down.
It took a long time to get into this book. After a couple of weeks of reading pages here and pages there, something changed in the narrative. The pace didn't pick up, but the build-up in emotions of the main character, Asher Lev, was so eloquently expressed to the reader that I was entirely wrapped up in his many conflicts. I found myself waking up at 5am with the notion, "Pick up the book!"
If I wasn't an Ashkenazic Jew, I don't know if I would have understood a lot of this book. It's very Yiddish-heavy and based in a lot of customs that may be completely foreign to non-Jews. However, I think as a work of fiction, it's universal in terms of the psychology and familial relations explored by Potok.
I want to read more of his books.
If I wasn't an Ashkenazic Jew, I don't know if I would have understood a lot of this book. It's very Yiddish-heavy and based in a lot of customs that may be completely foreign to non-Jews. However, I think as a work of fiction, it's universal in terms of the psychology and familial relations explored by Potok.
I want to read more of his books.