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4.2 AVERAGE
4.2 AVERAGE
I can't believe I've never reviewed this book! This is my ultimate favorite novel of all time and to this day, I've reread it about five times. There's something about Potok's minimalist writing style that I just can't get over--it's haunting in such an amazing way.
Asher Lev is a Hasidic Jew with an incredible talent for painting and drawing. His father, who is an important man working for the Rebbe in their community, cannot understand his son's strange fascination with art, while his mother tries to understand as best she can (after a break down and a "rebirth," if you will). The story culminates in an indescribable scene at Asher's first art show--a scene that still gives me goosebumps to this very day.
This is one of those novels that I'm afraid to recommend to people because I think I would be hurt if they didn't like it. Crazy, right?
Asher Lev is a Hasidic Jew with an incredible talent for painting and drawing. His father, who is an important man working for the Rebbe in their community, cannot understand his son's strange fascination with art, while his mother tries to understand as best she can (after a break down and a "rebirth," if you will). The story culminates in an indescribable scene at Asher's first art show--a scene that still gives me goosebumps to this very day.
This is one of those novels that I'm afraid to recommend to people because I think I would be hurt if they didn't like it. Crazy, right?
A book about the conflict between faith and being faithful to your art; between professional legitimacy and familial duty; between love of one's art and love of one's family. It's a surprisingly sensitive portrait of the artist as a young Jewish man growing up in a Hasidic community in Brooklyn. Asher Lev is never fully at peace with his decision to be a painter. Pursuing art as a profession, or even a hobby, is not accepted by his strict Orthodox community, who considers the gift to come from the "sitra achra". Despite all the taboos among the Hasids associated with creating art, Asher Lev refuses to compromise artistically, which ultimately leads to heartbreak and isolation. In an age where duty beyond the self is all but forgotten, this book will surely resonate with anyone who is trying to find balance between the world and the divine.
About ten years ago (or maybe it was more), I read several Chaim Potok novels. I hadn't read them as a young adult and felt like I should. I loved them, but My Name is Asher Lev was my favorite. It is a truly beautiful book about art, tradition, and family.
Potok once stated that of all his fictional characters, Asher Lev was the one with whom he identified the most.
My Name is Asher Lev was recommended to me by my friend Tessa during our junior year in high school. It is the story of Asher Lev, a boy born with a prodigious artistic ability into a Hasidic Jewish family in 1940s Brooklyn. The book is replete with powerful imagery and introspective phrases, linking religions and art and family and love and hate.
Interesting to note, the first "Brooklyn Crucifixion", a work by Asher which plays a central role in the novel's conclusion, is an actual painting by Potok himself.
My Name is Asher Lev was recommended to me by my friend Tessa during our junior year in high school. It is the story of Asher Lev, a boy born with a prodigious artistic ability into a Hasidic Jewish family in 1940s Brooklyn. The book is replete with powerful imagery and introspective phrases, linking religions and art and family and love and hate.
Interesting to note, the first "Brooklyn Crucifixion", a work by Asher which plays a central role in the novel's conclusion, is an actual painting by Potok himself.
So at first I was not liking it as much as I remembered (maybe cause I was relating more to the... gasp... parents this time through. But it won me over in the end. The ending devastes me every time
I'm not sure what to say. I would like to read the next.
Typically, any book on Goodreads with an average rating over 4 stars is a pretty safe bet. However, this novel left me feeling underwhelmed. I did not find Chaim Potok to be a strong writer. First, the narration is redundant and banal. "I did this. Then I went here. It looked like this. Then I went there. And I did that." I lost track of how many times it was mentioned that he used the bathroom in the middle of the night. I also feel like the author had a goal for every character to say the name "Asher" at least once per page.
The book is supposed to be this story of tension between Asher and his parents as he creates art, which is apparently a disgrace to the Jewish tradition. However, there is not enough backstory to fully understand the Jewish beliefs around art. The parents are upset and angry without really knowing the full context. It just seems ridiculous. And due to the redundant narration, the story is devoid of sufficient emotion to make the end really come together in a powerful way.
I wanted to see how it turned out, and I was hoping something would change in the writing style, but I would not be worse off without this book.
The book is supposed to be this story of tension between Asher and his parents as he creates art, which is apparently a disgrace to the Jewish tradition. However, there is not enough backstory to fully understand the Jewish beliefs around art. The parents are upset and angry without really knowing the full context. It just seems ridiculous. And due to the redundant narration, the story is devoid of sufficient emotion to make the end really come together in a powerful way.
I wanted to see how it turned out, and I was hoping something would change in the writing style, but I would not be worse off without this book.
written in a way i have never read before. takes you away from wherever you are. puts into words the mind of the artist. art... i understand it a bit more now. the dialogue in this book is one of the best i've read. just spectacular
This was a beautiful book. A Hasidic boy from Brooklyn grows to be someone his family cannot understand- a great artist.
the only better representation of a creator’s passion is ratatouille