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3.94 AVERAGE
3.94 AVERAGE
Fascinating topic, but it felt unbalanced. The author states she wrote this as soon as she left her husband and community, and I think it shows. Most memoirs add in some happy moments from their past as well, but there really weren’t any included in the book, although there were some hinted at towards the end. I also have a lot of questions about things she mentioned, but didn’t detail, like her husband’s infidelity, how she kept custody of her son, does her son see his father, how did she support herself in a two room apartment which still probably cost $2,500 or more a month, how did she rebuild het relationship with her mother, etc.
Amazing read about an aspect of Judaism I had no idea existed.
I liked this book for recounting the difficulties of life as a Hasidic woman without melodrama.
This is a great companion read to Educated. Her background is Hasidic Jew instead of survivalist Mormon, and her setting is urban Williamsburg instead of rural Idaho, but both are inspiring, well-written stories of women who found incredible strength to leave the worlds in which they were raised, finding education and happiness in the process. This one sputters a bit at the end-- my personal opinion is that the author needed a few more years' perspective-- but on the whole an excellent read.
2.5 rounded up because I feel weird giving memoirs a lower rating—it’s tough to critique someone’s retelling of their life experience because you don’t want to invalidate it; however, Feldman uses most of the book to let out her feelings about her former community rather than laying out important details (though she spends perhaps too much time on her childhood education). While I appreciate how she outlined some of the ways in which she felt restricted by cultural barriers, I also felt like I was left with more questions than answers at the end of the book.
An enthralling autobiography written by a strong and fearless woman - but many questions have sadly been left unanswered.
I had wanted to read this book for a while, and when I had originally been able to start it I had come out of reading a somewhat cheesy thriller romance novel, and it was hard to adjust. The first 75 pages were shaky and dull, but Deborah wrote this biography so well. As a 13 year old girl, to an 18 year old newly wed and a 21 year old mother, I felt so much love for her and even through the very tough moments of vivid traumatic experiences she led us through, I felt this just massive amount of appreciation for her candidness and vulnerability. Honestly, the afterword was my favorite. It gave comforting closure. I’m glad I stuck through the first couple chapters, it’s a great read and I highly recommend!!
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
Really interesting, but not well-written and would have liked it much more if she went more in-depth about what she actually did when she left and how it had been for her and her son in the year between her leaving and writing the book.
emotional
reflective
medium-paced