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A review by palmaceae
Starglass by Phoebe North
2.0
A disappointing read. I was recommended this book as a rare example of science fiction dealing with Jews. The Jewish element of this book is shallow and irrelevant. Without the Jewish cultural angle, there's not much to make this book stand out from the numerous other okayish YA dystopian novels. I'd give 2.5 stars but the system won't let me.
The Asherah is "committed to the continuation of the Jewish culture" and launched by secular Jews. Jewish culture is heavily derived from religious practice. What Jewish culture has been preserved exactly, other than most of the characters' names and dropping Yiddish and Hebrew words once in awhile? The only hint of religious practice is that some people light electric candles on Friday night. The average citizen doesn't know about the Torah (Bible), even in a non-religious way. The name "Asherah" is problematic as my understanding is that it refers to an idol/polytheism, something expressly forbidden in Judaism. Sterilization is a big no-no in Judaism, and any sort of circumcision would have to take place on the eighth day of life, not at age 13. The requirement that "seventy percent of the passenger list must be of Jewish descent" comes off... I hesitate to say racist but it's problematic (I think secular Jews insisting that their secular children only marry other Jews is a problematic stance, but this is not the place for that discussion), as the Jewish bloodline is being preserved, not culture (and what's the point of bringing along non-Jews? Not genetic diversity, as that can easily be manipulated, all I can think of is patrilineal descent, which was traditionally and is currently not accepted by many branches of Judaism).
I could keep going. I'm not criticizing that the author changed or evolved practices and culture, I'm criticizing that there was little to no grounding in actual Jewish-Ashkenazi culture (the dominant group I am assuming this is based on, due to the Yiddish - I'm not seeing any Ladino or Judeo-Arabic, for example, so that rules out the other groups). To be fair, there are some things I could connect to Judaism (such as requirement to reproduce - interestingly enough, the onus is on men, not women, to reproduce, and the definition of what fulfills that requirement is varied, but one common thought is that it's one boy and one girl...) but the average reader would not be able to spot that connection, and given Terra and her ancestor's penchant for exposition, there are many opportunities to elaborate. As it stands though, you could remove almost any Jewish reference and insert a non-Jewish reference in its place without making a difference in the story - it doesn't matter. Jewish culture is rich and diverse, and I wish that it was relevant to the plot in some way and left readers feeling like they had learned something about Jewish culture.
The Asherah is "committed to the continuation of the Jewish culture" and launched by secular Jews. Jewish culture is heavily derived from religious practice. What Jewish culture has been preserved exactly, other than most of the characters' names and dropping Yiddish and Hebrew words once in awhile? The only hint of religious practice is that some people light electric candles on Friday night. The average citizen doesn't know about the Torah (Bible), even in a non-religious way. The name "Asherah" is problematic as my understanding is that it refers to an idol/polytheism, something expressly forbidden in Judaism. Sterilization is a big no-no in Judaism, and any sort of circumcision would have to take place on the eighth day of life, not at age 13. The requirement that "seventy percent of the passenger list must be of Jewish descent" comes off... I hesitate to say racist but it's problematic (I think secular Jews insisting that their secular children only marry other Jews is a problematic stance, but this is not the place for that discussion), as the Jewish bloodline is being preserved, not culture (and what's the point of bringing along non-Jews? Not genetic diversity, as that can easily be manipulated, all I can think of is patrilineal descent, which was traditionally and is currently not accepted by many branches of Judaism).
I could keep going. I'm not criticizing that the author changed or evolved practices and culture, I'm criticizing that there was little to no grounding in actual Jewish-Ashkenazi culture (the dominant group I am assuming this is based on, due to the Yiddish - I'm not seeing any Ladino or Judeo-Arabic, for example, so that rules out the other groups). To be fair, there are some things I could connect to Judaism (such as requirement to reproduce - interestingly enough, the onus is on men, not women, to reproduce, and the definition of what fulfills that requirement is varied, but one common thought is that it's one boy and one girl...) but the average reader would not be able to spot that connection, and given Terra and her ancestor's penchant for exposition, there are many opportunities to elaborate. As it stands though, you could remove almost any Jewish reference and insert a non-Jewish reference in its place without making a difference in the story - it doesn't matter. Jewish culture is rich and diverse, and I wish that it was relevant to the plot in some way and left readers feeling like they had learned something about Jewish culture.