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A review by saraklem
The Orchard by David Hopen
4.0
Overall, really satisfying. I won't do this book the injustice of comparing it to *cough* anything else, because it well and truly stands on its own.
Our narrator, Ari, is a fascinating character, having grown up in a strictly Jewish neighborhood and even more strict household. When a group of less-devout teens take him under their wing, we watch him grapple with his faith. In fact, we watch all of them grapple with their faith in different ways -- and it overwhelms the group to the point that something terrible happens. Or many things.
The characters are layered and the story is well thought-out. It's potentially too long. There are a *lot* of scenes that don't need to be there, and a *lot* of heady philosophical discussions. The latter should really be pared down, because it becomes easy to want to skim them, making it easy to miss the key references that tie the story together and make it brilliant. Still, it is really brilliant.
I recommend reading on Kindle if you're not familiar with yiddish/Jewish terminology -- I learned so much!
Our narrator, Ari, is a fascinating character, having grown up in a strictly Jewish neighborhood and even more strict household. When a group of less-devout teens take him under their wing, we watch him grapple with his faith. In fact, we watch all of them grapple with their faith in different ways -- and it overwhelms the group to the point that something terrible happens. Or many things.
The characters are layered and the story is well thought-out. It's potentially too long. There are a *lot* of scenes that don't need to be there, and a *lot* of heady philosophical discussions. The latter should really be pared down, because it becomes easy to want to skim them, making it easy to miss the key references that tie the story together and make it brilliant. Still, it is really brilliant.
I recommend reading on Kindle if you're not familiar with yiddish/Jewish terminology -- I learned so much!