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A review by alexisrt
Shmutz by Felicia Berliner
3.0
I'm not sure how to review this. It's well written, but there was something about this that bothered me. I am not particularly bothered if a book featuring Orthodox Jews is perceived as portraying the community positively or negatively, unless it's ludicrously one-sided. What concerns me is authenticity and texture.
There's a lot this book gets right--the sexual repression and deliberate ignorance, many of the details of Hasidic life, the specific dialect of Yiddish. But I'm stuck on the central premise--that a girl from one of the more insular sects (which Raizl is clearly supposed to be) would go to a co-ed, non-religious college program, scholarship or no, while remaining a part of her community. That her high school would actually send the transcripts. There are frum programs in Brooklyn, primarily aimed at the yeshivish Orthodox. It rang entirely false to me. What happens to Raizl--the Internet, non-religious friends--is everything Hasidic culture seeks to prevent. It's necessary for the plot, but I'm stuck on it.
There's a lot that rings true about Raizl's rebellion (the porn is rather specific) but the resolution doesn't quite feel fleshed out. What pushes her away from her community is well outlined, but less so what keeps her in, beyond a sense of duty. I don't mean that in a "what's good about Hasidism" way, but what her personal attachment is. I didn't feel, as I sometimes do with stories about the Hasidic community, that it was written entirely for the prurient interest of outsiders. It felt like a genuine interest in exploring sexual conflict.
I would be interested to read a review from someone who is from one of the more insular Hasidic communities to read this. My understanding is that the author is Jewish, had a yeshiva education, but is modern and not Hasidic. There's at least as much space between Satmar and modern Orthodox as there is between modern Orthodox and Conservative.
There's a lot this book gets right--the sexual repression and deliberate ignorance, many of the details of Hasidic life, the specific dialect of Yiddish. But I'm stuck on the central premise--that a girl from one of the more insular sects (which Raizl is clearly supposed to be) would go to a co-ed, non-religious college program, scholarship or no, while remaining a part of her community. That her high school would actually send the transcripts. There are frum programs in Brooklyn, primarily aimed at the yeshivish Orthodox. It rang entirely false to me. What happens to Raizl--the Internet, non-religious friends--is everything Hasidic culture seeks to prevent. It's necessary for the plot, but I'm stuck on it.
There's a lot that rings true about Raizl's rebellion (the porn is rather specific) but the resolution doesn't quite feel fleshed out. What pushes her away from her community is well outlined, but less so what keeps her in, beyond a sense of duty. I don't mean that in a "what's good about Hasidism" way, but what her personal attachment is. I didn't feel, as I sometimes do with stories about the Hasidic community, that it was written entirely for the prurient interest of outsiders. It felt like a genuine interest in exploring sexual conflict.
I would be interested to read a review from someone who is from one of the more insular Hasidic communities to read this. My understanding is that the author is Jewish, had a yeshiva education, but is modern and not Hasidic. There's at least as much space between Satmar and modern Orthodox as there is between modern Orthodox and Conservative.