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catmar19 's review for:
The Chosen
by Chaim Potok
This book was picked up randomly out of the book room of the school that I work at simply for the fact that I had not read it. Every now and again I slip in and grab a book without reading the back. A little literary adventure into the unknown if you will.
And I was not dissappointed. I was intrigued by the setting. It was an angle of a time and place I had encountered before (America, New York, ca. 1942). It also pleased me that I had learned about Hasidic Jewish culture from A.J. Jacobs's book on living biblically. Without that prior knowledge, I'd have been lost.
The writing was clear and necessary, just the way I like it. The diction was not flowery and seemed to mirror the environment it described. Wonderfully circular that way! The imagery and symbols were there for all to see, but weren't thrown into the reader's face, again pleasing me. It reminded me of A Separate Peace only without all of Gene's ambitious whining. The protagonist of this novel actually gave a damn about someone besides himself.
I don't know that this is a novel from the book room that I will teach to my students. They would assuredly get hung up on the customs, language, and cultural differences. But I enjoyed it and know that much more about the books stacked in that room.
And I was not dissappointed. I was intrigued by the setting. It was an angle of a time and place I had encountered before (America, New York, ca. 1942). It also pleased me that I had learned about Hasidic Jewish culture from A.J. Jacobs's book on living biblically. Without that prior knowledge, I'd have been lost.
The writing was clear and necessary, just the way I like it. The diction was not flowery and seemed to mirror the environment it described. Wonderfully circular that way! The imagery and symbols were there for all to see, but weren't thrown into the reader's face, again pleasing me. It reminded me of A Separate Peace only without all of Gene's ambitious whining. The protagonist of this novel actually gave a damn about someone besides himself.
I don't know that this is a novel from the book room that I will teach to my students. They would assuredly get hung up on the customs, language, and cultural differences. But I enjoyed it and know that much more about the books stacked in that room.