A review by seknight61
The Matzah Ball by Jean Meltzer

3.0

This is tough for me bc I liked the story but really didn’t like the book. I really wanted to and I read it fast and stayed up till 2am to finish it, but I was annoyed the entire time. Hear me out. It’s definitely made for a Jewish crowd, but it is SO overly Jewish that I was annoyed bc I want non-Jews to read it and I don’t know they will. Sure it was fun to understand so many references, but I felt like I was reading a Jewish dictionary. Every Yiddish or Hebrew word was italicized and defined. That’s great, but there were so many references on each page. I’m a northeastern Jew who grew up being active in synagogue and youth group and went to sleepaway camp. I spent 9 summers at camp. I have never referenced “camp Ramah” when talking to friends, ESPECIALLY camp friends. We say “camp” or “Ramah” but never the full name. That got annoying. The author also tried to put in everything and it sounded weird- Shabbat observance, kashrut, holidays, shiva, minyan, Holocaust Survivor stories, stereotypical Jewish hair, sleepaway camp. It was just let’s put everything Jewish in here. Also, I have an invisible chronic illness and Rachel pissed me off with the way she went about her life. I hated her lying and deceiving and she never let Jacob explain things. I was just annoyed the entire book. So, fun story and although it was weird to see Hanukkah made into something that it’s not, it was nice to read a book I could relate to.