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meredith_mccaskey 's review for:
My Name Is Asher Lev
by Chaim Potok
This is a complex book to review. There are times when Potok’s writing style feels tedious- whole paragraphs of short simple sentences, with no variation. Other times, it works very well within the story. Even though the novel is first person narrative, I found Asher a hard person to get to know- he keeps the reader at an emotional distance for much of the novel, the same way he keeps his parents at a distance.
Since I grew up in Christian fundamentalism, I can identify with some of Asher’s struggle between his artistic passion and his loyalty to his religious tradition, which would deny him his true vocation. I find it fascinating how many parallels I saw between Jewish fundamentalism “Hasidism” and Christian fundamentalism. In one scene Asher is trying desperately to explain to his very disapproving father why he is driven to paint, and he says he paints the truth of his feelings. His father says that there are some feelings which ought to be repressed and covered up. Oof.
Since I grew up in Christian fundamentalism, I can identify with some of Asher’s struggle between his artistic passion and his loyalty to his religious tradition, which would deny him his true vocation. I find it fascinating how many parallels I saw between Jewish fundamentalism “Hasidism” and Christian fundamentalism. In one scene Asher is trying desperately to explain to his very disapproving father why he is driven to paint, and he says he paints the truth of his feelings. His father says that there are some feelings which ought to be repressed and covered up. Oof.