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A review by cafecitoyt
Shmutz by Felicia Berliner
2.0
Raizl is navigating her fear of being forever alone with her faith and porn addiction. Raizl is intelligent and curious and she pushes her family’s strict boundaries re: education / career trajectories for women.
As someone who was (and I’m sure still is) ignorant of Hasidic tradition, it was difficult to read and understand the weight of some of the family’s interactions. Another layer of difficulty was the amount of Yiddish used - it would have been better if the glossary was moved to the front of the book so the reader is aware that it’s available.
Overall, I I liked the /idea/ of the plot, but the execution wasn’t it for me. I ended up skimming through the middle of the book so I wouldn’t put it on my DNF list. Thank you to NetGalley for the Arc!
As someone who was (and I’m sure still is) ignorant of Hasidic tradition, it was difficult to read and understand the weight of some of the family’s interactions. Another layer of difficulty was the amount of Yiddish used - it would have been better if the glossary was moved to the front of the book so the reader is aware that it’s available.
Overall, I I liked the /idea/ of the plot, but the execution wasn’t it for me. I ended up skimming through the middle of the book so I wouldn’t put it on my DNF list. Thank you to NetGalley for the Arc!