A review by sophelstien
Shmutz by Felicia Berliner

5.0

LOVED THIS. i loved the style so much, the yinglish was a great and strong choice and really colored the world raizl was living in. very lovely coming of age story for someone in a unique setting: cloistered in an insular, anti-assimilationist, high-control ultra-orthodox community that exists totally couched in 21st century new york city and all that comes with it. i always love a horny protagonist and raizl does not disappoint. i adored the descriptions of the porn, i loved the porn as a window into raizl's sexuality, her complete lack of control over her life and how she copes with that, her curiosity regarding the outside world, and her teetering on the precipice of adulthood in multiple senses. raizl herself was lovely, funny, relatable and very sympathetic. i found some of it to be a bit clumsy (especially the very quick reference to racism within the ultra-orthodox community as well as the storyline regarding the rebbtizin) but that's okay. i read this book almost entirely in one day.