The Chosen by Chaïm Potok
OK so I am sorry to report a book that I didn't love. If you Google search it it is highly rated and was once a best seller in the sixties when it was written but...I am sorry to report it wasn't my favorite. There were redeeming parts...
A huge part of this book is Judaism, which I enjoyed learning about. I found a group of people so different from me and yet hugely familiar. The things that are important to them are to me- Faith, culture and family all play a huge part in this book.
I enjoyed the father son relationships in this book . A book with no female dialog, completely filled with father son conversation was unusual and I enjoyed this new dynamic.
BUT overall I would not recommend it. It was too wordy with descriptions that made no sense and I found myself skipping pages upon pages of description just looking for the next set of dialogue. Sorry...not my favorite. Hopefully I have better luck in my reading endeavors next time!
SO TRUE ANDREA! I read this book in highschool and was bored out of my gourd! And that's alot for me because I love to read. But I was just like you - wading through paragraph-long sentences about the complexities of Judaism and longing for somebody to SAY something! The author had way too many goals for this book - tell a semi-interesting father/son story, comment on the struggle of new generations to merge their history with American culture, and educate the world on the complexities of Judaism (just to name the obvious ones). I felt that he should've kept the storyline moving while tossing in tidbits about religion here and there. Instead it was painfully heavy-handed in history and theology. There were times where I forgot what in the world was happening with the characters and what in the world the author was even talking about.
ReplyDeleteThank you for posting a forthright review, despite the fact that it was a negative one. I admire you for your honesty.
Alas, I enjoyed the book, but then it is my favorite genre, historical fiction. But to be honest, I probably wouldn't recommend it to just anyone to read. Your review and Laurens comment have merit.
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