The Sacrifice of Tamar (migrated from Bookblogger)

Posted on by marjorieseidenfeld

The Sacrifice of Tamar by Naomi Ragen

I should probably digest this book more before writing this blog entry…  there is so much to it.  The basic story is about Tamar, the good, obedient daughter of an Ultra-Orthodox Jewish family who after marrying a righteous, law-abiding Hassid, is raped by a black man.  She is so terrified to tell anyone for fear that she might be cut off or humiliated in some way, that she proceeds as planned to her mikvah, goes home to her husband, and pretends that nothing has happened.  Of course, about a month later, she notes that her period is late and she is in a panic.  What should she do?  What if this is her husband’s baby?  What if it isn’t?

In her turmoil, she turns to the 2 women who were always there for her, in a sense.  Her friend Hadassah, the rebellious daughter of the highly honored Rebbe, and her friend Jenny, who has chosen her faith along with her value of education and independance.  Each gives a voice to the various sides of the religion debate, and each is articulate and smart.  Hadassah, taken with the colorful choices in the world that are not allowed by the restrictive lifestyle of the ultra-faithful, seems to drift from one distraction to another without a purpose.  On the other hand, Tamar gives voice to the law and closed religious society, which gives structure and purpose, in spite of the choking need to hide anything that isn’t perfect, anything that will ruin a reputation and standing in the community.  Somewhere in between is the voice of Jenny, the voice that questions and seeks knowledge and individuality, but also loves the good teachings of the Torah, the ethics and the humanity that can be found there.

There is a lot of discussion of who is really faithful and good and who just gives the appearance of what is good.  Will Josh, Tamar’s husband come through and do what is good or will he obey the law, as Tamar sees it?  Will Tamar herself ever stop being hypocritical and stop hiding herself and her truth so that she can finally be happy and not criticize everyone else?

Again, Naomi Ragen has written another book that exposes the paradoxes of the religious Jewish community, where there is true beauty and there is also true ugliness.  A lot to think about!

The Storyteller (migrated from Bookblogger)

Posted on by marjorieseidenfeld

The Storyteller by Jodi Picoult

So I have to share that this book was made all the more special to me because my daughter and I actually attended a reading of this book by Jodi Picoult herself!  I was of course expecting the worst (cynic that I am) — that it would be a mob scene and we’d wait and wait only to be at the back of a huge room at the Barnes and Nobles at Union Square where we’d only catch a glimpse.  But I was instead so pleasantly surprised!  It was so well-organized and easy and utterly enjoyable.  Ms. Picoult  is the ultimate storyteller!   She read from her book with the expression of a closet actress, she told us stories about the Holocaust survivors she interviewed during her research, and she so gracefully and with such humor answered many questions from the audience about herself and her writing.  She is a gracious presence — she is smart and funny and warm and the kind of person you just want to go out and have a drink with.  I could have listened to her for hours! After she signed our book and chatted with us for a minute or two, we walked away and my daughter turned to me and exclaimed, “Mom, I’m so star-struck!”  I have to admit:  I was too!

BUT on to the the book…  The book has an outrageously “Picoultian”premise.  A young, reclusive woman named Sage who has lost her mother, attends a grief support group where she befriends an old man in his 90’s.  This man, Josef, admits to her that he is a former SS guard at Auschwitz and asks her to help him die and to forgive him of his sins.  What he doesn’t know is that Sage’s grandmother is a Holocaust survivor.  In fact, Sage doesn’t really even know much about her grandmother’s history as her grandmother has kept the details to herself all these years.  This book is the resultant telling of stories — the recounting of history — by the two characters who lived it.  It is also the process of sorting out the ideas of evil and good as well as forgiveness and revenge.  Can someone who has committed  hideous deeds ever be forgiven?  And by whom?  Can a good person do bad things and get beyond that and/or compensate for it?  What is forgiveness?

As usual, Jodi Picoult gives the various perspectives on the story in her brilliant way and has the reader pondering yet another enormous, controversial issue.  This is why I love her writing and am already looking forward to her next book!

The Lost Wife (migrated from bookblogger)

Posted on by marjorieseidenfeld

The Lost Wife by Alyson Richman

This is the beautifully written saga of Lenka and Josef who fall in love in the late 1930’s in the romantic city of Prague, just prior to the onset of WWII.  The war separates them tragically and the story tells the tale of their lives during and after the war.  Lenka is caught in the Nazi web of ghetto, deportation, and concentration camps.  The reader feels her hunger and filth and cold along with her, it is made so real.  Josef manages to escape to America, but the loss of his family is a silent ache that he secretly bears his whole life.  Eventually, life brings them together but only after they have lived thinking the other had died during the war.

This book is a love story but it is filled with well-researched historical fiction, with more history than fiction.  Some of the characters that the author has woven into the story were real people that the author learned about in her research of the Holocaust.  The author highlights, in particular, the artwork that was done by both the children and the adults in Theresin, the showcase camp set up by the Germans.  These brave souls depicted, in their art, the hideous conditions in which they were living and some of their paintings and drawings were able to be leaked out to the world for publication.  Many more were uncovered after the inmates were liberated.  This book celebrated the many brave souls, both Jewish and non-Jewish, who fought their own artistic battle with their Nazi captors.

What was also unique about this book was how the author highlighted the tragedy not only of those who lived through the concentration camps but also those who escaped but lost family, homes and all that was familiar to them.  While those who lived through the camps suffered unimaginable horrors, those who were forced to leave their homes, their possessions, their birthplaces, were also displaced and    traumatized in their own ways.  Those who came to America had to learn a new language, become familiar with an entirely different culture and learn to cope with the losses they inevitably endured.  In addition, the “survivors guilt” must have been overwhelming.  I love that this book brought this to light,  showing further how the Holocaust caused such far-reaching suffering and tragedy.

Testimony (migrated from bookblogger)

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Testimony by Anita Shreve

Another gripping novel by Anita Shreve!  The author takes a not-so-unheard-of story — teenagers doing something risky and foolish and suffering tragic consequences — and tells it in a very unusual way — a composite of “testimony” given by all of the characters who are directly or indirectly affected by the incident.  The story begins with a headmaster of a private boarding school watching a videotape of a group of his students drunk and having a complicated sexual encounter.  The rest of the story is told in a variety of voices and from each of the different characters and as each of the narratives unfurl, the story is given context and depth as well as intrigue and raw emotion.  The characters are complex and very human and the reader becomes entangled in their tragedy.  By the end, it is very hard not to feel strongly about some of the characters and I know I certainly choked up at the culmination of the story.

I find Shreve to be such a versatile author.  Like Jodi Picoult, she takes on complex issues and creates a story from the perspective of different characters.  In this way, both authors are able to build arguments and sympathies for the various aspects of a controversial issue, highlighting the difficulty for resolution.  The reader has to be active and thinking to balance each perspective with the other and to decide which side rings most true.  Often, each one does.

The Dovekeepers

Posted on by marjorieseidenfeld

The Dovekeepers, by Alice Hoffman

Wow, is all I can say about this book.  This is a must-read for anyone with any interest in the dramatic, heroic story of Masada.  By telling the story through the voices of 3 main fictional women who live on Masada before and during the siege of the Romans, the author takes the reader through the harshness of desert life and the barbarism and the humanity that coexisted there.  As you develop an empathy for each character and their personal plight, you then go through the actual siege with them and even though the outcome is known, the story is still gripping and suspenseful.  This is to the Masada story as Mila 18 was to the Warsaw Ghetto uprising and the story is just as dramatic.

I learned so much from this story.  I learned about the Essenes, a sect of Judaism that existed at this time which dictated strict adherence to the Jewish laws and a strict avoidance of any violence whatsoever.  I also developed an appreciation for the mystical beliefs that still prevailed at that time.  Even though Judaism preached belief in one god, there was a lot of belief in sorcery and spirits and angels and demons as well.  Mostly, though, this story gave me, in vivid — really graphic —  detail, an idea of how harsh life in the desert is.  I felt as if I myself was tasting the sand in my food and feeling the pelting heat of the sun.  I felt a relief as they did when the rains came.

I loved this book.  I’d love to hear how you feel about it if you have the good fortune to read it!