The Chosen, by Chaim Potok (1 Viewer)

[Lily]

This book was an assigned book for my World Religions class this year, and I can see why. It's a novel about two boys (Reuven Malter and Daniel Saunders) on the brink of manhood (15 years old, both of them) who are struggling with the values of the community they live in. Danny is a member of the Hasidic community- his father is the Rebbe (which, for those of you who don't know, is different from the rabbi, and is I believe, the second most powerful leader next to God in the religious community), and Danny will eventually inherit that position from his father. However, there is a problem . . . Danny doesn't want to be a rebbe, he wants to be a psychologist. He spends his afternoon shut up in the library reading books his father feels are sacrilegious because he has to know about the world. The novel centers around the struggle about Danny's desires and that of his father for him, between Danny and Reuven's friendship, and, of course, the Holocaust and WWII, which are both going on throughout the novel.

It's a very enjoyable read- very intriguing, and Potok provides some interesting lessons on Jewish history and thought throughout the novel.

Here's a link to it from Amazon.com- sorry it's so long, I don't know how to make it shorter :cry:

 

[Farror]

I'll have to check it out, maybe you should try out for a career in advertising eh? That really made the novel sound great!

 

[Lily]

Heh . . . I would be a horrible advertiser, I can only make things sound good if I really, really like them :geek:

 

[Bad Craziness]

Good read

I read this book because I had to back in high school. It's really quite a good book. I found it very interesting because Potok is such a colourful writer and his description and knowledge of the characters, setting and the religious beliefes was amazing. The sheer depth of the book made it a valuable reading experience.

Haven't read any of his other stuff though...

Brin

 

[spiritfire123]

i read this last summer, it was quite good, this summer im going to try to read "The Promise", the sequal to this one, has anyone read it so they can tell me if it is good or not to bother?

 

[Lily]

I actually read The Promise this past autumn. It's quite good, but it's nothing like The Chosen, and if I remember correctly, some parts of it were quite hard to get through. It's worth a read if you liked The Chosen, at any rate