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Our Price: $13.95
Product Details
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| Shipping Weight: |
0.50 |
| Author(s): |
Chaim Potok |
| Vendor: |
RANDOM HOUSE |
| Publisher: |
Ballantine Books |
| Published: |
27 August, 1996 |
| Format: |
Paperback |
| ISBN: |
0449911543 |
| Store Code: |
2942 |
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Description: Few stories offer more warmth, wisdom, or generosity than this tale of two boys, their fathers, their friendship, and the chaotic times in which they live. Though on the surface it explores religious faith--the intellectually committed as well as the passionately observant--the struggles addressed in The Chosen are familiar to families of all faiths and in all nations. In 1940s Brooklyn, New York, an accident throws Reuven Malther and Danny Saunders together. Despite their differences (Reuven is a Modern Orthodox Jew with an intellectual, Zionist father; Danny is the brilliant son and rightful heir to a Hasidic rebbe), the young men form a deep, if unlikely, friendship. Together they negotiate adolescence, family conflicts, the crisis of faith engendered when Holocaust stories begin to emerge in the U.S., loss, love, and the journey to adulthood. The intellectual and spiritual clashes between fathers, between each son and his own father, and between the two young men, provide a unique backdrop for this exploration of fathers, sons, faith, loyalty, and, ultimately, the power of love. (This is not a conventional children's book, although it will move any wise child age 12 or older, and often appears on summer reading lists for high school students.)
Genre: Modern fiction; Literature - Classics / Criticism; Jewish families; Fiction; New York (State); Classics; Literary; Fiction / Literary; Fathers and sons; Jews;
Average Review: 4.5 stars
Review: Better with re-reading : I first read this book as a teenager, and have re-read it numerous times since. I'm now in my mid-40's. As a teen, it opened my eyes to a world most of us never encounter - Jewish Brooklyn, the sphere of the Hasids, Talmudic study. As I've aged my enjoyment of the book has matured. These days, it's particularly interesting in light of Mid East politics and the controversy surrounding the founding of the State of Israel. Through all these years, though, the relationships between the boys and their fathers remains as touching, as profound as they were upon first reading. I cried the first few times I read this book. I still re-read certain passages just for the emotional "oomph". A tremendous, powerful book that bears up well for a lifetime's enjoyment.
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