Release Date: July 12, 2011
Format: Paperback
Pages: 272
Source: Publisher
From Goodreads: Yona Stern has traveled from New York to Israel to make amends with her estranged sister, a stoic ideologue and mother of five who has dedicated herself to the radical West Bank settlement cause. Yona’s personal life resembles nothing of her sister’s, but it isn’t politics that drove the two apart.
Now a respected Jerusalem Talmud teacher, Mark Greenglass was once a drug dealer saved by an eleventh-hour turn to Orthodox Judaism. But for reasons he can’t understand, he’s lost his once fervent religious passion. Is he through with God? Is God through with him?
Enter Aaron Blinder, a year-abroad dropout with a history of failure whose famous father endlessly—some say obsessively—mines the Holocaust for his best-selling, melodramatic novels. Desperate for approval, Aaron finds a home on the violent fringe of Israeli society, with unforeseen and devastating consequences.
In a sweeping, beautifully written story, Joan Leegant, winner of the PEN New England Book Award and the Edward Lewis Wallant Award, and a finalist for the National Jewish Book Award, weaves together three lives caught in the grip of a volatile and demanding faith. Emotionally wrenching and unmistakably timely, Wherever You Go shines a light on one of the most disturbing elements in Israeli society: Jewish extremist groups and their threat to the modern, democratic state. This is a stunningly prescient novel.
My review: The first half of this novel I spent trying to get interested, the last half I spent wishing it would slow down because I wasn't ready for it to end. The first half is why I could only give this review two glasses here and two stars on Goodreads.
Faith is the question of this novel - religious faith, faith in friends, family and one's self. The different avenues of faith intertwine within these pages to form a diverse set of problems and struggles on small and large scales. The dusty setting of Israel places the reader in a land of turmoil on the cusp of revolution. These leaves the land and population unsettled further enabling the faith questioning.
I didn't really attach myself to any of the characters but that didn't withhold me from getting caught up in the twists and turns of the story. I was rooting for the characters to overcome their struggles. I cheered when they made the right decision, even though it was the hardest.
I recommend this book to those who are interested in Israeli culture or a story centered around the different aspects of faith.
Check out a few other reviews on the tour here:
Wednesday, August 24th: The Scarlett LetterThursday, August 25th: Books Like Breathing
Friday, August 26th: A Bookish Way of Life
Tuesday, August 30th: Rundpinne
Wednesday, August 31st: Among Stories
Thursday, September 1st: Iwriteinbooks
Monday, September 5th: Unabridged Chi
I'm glad that the 2nd half of the book worked out better for you than the 1st half - it sounds like it was definitely worth reading!
ReplyDeleteThanks for being a part of the tour.