Once again it's Friday and I am linking up with Heather from Blonde...Undercover Blonde for Book Club!
This week I read Jerusalem Maiden by Talia Carner.
Here is the synopsis from Goodreads.com:
"In the waning days of the Ottoman Empire, a young Orthodox Jewish woman in the holy city of Jerusalem is expected to marry and produce many sons to help hasten the Messiah's arrival. While the feisty Esther Kaminsky understands her obligations, her artistic talent inspires her to secretly explore worlds outside her religion, to dream of studying in Paris —and to believe that God has a special destiny for her. When tragedy strikes her family, Esther views it as a warning from an angry God and suppresses her desires in order to become an obedient "Jerusalem maiden."
But when a surprising opportunity forces itself on to her preordained path, Esther finds her beliefs clashing dangerously with the passions she has staved off her entire life —forcing her to confront the most difficult and damning question of all: To whom must she be true, God or herself?"
My thoughts: If you don't know a lot about Judaism this is going to be a crash course and bring a Yiddish dictionary. Luckily I went to a college that required theological studies so I had a good basis. The devotion these people have to their religion is truly amazing. And this is a very interesting story...for about 3/4's of it. Then it just becomes of "why God, why?!?" But you can't be all "why God, why" when you made the decisions. And then of course it has a cutesy little ending. uggg this story really shouldn't have cutesy ending. But overall it's a pretty good read.
What have you read lately?
Also be sure to check out Budget Splurge Beauty's Inner Beauty post as well - and if you know how to navigate the student loan world - give her some advice :)
Jasmine
Ugh, I HATE cutesy endings. They will totally ruin an otherwise good story for me. :(
ReplyDeleteIT WAS GOING TO BE A 4 STAR AND THEN...
DeleteI may have to buy a Yiddish dictionary, because this one does sound pretty good!
ReplyDeleteI really enjoy books that "teach" me about something and this was a subject I didn't know much about - and though I know a lot of random Yiddish words I had to google things left and right :)
DeleteI've been really wanting to read this! And being Jewish myself, I should hopefully be familiar with things. I least I hope I am. And while it isn't raving review, knowing that you still enjoyed it, gets me even more excited for it.
ReplyDeleteI am really hard to please! She's a Haredi Jew - and the devotion to the culture is just fascinating. I live on the North side of Chicago near a primarily Jewish area and I thought the Hassidic families were hard core! Plus I think Yiddish(Or Jiddish) is such a unique, expressive language, all the words "sound" like what they are supposed to mean. So I hope you read it and I can't wait to read your review!
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