Nostalgia-tinged tales of baseball, childhood, and coming of age will always push my buttons. Judaism less so, and I’m not sure I will retain much of the detailing here of Jewish and Zionist traditions. The lead characters’ reverence for study, their keenness to lose themselves in it, is memorable, as is the overall package. (Interesting how the reverence or respect accorded here to Freud and the nascent United Nations now feel so dated). Lots more to admire: the strong Brooklyn sense of place and time, the calm measured narration, the lovely cover image (of a coming of age boy thoughtfully preening - Penguin paperback edition). Another bonus in that edition: the hilarious debunking in Shalom Auslander’s short introdution and context-setting, which helps the reader to enjoy the work (rather than its worthiness). ( )

*4.5

This is so well done... Damn ( )

Two stars because of how it was written, not what was written. It was repetitive, wordy and I couldn't focus. I'm glad this has the societal impact it has, though. ( )

I don't remember much about the book except for being deeply moved, and that it introduced me to a world completely new to me.
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I seem to have inadvertently found myself on a theological reading streak. Like The Alchemist, this book was recommended to me by a friend (although more enthusiastically), and also like The Alchemist, I picked it up for reasons that ended up having nothing to do with the book. I thought The Chosen was about baseball.

It's not about baseball.

What it is about, at its core, is exactly the same thing The Alchemist is about (which almost defies coincidence): the power of silence, listening to your heart/soul, and following your own true path. But while The Alchemist uses parable, allegory and fantastic storytelling to get its message across, The Chosen tells the same message using an opposite style, set in WWII New York, and using first person-past tense POV. This is the story of two boys brought together by a softball game; one is a Hasidic Jew and one is Conservative (I think–it's never explicitly stated whether he's Conservative or Reform). Although they live only 5 blocks apart, they inhabit completely different worlds within the same religious faith, and have very different relationships with their respective fathers.

I can't do justice to this book in my review, but it works for me so much better than The Alchemist did; while I could appreciate the beauty of the writing and the story Coelho created, Potok's creation had the profound effect on me that I think the author was aiming for. The Chosen is going to be one of those that stay with me permanently.

Book themes for Hanukkah: Any book whose main character is Jewish, any story about the Jewish people ( )