The Chosen (Ballantine Reader's Circle) by Chaim Potok
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Book Reviews of The Chosen (Ballantine Reader's Circle)
Book Review: Amazing!
Summary: 5 Stars
This book was INCREDIBLE. It opened up a whole new culture to me. I have never read anything like this book before or since.Book Review: Between Friendship And Faith
Summary: 4 Stars
Reading the reviews here of "The Chosen" might make one think it is a novel about Judaism, which is only partially true. The real story is one of friendship, that between the Hasidic prodigy Danny and his pal, Reuven Malter. According to Wikipedia, Chaim Potok discovered his love for the novel when he read "Brideshead Revisted". You definitely can feel the resonances of that book when reading "The Chosen".
Instead of 1920s Oxford, the setting is 1940s Brooklyn, specifically the Williamsburg section, then a haven of brownstones and ailanthus trees that look pretty in the sunlight but produce pungent, jabbing leaves. Reuven first encounters Danny as an opposing player at an ill-tempered baseball game. Danny's line drive puts Reuven in the hospital, but when Danny visits him there, the two teens find a lot to admire in one another and become firm friends.
One of those books I first encountered in the corridors of high school, and pretty much avoided on that basis, "The Chosen" is a moving book that requires a certain commitment from the reader going in. Like Waugh in "Brideshead", Potok is a deliberate writer, and his narrative, while not long, is slow-paced. He buries you in the world of strict Judiasm, though he is careful to provide a road map, explaining various terms and practices.
As meaningful as the relationship between Danny and Reuven becomes, neither is the novel's most absorbing character. That would be Reb Saunders, Danny's strict father, who views Reuven with a fascinating blend of empathy and hostility.
"The world kills us!" Reb Saunders tells his congregation. "The world flays our skin from our bodies and throws us to the flames. The world laughs at Torah! And if it does not kill us, it tempts us! It misleads us!"
Being that this is the 1940s, Reb Saunders' words have more than metaphoric meaning. So you understand a little when he seems to resist Danny's impulse to befriend Reuven, and wonder a bit at how, after Danny makes clear his chosen path is not what his father wants, Reb Saunders switches tactics and employs Reuven as a bridge to reach his son.
One fascinating subplot of the novel involves the birth of Israel. Published in the war-torn year of 1967, "The Chosen" presents the question of Israel's necessity in the wake of the Holocaust. For Reuven, such a state is a matter of survival. For Reb Saunders, Israel is a threat to the more religious side of the Jewish experience, which leaves the question of survival up to God.
Unlike "Brideshead Revisited", humor is almost completely absent from "The Chosen", and the focus of the book after a while becomes very tight on four principal characters (including Reuven's sickly father). But what Potok does is more impressive than what he doesn't do. "The Chosen" dares to make its characters' intellectual journeys the stuff of real drama, while at the same time arguing passionately for the value of true heart and soul in a world that places a higher premium on brainpower. It's an inspiring read.
Book Review: I enjoyed reading the Chosen. I would highly recommend it
Summary: 4 Stars
The Chosen by Chaim Potok is a story of two boys who become friends even though they have many differences. Reuven Malter and Danny Saunders both live in Brooklyn, in the 1940s. Danny and Reuven lived five blocks away from each other, their whole lives but did not know of each others existence. Reuven Malter is an Orthodox Jew and Danny is a Hasidic Jew. The Hasidic Jew is more extreme than the Orthodox Jew, meaning that Danny wares black pants, coat, shoes, and a hat. He also has earlocks and later in the story a beard. Reuven just wares regular clothes. Danny's father is the leader of the Hasidic Jews. Danny can not do the things Reuven can do because his father and his religion do not permit it. Danny can't read any other books except for books that have to do with his religion. He can not go to movies or listen to the radio. His father also has to approve of his friends. Danny has an arranged marriage. When he or any other Hasidic Jew are born the families arrange the marriage. The two children usually don't meet until they are married. At parties the males can not dance with the females and the females can not dance with the males. Reuven as an Orthodox Jew can do all of this. When Danny's father died he was expected to take his place as the rabbi. This is not his choice. Unlike Danny, Reuven gets to decide what he wants to do in life. Danny's dream was to go to college and become a psychologist and not a rabbi. When his father died he had to take his place and carry on the family tradition. Danny does not want to do this. One day he would tell his father. Reuven also wanted to go to college, but he wanted to be a rabbi. Both of the boys went to Hirsch College. Their relationship in college suffered. When Mr. Malter made a Zionist speech in Madison Squre Garden about how the Jews should build their capital in Palestine, Danny's father forbid him to talk to Reuven. Reb Saunders was an anti-Zionist. He believes that the messiah is going to come and tell them where to build the capital. Throughout the year at college Reuven and Danny did not speak to each other. This made them both sad. The second year of college started and Danny and Reuven still did not talk. It was not until Mr. Malter had a second heart that they resumed their friendship. In the last chapters of the book Danny must make a very difficult choice that will affect him for the rest of his life.Book Review: Interesting Historical Perspective
Summary: 4 Stars
'The Chosen' is one of those books that I've seen on bookshelves in both new stores and paperback exchanges for most of my life - so much so that I felt like I'd somehow absorbed it without ever reading it. On the advice of a friend, I finally sat down with it, and while the contents weren't exactly surprising, I did find it instructive and enjoyable. Instructive, though I think it's appropriate to mention right up front that 'The Chosen' reads as though Mr. Potok had definite opinions about different aspects of Jewish culture, and that the novel uses its adolescent characters to illustrate these opinions and cast them in accordance with Mr. Potok's preferences.
I think most authors do this, so I won't penalize Mr. Potok too badly for it - I can hardly expect him to write glowingly of ideas with which he doesn't agree. However, the danger in this case is that someone like me, who is very unfamiliar with the issues concerning Orthodox Judaism, can get a slanted picture that may unfairly represent one side or the other.
'The Chosen' follows the growth of two boys, one a member of an isolated Hasidic community and the other an orthodox Jew who, while still faithful to the commandments, is part of a group that has taken many steps toward assimilation in 1940's America. Largely, the book is about the struggles these two have in accepting or breaking free from responsibilities to their families and to their beliefs. Mixed together with their coming-of-age stories is the story of the end of WWII and the birth of the Jewish state.
From a historical and cultural standpoint, I thought 'The Chosen' was informative, with the caveat that this is the only source I have read that addresses Hasidic culture and the attitudes of the Jewish population in America in the closing years of the 1940's. Because Mr. Potok comes down solidly in favor of certain issues, I would like to read more before accepting or disregarding other views. Literature can be a powerful persuader, as the author is able to control outcomes and points of view while remaining essentially true to the record. With that in mind, 'The Chosen' provided an easily digestible method of learning about Jewish history, and opened my eyes to intricacies I hadn't known existed within that culture.
Book Review: An Introduction to Hasidism
Summary: 4 Stars
This is a story about friendship, different cultures, patriotism, and filial love. It is written in a straightforward and innocent way, and although there were several highly unrealistic passages, I felt it was a good novel to read for us goyim (gentiles). The strong parts of the book are its natural rhythmic flow, humanity, emotional awareness, and intellectualisms (even though the novel itself is perhaps not a strong intellectual argument in itself). Potok succeeds in the difficult task of creating an emotional image of all four major characters: the two fathers and two sons; they are all heroic and compelling figures. The intellectualisms added some meaty discussions of Jewish history, psychoanalysis, inductive logic, and Talmudic disputations, which were a welcome relief from the rather simple story and character setup.
The weak parts include the rather effeminate friendship of two teenagers who, being boys during WWII, would more likely be acting more macho to each other, even in friendship. But these two boys' dialogue was peppered with an undue admiration for each other, which was not very convincing, although it certainly helped the plot along. Another weak point has to do with Danny Saunders' photographic memory, and his and his friend Reuven's coincidental alacrity and skill in oral Talmudic disputation, and worse, their collective enjoyment of such a dry, rigorous and narrow exercise in public. Even Reuven's father initially states what a waste it is for a brilliant mind to be used on such arcana, which is ironic, considering his own son wants to be a rabbi.
Altogether, however, I learned a lot about Jewish history and Hasidism, and the patriarchal reverence given to Orthodox Jewish leaders, and the strength of such a tradition. Emotionally, the novel was warm but took a highly sympathetic view to a rabbi's silent and austere rearing of his son, the one "chosen" to take his place as not only a mere rabbi, but a "tzaddik", a great leader. This was what the book mainly focused on, and it was an interesting foray for the uninitiated non-Jews to learn of such a culture in the midst of America.