Why did I like this book?
I don’t know.
It’s the only book I’ve been forced to read in school that i actually enjoyed.
First of all, this is a very character driven novel. And I love Asher Lev. He is the greatest. I connect with him in some weird way. He’s a Jewish boy trying to find a balance of religion and family and passion, struggling to find a point where it doesn’t feel like you’re going to fall of the edge of a cliff if you move too quickly.
His passion is art (if you don’t like art I don’t think you’d get as involved as I did). It’s more than his passion, it’s the substance of his existence. He doesn’t like the things the Jewish religion allows him to paint, however, he’s not sure if he wants to give up his tradition and way of live to pursue some vast, unknowable, dangerous dream.
This books takes him from a young boy to a man, and every step of the journey he is met with confusion, fear, opposition, and enlightenment. His father is overbearing, his mother is haunted, and he is much too good for the world.
Now that you’re hanging off a cliff, I won’t give away the ending!! hah hah. This is not a cliffhanging book, but it’s a thoughtful portrait of the life of a Jewish boy in America during WWII who loves art.
and that’s all.
suggested for: bored people, artists, atheists, Jews, Mormons, Catholics, WWII veterans, Protestants, Buddhists, hungry people, relaxed people, mature people.
and here’s a joke
how many mystery writers does it take to screw in a lightbulb?
Two, one to screw it in almost all the way, and another to give it a surprising twist at the end.
