Customer Reviews

The Chosen: And Related Readings (Literature Connections)

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Every so often you go through a period of reading lacklustre books that make the lazy demon in you think of stopping, then you pick up a book like this and your thirst for the written word returns with a vengence!
I was recommended 'The Chosen' some years ago, and turned to it after just such a lull and it truly delights; its a great story well told that gives the reader an insight into the conflicts that lay within Judaism;Danny the orthadox Hassid and Rueven become friends after Danny injures Rueven in a baseball game.The story flows with wonderful imagry from the hospital with Mr Savo and Billy;the streets the two boys live in;the Hassidic home of Reb Saunders,the historical background of WW2 and the birth of Israel;how the mass murder of 6 million Jews brought on a re think of passive waiting for a messiah in a harsh and modern world.
This is great writing;up there with Bellow, Bashevis Singer, Malamud and Appelfeld.

The Chosen is a capturing story of two boys as they grow and mature throughout their friendship and into adulthood. Reuven Malter is a secular Jew while Danny Saunders is a Hasid. The two are naturally opposed by their religion and unleash their anger toward each other in what is no ordinary baseball game. When Reuven is hit in the eye by a powerful ball hit by Danny, Reuven is rushed to the emergency room. It is while Reuven is recovering from the accident in the hospital that he and Danny official meet and begin their interwoven journey.
Danny and Reuven soon realize that they are opposites from one another. Reuven wishes to become a rabbi after graduating from college, while his father hopes for him to become a mathematician. Contrastingly, Danny dreams of being a psychologist even though he is the rightful heir to becoming a Hasidic rabbi. They are also raised by fathers who have contrasting methods of bringing up their sons. Still, it is through these family difficulties, the devastating tolls of the Holocaust, conflicting religion, and Danny's own secret from his father, that create the powerful and unique bond between the two boys. Join them as they teach each other lessons they could not have learned anywhere else and grow into the young adults they strived to be.