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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The clash between modernity and orthodoxy,
By
This review is from: Disobedience: A Novel (Hardcover)
As a person who is interested in the role of faith in the modern world, I found Disobedience to be a captivating and thought provoking story. In chronicling the clash between these two worlds - Ronit's modern one full of unlimited choices and Esti's constrained world of tradition and rules - Alderman refuses to present an easy solution. Instead she uses each women's experiences and perspectives to highlight the tensions involved. She is not afraid to point out the flaws and repercussions of orthodox Judaism but she also paints a loving - to me - portrait of its wisdom. In the same way, she doesn't simply celebrate modernity as a perfect world of choice and freedom.As a result Disobedience is not just a thought provoking look inside a devout and closed world, it is also a timeless story about living with the consequences of our choices. Alderman is clearly a talented writer and her portrait of the London Orthodox Community reflects this, but her characterization is a little thin in places. Ronit can come off as simply a caricature at times (busy, successful women whose love life is a mess, etc.) and her rebellion can seem a bit cliche as well. But it is in the contrast between her and Esti that the book gets its impact. It is also worth noting that the perspective you bring to the book is likely to have an impact on how you view the characters. Those sympathetic to orthodoxy or tradition will react differently to those with a more libertarian or libertine perspective. This is another reason I found it so interesting.
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Great talent with great promise...,
By DevJohn01 (Somerset, NJ) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Disobedience: A Novel (Hardcover)
There were many elements to Naomi Alderman's debut novel that I very much enjoyed. Her prose was great, she writes like a veteran whose been doing it for years. I loved how she switched view points throughout the novel so that the reader got a glimpse into the minds of each character. Lastly, I enjoyed how she began each chapter with a thought provoking biblical reference and explanation that was either very relevant to people of all religions or gave the reader insight into the Jewish religion. All of these ingredients came together to make Naomi Alderman an author that I will look out for in the future. However, amongst all this praise there is a downside. 'Disobedience' failed to catch me right away and, in my opinion, in a short novel the story should hook you in the beginning. Also, again, in my opinion, Alderman didn't give the characters enough depth for the reader to really understand what motivated them. I am sure that as a new author Alderman will suss out these flaws and grow with time and I look forward to watching her progress.
12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A clash of cultures, both of which are flawed,
By
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Disobedience: A Novel (Paperback)
This novel is the story of Ronit Krushka, the rebellious 32-year-old daughter of an Orthodox rabbi in Hendon, an insular Jewish neighborhood in London. The death of Ronit's father forces her to come home for a short time from New York and from her nonobservant life style, and it forces her to confront her past and decide exactly who she is and who she wants to be.Alderman, who grew up in Hendon, succeeds in portraying both the fervently religious lifestyle and the secular lifestyle without exaggerating or caricaturing either. Hendon can be stifling, but it can also enfold its inhabitants in a warm embrace, and for Ronit it is home. New York City is exciting, free, and tolerant, but city dwellers lack roots and lack a firm basis in ethics and morality. (Ronit is the only one of her circle of friends who knows what's in the Ten Commandments!) At the end of the novel, all the main characters seem to be moving away from either extreme and making their peace with a life replete with contradictions. Another theme is silence and speech. British Jews are doubly silent -- both because they are far more insecure in their place in society than American Jews, and because they are, after all, British and keep a stiff upper lip. Ronit's father was a master of silence, yet in an important lecture, he points out that God created the world with speech. Yet speech, in the form of lashon ha-ra (the Jewish concept of slander or gossip) can be terribly harmful. Ronit's New York world is a noisy, speech-filled world, yet much of the speech is meaningless or harmful. Esti, Ronit's former lover, is always quiet, so much so that she is considered odd even in the Hendon synagogue. The denouement of the book is a reconciliation of the ideals of speech and of speechlessness.
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