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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
What is the gift of Asher Lev?,
By
This review is from: The Gift of Asher Lev (Paperback)
Before I read this book, having read its superlative predecessor "My Name is Asher Lev", I would have said that the title refers to Asher Lev's incredible artistic talent. After finishing the book, I realized it was referring to something much more precious, more along the lines of the gift Abraham was asked to sacrifice on the altar. As a grown Asher revisits Brooklyn with his family on the occasion of the death of his uncle, he not only has to confront his past, but his present and future as well. Not only his future, in fact, but the future of the entire Jewish sect in which he was raised. The conflict between his art and his religion is brought into a much sharper, more painful inner battle than even displayed in the first book.This sequel is less straightforward than the first novel. There are more flashbacks, hallucinations (or are they?), riddles, and supernatural occurrences here. Sometimes the book seems to wander a little bit, just like Asher wandered the streets of Paris for awhile. It is not as riveting from beginning to end as the first book was, and the ending is a little more inconclusive, which is why I gave it four stars instead of five. It never confirms whether Asher's suspicions are correct or not. Which means, of course, that I am eagerly awaiting a (hopeful) follow-up to this book and a satisfying conclusion to the Asher Lev saga.
14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
"Sometimes a puzzle is the only way to get to the Truth",
By A Customer
This review is from: The Gift of Asher Lev (Paperback)
I read this book transfixed, waiting for the resolution of the intense situation, but in the last ten or twenty pages, nothing happened, and suddenly it was over! I scratched my head, and went back to see if I missed something. I ended up reading the last 50 pages, and sure enough, I did miss something! The resolution was right there, in plain sight, but between the lines. And quite a resolution, too. It was like what the Great Rebbe said from his balcony at the beginning of the book, that sometimes the truth is too difficult to approach directly, and must be approached in riddles to prepare the seeker for the answer. A hard act for a writer to pull off, but I've been haunted ever since. Probably not for everybody.
12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Mature ,intelligent and still wonderful,
By
This review is from: The Gift of Asher Lev (Mass Market Paperback)
Twenty years have passed for asher lev, last seen dispalying waht sounded like a version of Marc chagalls white crucifixion to a stunned and mortified family. He is, as this novel opens, a very successful artist living in France. When his beloved uncle dies, he ends his exile and returns to Brookly, to the chasidic community he thought h had left behind,to small storefront shuls and men in dark hats and coats,to that place deep inside himself which he could never leave. The travles from Willaimsburgh to Monticello, Ny{the catskills}, and the intorduction of Lev's young son are a lovely narrative touch. The Rebbe,based it would seem on the late Lubavitch rebbe of Blessed memory,is brilliantly,sympathetically drawn. he comes off as a holy,profound man of deep compassion and mystical understanding. Lev has grown, also, and the story of these tow, brilliant men is the key to the novel. A wonderful,beautifully plotted story of an amazing group of people.
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