Most Helpful Customer Reviews
49 of 50 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Lesson On How To Write A Novel, August 11, 2001
One of the most important aspects of Potok's novels is the conflict between traditional, Orthodox Judaism and the modern world of ideas that infringes upon it and challenges its authority. The conflict may be within Judaism (as in "The Promise's" battle between old and modern Jewish scholarship or "The Chosen's" consideration of Hasidism vs. modern Orthodoxy) or from outside of Judaism (art in "My Name is Asher Lev" or politics in "Davita's Harp").
What makes Potok's novels so compelling is that he frames these battles with skillful and deft plotting and beautiful heartfelt language. This aspect of his work reaches its apex with "The Promise", his most brilliantly constructed novel. From the first chapter, he skillfully interweaves the characters' struggles so that they relate to each other in a very meaningful way.
In addition, not since Carson McCullers, has a writer dealt so sensitively and realistically with the mind and struggles of youth and adolescence. Potok takes great pains to delve into the troubled Michael's psyche and helps us understand his demons. His other novels also share this sensitive dealing with youth and with the often stormy relationship between parent and child.
Danny Saunders, the Hasidic Jew we first encountered in "The Chosen" is, ironically, Potok's most "enlightened" creation. His is firmly rooted in his tradtions (in this case, Hasidism) but is also open to new ideas from the "modern world". He becomes a Psychologist, weds a woman outside of Hasidism, and dresses like a modern Jew. He is the realization of Potok's wish: the ability of man to be grounded in and love his faith without being rigid and intractable and intolerant of other ideas and opinions. It is the absence of this tolerance that causes much of the conflict in Potok's novels.
Although "The Chosen" may be his most moving, "Davita's Harp" his most lyrical (large portions of it are like reading poetry), "Asher Lev" his most powerful, "The Promise" is his most skillfully written. It is like a textbook lesson on how to write a novel. It firmly establishes him among America's greatest writers.
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13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A rich offering from a master storyteller, June 6, 2003
A sequel of sorts to "The Chosen", although this book stands quite well on its own, "The Promise" is the story of Reuven, a young rabbinical student, who befriends Michael, a troubled young man who eventually has to be institutionalized under the care of Reuven's friend, Danny. Meanwhile, Reuven is struggling with his teacher, Rav Kalman, a hard-line traditionalist who clashes with Reuven because Reuven has come under the influence of modern critical scholarship due to the influence of Reuven's own father and of Michael's father, Abraham Gordon. The clash of differing schools of Jewish religious thought and the conflict between religious and non-religious Jews is a major theme of this book. Meanwhile, Michael is making no progress in his therapy which leads Danny to propose a radical method of treatment. This book is absolutely riveting, and it's very hard to put down once begun. The late Chaim Potok, in my opinion, is one of the best novelists of the late 20th century. His evocation of modern Jewish life and issues is unsurpassed, and he tells his stories so effortlessly that even a non-Jew like myself cannot help but be captivated at the same time as I'm being educated. In my opinion, this book is better than "The Chosen" and nearly equal to my favorite Potok novel, "My Name is Asher Lev". I give "The Promise" my highest recommendation.
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Dynamic sequel to The Chosen, September 28, 1999
The Promise continues with the two main characters of The Chosen: Danny Saunders and Reuven Malter, both in the throws of graduate school/seminary in this book. The tension between traditional ( read fundamental) beliefs... represented by Hasidism... and less orthodox Jewish practices and beliefs is not only hammered out intellectually but is embodied in characters in the book: teachers on the staff of the various yeshiva , Reuven's father who is a textual/critical scholar of the Talmud, and Gordon, a liberal scholar and writer, finally, the vitriolic East European Talmud teacher, partisan, and survivor of the death camps. The value of the book reaches far beyond a sympathetic depiction of Jewery (thouge it paints a vivid picture of the very fabric of Jewish emotional and religious life ); it casts a bright light on the entire controversy revolving around textual criticism in religious study and and the sometimes bitter exchanges between fundamental scholars trying...{in this book} to rebuild the remnants of European Jewery and their devastated world following the holocaust) and the community of textual critics who are moving deeper and deeper into the sacred texts with their "destructive" academic tools. A must read for anyone interested in scholarship, belief, faith, psychology and the tensions that connect all thinking humans, no matter what faith. Interesting sub-plot relates to Danny Saunder's treatment of an emotionally wounded boy and his rebuilding of his psyche with the techniques and tools he "learned" from his father, a Hadid tzaddik. Simply a wonderful book...worth crying over. The chain smoking, crooked fingered Rav who teaches Talmud and is juxopposed to Rev Gershon (also a Talumd teacher) is worth the read alone. All the characters are drawn with great sympathy.
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