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Never Mind The Goldbergs Paperback – April 1, 2006

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Matthue Roth (Author)
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Matthue Roth (Author)
4.2 out of 5 stars 12 customer reviews
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100 Young Adult Books to Read in a Lifetime
100 Young Adult Books to Read in a Lifetime
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Product Details

  • Age Range: 12 and up
  • Grade Level: 7 and up
  • Paperback: 368 pages
  • Publisher: Push (April 1, 2006)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0439691893
  • ISBN-13: 978-0439691895
  • Product Dimensions: 7 x 5.1 x 0.9 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
  • Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,956,862 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Top Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 starsWhat a great book!
By Robert Wisdom on January 23, 2005
Format: Hardcover
Both an excellent coming of age story and a facinating look at the struggles of a young Orthodox Jew in a secular world. This book is funny, poignant and a lot of fun to read. While aimed at the "young adult" audience, I'm in my 40's, not Jewish, and had trouble putting it down.
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3.0 out of 5 starsHard Not To Love This Unique Teen Heroine
By Amy Senk VINE VOICE on May 9, 2005
Format: Hardcover
Never Mind the Goldbergs is a winding story of teen-ager Hava Aaronson, a New Yorker who moves to LA to co-star in a new sit-com about an Orthodox Jewish family. But Aaronson is not a professional actress; rather, she's an Orthodox Jew who is selected in order to lend the television show a little authenticity.

Hava is a fun and interesting character. She's very religious and traditional, but she's also a punk-rock fan and has a lot of personal attitude and style. She may keep kosher, speak Yiddish, wear long skirts and not touch boys. But she curses like crazy, sneaks into clubs, drinks alcohol and talks back to authority figures. And with a self-done haircut, a long black skirt covered by a green kilt and a short mini, her Orthodox look is anything but.

The book does a good job of showing a glimpse of Orthodox Jews and their community, rituals and ideas. It's easy to categorize and label religious people, even teen-agers, and define them by religion alone. Hava won't let the reader or anyone else do that to her. It's interesting to see her struggle with her faith, her relationship to God, her lifestyle, her career. It's also refreshing to see religious youths who not only pray, but act, make movies, rap, party, dance.

This is a coming-of-age story with a lot of gimmicks. It would be interesting enough to read about a punky Orthodox girl and her viewpoints and thoughts on boys and friends and parents and school and pop culture. Throwing in the Hollywood elements almost seems over-the-top. But if you go along for the ride, it's a fun trip.
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5.0 out of 5 starsCourtesy of Teens Read Too
By TeensReadToo on November 26, 2006
Format: Paperback
Yeah, Hava Aaronson is an Orthodox Jew.

Yes, she attends a pretty gritty Jewish private school, and her life seems pretty complicated at times.

No, you shouldn't assume anything about her for even one second.

Hava, a seventeen-year-old Orthodox Jew living in New York, is going to spend the summer in Hollywood filming for a television series about the "comedic life" of an Orthodox family. Little does she know that she is the only Jewish person in the cast of this show--about a Jewish family.

In his debut novel, Matthue Roth portrays the thoughts of a teenage Jewgirl in stunning fashion, giving the readers great dialogue as well as utterly believable internal monologue. Hava is a character whose haywire thoughts and coming-of-age realizations are completely understandable and make the novel even more cool and fun.

Complementing the hilarious narrative are the stream of characters Hava is forced to interact with and the situations she manages to get herself into. Roth portrays Hollywood life through the eyes of a devout Jewish girl raised in New York in an almost satirical fashion, yet it is dead on and only makes everything even funnier and keeps the pages turning quickly.

Along the way, readers learn more than they probably ever knew about the Jewish religion and culture. Roth is able to tell a great story and at the same time push through some food for thought to his readers about the overlooked religion, as well as comparison from secular and orthodox lifestyles.

Hilarious characters, embarrassing and awkward adventures, Shabbos at Blue Hebrew House in Berkeley, the filming process of a three month long movie [no jokes here, three months long], and the introduction of a new kind of voice from a different kind of heroine in this crowded world, is just a taste of the fun you'll have while reading NEVER MIND THE GOLDBERGS.

Reviewed by: Long Nguyen
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5.0 out of 5 starsHava Na-read-a
By Little Willow on March 24, 2005
Format: Hardcover
Never Mind the Goldbergs by Matthue Roth is an engrossing novel about a girl named Hava. Hailing from New York, Hava is a high school student that is both an Orthodox Jew and, in her own words, a little punk rock. She also happens to be an actress, though not completely by choice.

Though the first chapter starts on the last day of school, the second chapter gives the reader some background: After being randomly discovered outside of a store, she's cast in an Off-Broadway play. Not thinking much of herself as an actress, she easily returns to her normal routine of friends, family and school after the play ends.

On the last day of the school year, she is called into the principal's office. She thinks she is going to be scolded for acting out earlier that day. Instead, she is shocked by huge news: a new television comedy about a family wants her to play the older sister - and she starts on Monday. Immediately, her summer plans are out the window. She relocates to Los Angeles and has a total culture shock. The West Coast world is very different from her hometown, where everyone knew everyone. Hava discovers that living on her own isn't all that it is cracked up to be, and neither is the entertainment industry.

Never Mind the Goldbergs is far meatier than it first appears. Hava is a fabulous protagonist. Her attempts to find a balance between her religion and her work feel real, with her actions never making her a saint, but never making her into a bad girl either. She tries to make good choices for herself. She never does something just to stand out and get attention, nor does she try to fit in and conform. She simply is who she is. She is a flawed, realistic character, and that's what makes it work. I definitely recommend this book.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

1.0 out of 5 starsOne Star

Potentially the worst book I've ever read

Published 11 months ago by .
4.0 out of 5 starsif you like strange and fun characters- buy this!

I am not Jewish of any kind, but find it interesting. I always find it entertaining in all religions, how people create imaginary loopholes to negate their inability to be a total... Read more

Published on July 27, 2013 by Lily White
5.0 out of 5 starsLight, heavy, and marvelous!

In this addictive, page-turning novel, Roth tells the story of a seventeen-year-old girl named Hava, a diligently observant Orthodox Jew from New York who also happens to be a punk... Read more

Published on July 7, 2010 by Burke
5.0 out of 5 starsthe most important jewish writer in america today

matthue roth is the most important voice in jewish literature today. he is our only hope for the future of this genre. Read more

Published on August 17, 2006 by Shady BKG
2.0 out of 5 starsthe rest of us aren't all idiots

I enjoyed the charmingly disturbed heroine, and appreciated an updated view of New York teen orthodox life. Yet I finished the book with several kinds of disappointment. Read more

Published on August 6, 2006 by R. Gillespie
5.0 out of 5 starsA lively, unusual story of a very modern punkish teen.

Hava is an Orthodox Jew who lives a tough life at an isolated private school - but now she's heading to Hollywood, where she'll be the only Jew on a TV show about a Jewish family. Read more

Published on September 12, 2005 by Midwest Book Review
5.0 out of 5 starsA look into a different world with an incredible heroine

What a neat look into an unfamiliar world that somehow seems all too familiar--Hava's coming of age is incitefully and funnily brought to life by Roth. Read more

Published on February 16, 2005 by JessLa
5.0 out of 5 starsDC

A jaunty romp through the murky identity chollent that constitutes most people's inner monologue and Hava's relationship with the outside world. Read more

Published on February 7, 2005 by D. Sloan

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