Reviews

The Shiksa Syndrome by Laurie Graff

nothingforpomegranted's review

funny reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.5

Thirty-something Aimee Albert breaks up with her non-Jewish boyfriend on Christmas when she suddenly processes that raising a Jewish family is important to her. Unfortunately, it seems like all the Jewish men just want to date shiksas. When a feel-better makeover gone wrong results in red hair, green eyes, and a false shiksa vibe, Aimee decides to embrace it, enjoying attention from men at a series of Jewish singles events who believe she and her friend Krista are both shiksas. Aimee enjoys the charade until she starts to realize how much she misses her Jewish life. 

I enjoyed how full of New York and Jewish appreciation this book was. There were Yiddish words on every page, and the city was truly a character. I related to Aimee's absolute comfort in her city, and cringed with her when she found herself pretending it was no longer her home. The plot was fast-paced, and I flipped through pages quickly, but I finished the book quite uncertain that I had enjoyed it. The characters functioned primarily on stereotypes, and Aimee's false shiksa identity lasted far too long, especially with a love interest that neither she nor I seemed to connect to. The writing was readable enough, but a bit clunky and not always clear. The Shiksa Syndrome was a perfect airplane book, but one I was happy to leave on my seat when I landed. 

sunshineariel's review against another edition

2.0

It is rare, but sometimes I find myself reading a book so poorly written that I cannot bring myself to finish it. This is one of those books. The plot was decent enough to keep me interested for about half the book, but the author's writing kept me from wanting to finish it. Her sentence structure is very odd, and alternates between rambling sentences and sentences that seem to be missing some elements. In many places the scene completely changes between one paragraph and the next, with no transition and no separation. I was 142 pages in when the main character used a strong swear word, completely out of the blue. It wasn't the word that shocked me but the fact that there had been no indication for the first 141 pages that this word would be something natural for the character to say or think. While it is a story of the search for love and the hijix that go along with a mistaken identity, it seems the author also wanted this book to make the reader think about religion and tolerance, but the way she went about it made it seem like you are taking a break from the story to hear her opinions on those subjects. It isn't integrated very well with the story.
The only reason I gave this two stars instead of one is that it is an interesting plot, and the poor writing did not significantly detract from the story until about halfway through. I did flip to the end and read the last chapter, to see that it has a happy ending.

sunshine608's review against another edition

3.0

I had very mixed feelings about this book. At time I got frustrated with the fast-paced writing style ( i spent a good amount of time flipping back to see what I missed) and at times the story line irked me. It was the ending though that I really enjoyed, but as much I enjoyed the ending, it the plot line in the middle frustrated me.

Overall, I enjoyed it. Lots of things I could relate too and I definitely improved my Hebrew/Yiddish skills.

elowgang's review

funny lighthearted slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0