A review by jbmorgan86
The Chosen by Chaim Potok
4.0
I thought I knew quite a bit about Judaism. After all, I have an M.A. Hebrew Bible. While reading The Chosen I realized that I know a lot about biblical-era Judaism but very little about modern day Judaism.
The Chosen takes place in Brooklyn during WWII. Two baseball teams face off against one another. One is made up of Orthodox Jewish teenagers and the other is made up of Hasidic Jewish teenagers. The protagonist, Rueven, sustains a serious injury at the hands of one of the Hasidic boys, Danny.
Over the course of the novel, the two boys end up being friends and come to age together. They are different in that one is Orthodox and the other is Hasidic, but they are the same in that they are both brilliant young men who are destined to be scholars. Their fathers push them to befriend each other and learn from one another.
The novel touches on the themes of fatherhood, compassion, and communication.
The story was beautiful. The only reason I didn’t give it five stars is because the exposition is a bit heavy handed at times. At some point, I will likely read the sequel, The Promise.
The Chosen takes place in Brooklyn during WWII. Two baseball teams face off against one another. One is made up of Orthodox Jewish teenagers and the other is made up of Hasidic Jewish teenagers. The protagonist, Rueven, sustains a serious injury at the hands of one of the Hasidic boys, Danny.
Over the course of the novel, the two boys end up being friends and come to age together. They are different in that one is Orthodox and the other is Hasidic, but they are the same in that they are both brilliant young men who are destined to be scholars. Their fathers push them to befriend each other and learn from one another.
The novel touches on the themes of fatherhood, compassion, and communication.
The story was beautiful. The only reason I didn’t give it five stars is because the exposition is a bit heavy handed at times. At some point, I will likely read the sequel, The Promise.