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A review by pattydsf
Between Gods: A Memoir by Alison Pick
3.0
I will put a quote here when the book is published
I seem to have run the gamut on Christianity over these past few months. I have read a book about grace, one about people who are leaving the church even though they are still believers, another about Christians who are examining the way they see the Bible, and then a book about evangelicals who are trying to change the more conservative wing of Christianity. I read often about my faith, but I have been especially eclectic lately.
Which brings me to Between Gods. Alison Pick was raised as a Christian, but it turns out that her paternal grandparents were Jewish and barely got out of Europe with their lives during World War II. Once in Canada, knowing that relatives had been taken to the concentration camps, Pick’s family became Episcopalians. So Pick starts her life being raised as a Christian.
Pick feels drawn back to her family’s ancestral faith. This memoir is about her journey to her “conversion” to Judaism. It was a long, intense struggle for Pick and I found it fascinating. I grew up among both Jews and Christians, but I have never known anyone who converted from one religion to the other. I would not have guessed that changing your faith could be so complicated.
I know from my class on Women and Judaism that Jews do not encourage conversion. However, given Pick’s family history, I would have thought that the rabbis and teachers that Pick talks to would have been glad to have someone return to their faith. I think most Christian denominations would have welcomed such a “lost sheep” with open arms.
Pick is a poet and has written a novel about the Holocaust. Her writing is beautiful. During her period of being “between Gods” there were many other changes happening in her life. She writes with clarity and attention to detail so that the reader can see the transformation that happens to her life while she is converting.
I don’t know what made me pick this book through the Edelweiss program. However, I wouldn’t have missed it for the world. I have learned a great deal about Pick’s life and I have been able to think about how my life would change if I lived in different circumstances.
If you have any interest in women’s lives or in stories from the Holocaust, try this memoir. If you are Jewish or interested in Judaism, I strongly recommend this story to you. If you are a reader like me, who wants to inhabit new and different worlds, then you too may want to pick this up when it is published in this country. I believe that Pick’s story is unusual and well told.
Thank you to Edelweiss and Harper Perennial.
I seem to have run the gamut on Christianity over these past few months. I have read a book about grace, one about people who are leaving the church even though they are still believers, another about Christians who are examining the way they see the Bible, and then a book about evangelicals who are trying to change the more conservative wing of Christianity. I read often about my faith, but I have been especially eclectic lately.
Which brings me to Between Gods. Alison Pick was raised as a Christian, but it turns out that her paternal grandparents were Jewish and barely got out of Europe with their lives during World War II. Once in Canada, knowing that relatives had been taken to the concentration camps, Pick’s family became Episcopalians. So Pick starts her life being raised as a Christian.
Pick feels drawn back to her family’s ancestral faith. This memoir is about her journey to her “conversion” to Judaism. It was a long, intense struggle for Pick and I found it fascinating. I grew up among both Jews and Christians, but I have never known anyone who converted from one religion to the other. I would not have guessed that changing your faith could be so complicated.
I know from my class on Women and Judaism that Jews do not encourage conversion. However, given Pick’s family history, I would have thought that the rabbis and teachers that Pick talks to would have been glad to have someone return to their faith. I think most Christian denominations would have welcomed such a “lost sheep” with open arms.
Pick is a poet and has written a novel about the Holocaust. Her writing is beautiful. During her period of being “between Gods” there were many other changes happening in her life. She writes with clarity and attention to detail so that the reader can see the transformation that happens to her life while she is converting.
I don’t know what made me pick this book through the Edelweiss program. However, I wouldn’t have missed it for the world. I have learned a great deal about Pick’s life and I have been able to think about how my life would change if I lived in different circumstances.
If you have any interest in women’s lives or in stories from the Holocaust, try this memoir. If you are Jewish or interested in Judaism, I strongly recommend this story to you. If you are a reader like me, who wants to inhabit new and different worlds, then you too may want to pick this up when it is published in this country. I believe that Pick’s story is unusual and well told.
Thank you to Edelweiss and Harper Perennial.