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A review by cornmaven
Wherever You Go by Joan Leegant
5.0
Leegant packs a whole lot into this novel set mostly in Israel. She does a nice job of laying out the various philosophical factions that exist concerning its history and future. And the story is a typical many-characters-converge-on-a-pivotal-moment, but there's this piece of Judaic thought and wisdom overlaying the whole thing, that it requires the reader to think a lot.
The issue of how to ensure the survival of the Jews in modern times is front and center, but right there with it is how to ensure the survival of an individual when life has not provided what that person seeks. The relationship between Yona and her sister Dena, and the relationship between Greenglass and his father are the lynchpins for this theme.
Leegant also does a nice job, I think, of giving the reader a feel for Israel and its many geographical faces. I've never been there, so I am only guessing. But clearly she's got the well known 'no nonsense' approach of Israeli authorities down pat.
This book could provide much discussion on the topics of familial relations, Jewish history, terrorism, faith, and the distortion of idealism that occurs when rigidity begins to take control. Lots of irony in the fact that some 'defenders' of the Jews in this novel are in reality violating many inviolate tenets of their faith. But that's well established in the Bible and has always been the paradox.
The issue of how to ensure the survival of the Jews in modern times is front and center, but right there with it is how to ensure the survival of an individual when life has not provided what that person seeks. The relationship between Yona and her sister Dena, and the relationship between Greenglass and his father are the lynchpins for this theme.
Leegant also does a nice job, I think, of giving the reader a feel for Israel and its many geographical faces. I've never been there, so I am only guessing. But clearly she's got the well known 'no nonsense' approach of Israeli authorities down pat.
This book could provide much discussion on the topics of familial relations, Jewish history, terrorism, faith, and the distortion of idealism that occurs when rigidity begins to take control. Lots of irony in the fact that some 'defenders' of the Jews in this novel are in reality violating many inviolate tenets of their faith. But that's well established in the Bible and has always been the paradox.