Title: The Romance Reader
Author: Pearl Abraham
First publication: 1995
Read edition: 6th edition
Published in: 1997
Number of pages: 296 pages
Information about the author
Pearl Abraham was born in 1960 in Jerusalem. She was the third child in a family of nine. Her father was a rabbi. When Pearl was five years old, she moved with her parents and brothers and sisters to New York. After two years there, they returned to Israël. After a lot of moves from New York to Israël (and back), they stayed in New York (she was twelve years old). In the story, the father of the main character is a rabbi as well. She also grew up in a chassidic community, it not such a strict one as in the novel. Even when the novel is based on her own experiences, it isn’t autobiographic.
At the moment, she teaches creative writing at New York University. She is Master of Arts and lives in Manhattan.
Setting
The story is set in the USA, in Ashley. I think the time is in the ‘80/’90 of last century, let’s say present time. The novel starts when Rachel, the main character, is fourteen years old and ends when she is a little older than eighteen. That is about four years.
Plot
What Rachel wants: is to wear is sheer stockings, to swim in a bathing suit, to wear jeans instead of a dress. She wants to be an ordinary girl, who can do ordinary things and wear ordinary clothes. But as the eldest daughter of a Hasidic rabbi, she is expected to follow in her mother’s footsteps: taking care of her six younger brothers and sisters, helping at home, get married and have babies. The world of ultra-Orthodox Judaism is very strict, and Rachel can’t quite imagine what life is like outside. She secretly reads forbidden books that tell her of a world filled with romantic men and rebellious women: a world where true love exists. She and her younger sister Leah dream of this world, even when they know things won’t be different for them. They’d have an arranged marriage, have babies and live in a strictly controlled world.
Characters
Rachel:
Rachel is the main character in the story. She is the Rabbi’s eldest daughter, which gives her a lot of responsibilities. She has to be an example for her younger brothers and sisters and for the community. She also takes care of the house and her six younger brothers and sisters. Rachel doesn’t want to behave like her parents want her to. She rebels to them and doesn’t act like a Jew should. She eats forbidden food, goes with the bus on Shabbat or reads novels that are forbidden to read. When her parents are away for some time, she and her younger sister Leah take life guarding lessons, this is seriously against the rules, because girls are not supposed to be ‘naked’ (they can’t wear a bathing suit) in front of people. Rachel's dream is to live alone and be free. She gets married, but it doesn’t work out the way she thought it would be.
David:
David is the Rabbi’s eldest son, he is the second oldest child. He does exactly what his father wants him to do. He studies a lot and doesn’t want to do anything that is against the rules. His role in the story is to show how a perfect child should act. He is a minor character.
Leah:
Leah is the third oldest child. Next to Rachel, Leah looks like a perfect Jewish girl, but she isn’t. They are best friends and are always together. They understand each other and both want to be different. She also reads the forbidden books and she helps Rachel by covering for her when she goes to the library. Leah takes Rachel as her example. When Rachel takes lifeguarding-lessons, Leah does the same. She is a major character in the story.
Levi, Sarah, Aaron and Esther are the other children in the family.
They are all minor characters.
Father:
Rachel’s father is a Rabbi. This is a very important person in a Jewish community. He is a man that seems not to be interested in his family, but that’s not true. He is a honest man and his religion is very important to him. For him, there is no other truth or good thing than the Torah and the Jewish life. Father tries to control Rachel, but this doesn’t work out. They don’t understand each other. He wants to build a new synagogue: he doesn’t give up that dream. When Rachel is married, he tries to reach her trough her husband. He tells Israel what they can, and can’t do. Rachel is upset about this. Example: when Rachel wants to buy a radio, she has to ask her father first before she can buy it. Father is a major character.
Mother (ma):
Rachel’s mother does everything to make people think her children are well brought up. She loves her children. She is afraid of Rachel not wanting to get married and doing forbidden things. She want her child just to be like she should be, like a normal Jewish girl. She is always very busy, and is always strict on her children. Ma starts fights, yells with Father and can be cruel to him. Things other people think have a huge impact on the way Ma acts, so she is embarressed quickly. Because her oldest daughter is a bit of a rebel, Ma tries hard to make Rachel listen. She tries to teach her children to be good Yiddish people. Ma is a major character.
Mr. Gartner:
After Leah and Rachel took lifeguard lessons, they tried to find jobs. Mr. Gartner offered them a job at his swimming pool. They become friends and he is really nice. Even when he is like thirty years older, Rachel falls in love with him, probably because he is the only man in her life that is ‘normal’. The only one she can rely on. But, he is married, and she is just a kid.
Elke:
Rachel’s friend. She is also a Jew. When Elke gets married she does everything her husband wants her to. Next to Rachel she is perfect. Elke is a minor character.
Israel:
Israel is the guy Rachel is getting married to. She doesn’t really like him and even before she gets married she already thinks of a divorce. Israel doesn’t know how to treat a wife and he tells everything Rachel does to her father. The Rabbi gives him advice and makes Israel feel like a son to him. Rachel hates this and she runs away after a few weeks.
Theme
The author is also brought up in a Jewish community, but not such a strict one. I think she wants to point out how life is when you are a Jew. It is a community we do not know much about, a whole culture that is a ‘mystery’ to us. I think she wanted to give us (the readers) a little look in her life. She also writes on her webpage that this book isn’t a complaint against her youth.
Personal opinion
I especially liked the characters Rachel and Leah. They have the encouragement to rebel to their parents and they have their own opinion. Not the opinion their parents want them to have. They break a lot of rules. I don’t think this is wrong, their behaviour is logical to me. They want to have a normal life, wear normal clothes and do normal things. I understand them and liked them in the story. I felt sorry for Rachel because she was unhappy. Even when she was married, things got worse. She can’t do what she wants and the rules are very strict.
Quote: They are on a holiday: she is walking in the ocean, lifting up her skirt not to get wet:
“ “Rachel, you’re old enough not to lift your skirt up like that,” Ma says. “You’re old enough to know better.”
“There’s no one here to see me,” I say.
“God always sees,” she says.
“God sees underneath my clothes too. He sees me naked.”
“That has nothing to do with it. You know that.” Her voice is harder. “It is a matter of modesty. A girl who can lift her skirt like that is a pruste meude.”
Father and Levi come back whith their hair wet and their clothes dry. They look completely cooled off and comfortable. It is obvious that they removed all their clothes and went in for a good swim. But they are men, and they’re not ashamed of their bodies.
They are not the sinning Eves we are. ” (p. 85)
This kind of parts were shocking to me, the rules are so strict. They are not allowed to do anything.
I especially disliked Rachel’s mother and Israel. Even when their behaviour is meant to be good, it isn’t. But they don’t know better. In the eyes of her mother, Rachel can’t do anything good. She is always very busy and doesn’t have any time for her. I think ‘ma’ is too hard on Rachel, but this is probably a part of the culture. She makes Rachel feel like an idiot, like someone who is always wrong.
Quote: When ma saw her in a bathing suit:
“ “Before she leaves, ma walks over. Quietly, for only me to hear, she says, “Aren’t you ashamed? Walking here in front of these small children like that, naked. Showing everything you’ve got to these children.”
Everything I’ve got. Breasts, hips, and thighs, the body of a woman. She doesn’t wait for an answer. There is no answer. She and Mrs. Lender leave the pool, leave me there in my life-guard’s chair feel ugly, disgustingly grown-up and naked, fat and ugly. ”
There were some parts that made me laugh, so I did find humour in the book. I especially liked the part when father drives the family to Sea Gate for a holiday.
Quote:
“ Ma and I watch out for cars with wild or anti-Semetic drivers. We can tell when people look at us that way: they stare at Father, at his hat and his locks. They laugh. Ma keeps telling Father to go slow: slowly, slowly, as if we’re not crawling already. I tell him when to switch lanes or let someone get ahead.
At stoplights, we have to tell him when to start up again, because he’s reading from his psalm book. When I say he shouldn’t be reading behind the wheel – it makes other drivers angry – he says, “What’s the hurry? They should run as fast to do God’s will.” ” (p. 76)
I really liked these kind of parts in the book.
The book made me think about the life I have. How happy I actually am and how much I’m allowed to do. The book made me a little bid sad and angry, I felt so sorry for Rachel. You just want to step into the book, become a character and help her. The book also had a lot of surprising parts and humourous parts, but there was always that feeling that Rachel just would never be happy. She dreams about the ‘true love’ in novels, knowing she can never have that.
Quote: When she is talking with Elke about love:
“ “What about love? I don’t love Israel.”
“You think too modern,” Elke says. “You always did. You always did things that were too modern for your family. Too modern even for the most modern girls in our class. And you’re from a rabbishe family. Everyone in school talked about it. Even Leah things so. She says you just never know when to stop, that you have no limits.”
I think it’s easier for Elke because she doesn’t think about love in novels. She hates reading. She thinks only the Chassidic way, real life. For the first time, I see a reason not to read.
(...) Elke is always ahead, a veteran. I used to think things would be different for me. That my life would be different. But it isn’t. ” (p. 221)
My favourite part in the book was part two: chapter eleven till chapter twenty-four. I especially liked chapter eleven till fifteen, because Rachel is happy in this part. Her mother is away for some time and her father isn’t often at home, so she can do what she wants. She goes with Leah to lifeguardinglessons and she becomes a lifeguard at a pool. She loves this time, so it is really nice to read she is happy. She also saves a life when she is working at the pool. I liked that part of the book, because she finally got respect for what she does.
I learned from the book that life could always be worse. I must not complain about the things I’m not allowed to do. I always say my parents are too strict on me, but next to Rachel’s parents, they aren’t. I still complain (even after reading the book) when I have to be home at 01:30 on saturday-night, when my friends are allowed to stay away all night. But, somewhere in my head is the voice: ‘You shouldn’t complain! Your life is so perfect, be happy with the family that you have, with your friends, with your clothes, food.. everything!’
Next to this ‘lesson’ I learned, I also learned a lot about the Jewisch culture. I didn’t know anything about the arranged marriages and shaving off the hear.. now I do.
Lyrics:
The Scientist – Coldplay
Come up to meet you, tell you I'm sorry,
You don't know how lovely you are.
I had to find you, tell you I need you,
Tell you I set you apart.
Tell me your secrets and ask me your questions,
Oh, lets go back to the start.
Running in circles, coming up tales,
Heads only silence apart.
Nobody said it was easy,
It's such a shame for us to part.
Nobody said it was easy,
No-one ever said it would be this hard,
Oh take me back to the start.
I was just guessing at numbers and figures,
Pulling your puzzles apart.
Questions of science, science and progress,
And not speak as loud as my heart.
And tell me you love me,
come back and haunt me,
Oh and I rush to the start.
Running in circles, chasing tails,
coming back as we are.
Nobody said it was easy,
oh its such a shame for us to part.
Nobody said it was easy,
No-one ever said it would be so hard.
Im going back to the start.
The sound of this song gives me the same feeling as the book. Sad, but beautifull. But, the lyrics fit too, when you think about it. I think the relationship that is descrbibed in the song, is the one Rachel wanted so badly with her parents and other people. A relationship where you can tell each other you are sorry, where you can love, ask questions, tell secrets.. Maybe she wanted to go back to the start, try again.
Nobody said it was easy
Oh, it’s such a shame for us to part
Nobody said it was easy – No-one ever said it would be this hard
I take it back to the start
This part fits with her growing-up and marriage. She had no-one who would have listened to her, no-one who told her how it was going to be.
The Summary
The story is split into three parts.
Part one
The story starts when it is mid-night at Shabbat and Rachel and her younger sister Leah feel that something is wrong. There is another baby on the way in the Benjamin’ family. That night her mother gave birth to the seventh child: Esther.
Living in a ultra-Orthodox Judaism community isn’t easy for Rachel Benjamin. As the eldest daughter of a Hasidic rabbi, she is expected to be a example for the community and for her brothers and sisters. Rachel is very unhappy, she dreams about being a normal American girl: wear normal clothes instead of a dress or skirt, wear sheer stockings, swim in a bathing suit.. There are a lot of strict rules, she isn’t allowed to do things that seem so normal. She dreams about taking a bus, being a member of the library, read English novels. But, she is expected to follow in her mothers footsteps. And, as the eldest child, she must help at home, clean, cook, take care of the children. Ma is a loving mother, but always busy and strict. This makes that Rachel has a lot of quarrels with ma and father.
They live in Ashley, and because the community is very small there aren't many children of her age who are in the same situation. Her father dreams of building a synagogue there, that would make a lot of Jewish people want to live there, but that is merely a plan. She’s lucky to have a sister who’s is nearly her age, so Leah and she are always together. David, Levi, Sarah, Aaron and Esther, the other children, do not understand them. Rachel and Leah are a team, a duo who are different then the other Benjamins. Leah is as rebellious as Rachel, but her parents don’t know that. Next to Rachel, Leah looks like a perfect Jew, but she isn’t. She also reads the forbidden novels that Rachel buys or gets out of the library. Rachel dreams about the world described in the books. A world with true love, with dark-haired men with boots. A world that she’s not even sure really exists. The books make her dream, the stories take her away from the reality, from her world where she is unhappy.
When her father learned how to drive, they go on a holiday to Sea Gate. This is the time where Rachel found out she could be happy. She loves it there, the smell of the sea, the sound of the ocean.. But also in this world there are so many strict rules. She isn’t allowed to swim there, because a bathing suit is too ‘naked’.
Part Two
Ma misses Israël and wants to move back. She wants to see her family and live next to other Jews. Father doesn’t want to ‘give up America’, he wants to build a synagogue and stay here, in Ashley. They start a fight that ends in a compromis: father stays in Ashley with the eldest children, Ma leaves for a couple of months to Israël with her ‘babies’: the younger children. Rachel first doesn’t like the idea, this means that she has to take care of the house, the children, everything. Father wouldn’t be much at home, so they would be by themselves. Then she understands: all by themselves! She and Leah would be independent, no parents who are at home. They take this opportunity to do whatever they want. First Leah doesn’t want to do things that are forbidden, but who would find out?
The money that is saved for emergencies is used for lifeguarding-lessons. They buy nice clothes and sheer stockings. Leah and Rachel love this time. They enjoy the lessons and learn fast. They hide their bathing suits and instruction books, so no-one would find out. Even Rachels’ best friend Elke doesn’t know their secret.
Of course they miss their mother and little brothers and sisters. It is quiet in home and the work they need to do is hard on them, but they are independent. When they have their lifeguarding licence, they got a job in the pool of Mr. Gartner. They like the job and earn good money. When her mother is home again, she finds out about the life-guarding. She sees them in their bathingsuits and makes them feel ugly. Ma and Father forbid to go on with the job, but when Rachel saves a life, she finally gets respect for what she does. And because they earn good money, they are allowed to be a lifeguard.
Rachel falls in love with Mr. Gartner. He’s a nice man, and he makes her think about the novels – but, he is married and ‘old’ – she is seventeen.
Part Three
Now when ma is back, and she and father see that they can’t control Rachel, they think it is time for her to get married. There is going to be an arranged marriage, according to Jewish rules. There is a meeting between the two families and when both of the families think there is a match, Rachel gets to see her future husband. His name is Israel and even when she can still say: ‘No’ to the marriage, she doesn’t. She thinks that once she’s married, things will be different. But, it doesn’t work that way. She has her own apartment, is married, but is still very unhappy. As a married women, she is supposed to shave her hear and wear a wig. And next to all those kind of things that she hates, she still isn’t allowed to do what she wants. She has to discuss everything with Israel. Even when she wants to buy a radio, she needs to discuss this with him first. Israel asks everything to Rachel’s father, and he tells Israel what to do. Rachel knows this, and hates the idea that everything she does is controlled. When she and Israel are in the city, she runs away when he is asleep in the bus. In her panic she goes home, where she tells her parents she wants to divorce. Her parents agree, and Rachel lives at home again. For the first time in her life she has the idea that she can control her life. And, for the first time, she is happy with who she is.
The review
The Romance Reader invites us to enter the Hasidic world as few have ever seen it - through the eyes of a young woman on the brink of adulthood. The daughter of a visionary rabbi who dreams of founding his own synagogue and center of learning, Rachel Benjamin lives in an insular environment, seemingly protected from the temptations and freedoms the modern world offers. As the eldest of seven siblings, she is expected to set a moral example within her family and the community: She must wear thick opaque tights with seams; she must never wear a bathing suit in public; she is not to read books in English. Rachel is a dreamer like her father; but her dreams are of the strong, confident men and the beautiful damsels in distress she reads about in romance novels she sneaks under her blankets at night. Secretly she begins to wear sheer stockings to school, concealed under high boots, and takes classes to become a lifeguard. She longs to live not in the dying, desolate community of a bungalow colony in upstate New York, where she can't help but be aware of the presence and allures of the secular world surrounding her, but in Brooklyn - in Williamsburg or Borough Park - where the Hasidic world is sufficient unto itself and she could more easily be the good Hasidic daughter she is trying to be. Unlike her siblings and friends, Rachel craves the independence she will never have as a Hasidic woman in an arranged marriage. And yet, as her engagement draws inevitably nearer, the strong pulls of family and tradition, weigh against the frightening unknown beyond her - the secular world she knows only through her beloved romance novels.
Abraham shows strong talent in her debut novel, the story of a young girl's coming-of-age in an ultraorthodox Hasidic home. The reader soon cares deeply about narrator Rachel, the eldest of six children, who yearns for some of the forbidden fruits of the secular world. Her rebbe father is another endearing character; he dreams of establishing a major synagogue and learning center even while he desperately looks for a 10th man for a minyan for his sparse congregation. Most of the story takes place in a suburban community that receives an influx of Hasidim in the summer months; for the rest of the year, the rebbe's family is the neighborhood curiosity. Rachel is a dutiful child who tries hard to please her mother, an angry woman who belittles her husband's dreams and wants to be part of one of Brooklyn's larger Hasidic enclaves. Rachel's glimpses of the larger world come from casual and often uncomfortable encounters with non-Jews and secular Jews in her town, but especially from romance novels, which she reads secretly. Her seemingly flagrant behavior (she refuses to wear seamed, opaque stockings, opting instead for seamless, and will not wear a cover-up over her bathing suit while teaching young girls to swim) brings shame to her family and endangers a marital opportunity for her brilliant younger brother. Despite her resolve to establish a more independent life, Rachel agrees to an arranged marriage, both to make her family happy and as a first step toward a new existence. When this match goes awry, Rachel's solution is both funny and bittersweet. Abraham's intense, sensitive prose and her ability to create vivid scenes and memorable characters augment this authentic, often disturbing, look at Hasidic home life and beliefs.
Author: Pearl Abraham
First publication: 1995
Read edition: 6th edition
Published in: 1997
Number of pages: 296 pages
Information about the author
Pearl Abraham was born in 1960 in Jerusalem. She was the third child in a family of nine. Her father was a rabbi. When Pearl was five years old, she moved with her parents and brothers and sisters to New York. After two years there, they returned to Israël. After a lot of moves from New York to Israël (and back), they stayed in New York (she was twelve years old). In the story, the father of the main character is a rabbi as well. She also grew up in a chassidic community, it not such a strict one as in the novel. Even when the novel is based on her own experiences, it isn’t autobiographic.
At the moment, she teaches creative writing at New York University. She is Master of Arts and lives in Manhattan.
The story is set in the USA, in Ashley. I think the time is in the ‘80/’90 of last century, let’s say present time. The novel starts when Rachel, the main character, is fourteen years old and ends when she is a little older than eighteen. That is about four years.
Plot
What Rachel wants: is to wear is sheer stockings, to swim in a bathing suit, to wear jeans instead of a dress. She wants to be an ordinary girl, who can do ordinary things and wear ordinary clothes. But as the eldest daughter of a Hasidic rabbi, she is expected to follow in her mother’s footsteps: taking care of her six younger brothers and sisters, helping at home, get married and have babies. The world of ultra-Orthodox Judaism is very strict, and Rachel can’t quite imagine what life is like outside. She secretly reads forbidden books that tell her of a world filled with romantic men and rebellious women: a world where true love exists. She and her younger sister Leah dream of this world, even when they know things won’t be different for them. They’d have an arranged marriage, have babies and live in a strictly controlled world.
Characters
Rachel:
Rachel is the main character in the story. She is the Rabbi’s eldest daughter, which gives her a lot of responsibilities. She has to be an example for her younger brothers and sisters and for the community. She also takes care of the house and her six younger brothers and sisters. Rachel doesn’t want to behave like her parents want her to. She rebels to them and doesn’t act like a Jew should. She eats forbidden food, goes with the bus on Shabbat or reads novels that are forbidden to read. When her parents are away for some time, she and her younger sister Leah take life guarding lessons, this is seriously against the rules, because girls are not supposed to be ‘naked’ (they can’t wear a bathing suit) in front of people. Rachel's dream is to live alone and be free. She gets married, but it doesn’t work out the way she thought it would be.
David:
David is the Rabbi’s eldest son, he is the second oldest child. He does exactly what his father wants him to do. He studies a lot and doesn’t want to do anything that is against the rules. His role in the story is to show how a perfect child should act. He is a minor character.
Leah:
Leah is the third oldest child. Next to Rachel, Leah looks like a perfect Jewish girl, but she isn’t. They are best friends and are always together. They understand each other and both want to be different. She also reads the forbidden books and she helps Rachel by covering for her when she goes to the library. Leah takes Rachel as her example. When Rachel takes lifeguarding-lessons, Leah does the same. She is a major character in the story.
Levi, Sarah, Aaron and Esther are the other children in the family.
They are all minor characters.
Rachel’s father is a Rabbi. This is a very important person in a Jewish community. He is a man that seems not to be interested in his family, but that’s not true. He is a honest man and his religion is very important to him. For him, there is no other truth or good thing than the Torah and the Jewish life. Father tries to control Rachel, but this doesn’t work out. They don’t understand each other. He wants to build a new synagogue: he doesn’t give up that dream. When Rachel is married, he tries to reach her trough her husband. He tells Israel what they can, and can’t do. Rachel is upset about this. Example: when Rachel wants to buy a radio, she has to ask her father first before she can buy it. Father is a major character.
Mother (ma):
Rachel’s mother does everything to make people think her children are well brought up. She loves her children. She is afraid of Rachel not wanting to get married and doing forbidden things. She want her child just to be like she should be, like a normal Jewish girl. She is always very busy, and is always strict on her children. Ma starts fights, yells with Father and can be cruel to him. Things other people think have a huge impact on the way Ma acts, so she is embarressed quickly. Because her oldest daughter is a bit of a rebel, Ma tries hard to make Rachel listen. She tries to teach her children to be good Yiddish people. Ma is a major character.
Mr. Gartner:
After Leah and Rachel took lifeguard lessons, they tried to find jobs. Mr. Gartner offered them a job at his swimming pool. They become friends and he is really nice. Even when he is like thirty years older, Rachel falls in love with him, probably because he is the only man in her life that is ‘normal’. The only one she can rely on. But, he is married, and she is just a kid.
Elke:
Rachel’s friend. She is also a Jew. When Elke gets married she does everything her husband wants her to. Next to Rachel she is perfect. Elke is a minor character.
Israel:
Israel is the guy Rachel is getting married to. She doesn’t really like him and even before she gets married she already thinks of a divorce. Israel doesn’t know how to treat a wife and he tells everything Rachel does to her father. The Rabbi gives him advice and makes Israel feel like a son to him. Rachel hates this and she runs away after a few weeks.
Theme
The author is also brought up in a Jewish community, but not such a strict one. I think she wants to point out how life is when you are a Jew. It is a community we do not know much about, a whole culture that is a ‘mystery’ to us. I think she wanted to give us (the readers) a little look in her life. She also writes on her webpage that this book isn’t a complaint against her youth.
I especially liked the characters Rachel and Leah. They have the encouragement to rebel to their parents and they have their own opinion. Not the opinion their parents want them to have. They break a lot of rules. I don’t think this is wrong, their behaviour is logical to me. They want to have a normal life, wear normal clothes and do normal things. I understand them and liked them in the story. I felt sorry for Rachel because she was unhappy. Even when she was married, things got worse. She can’t do what she wants and the rules are very strict.
Quote: They are on a holiday: she is walking in the ocean, lifting up her skirt not to get wet:
“ “Rachel, you’re old enough not to lift your skirt up like that,” Ma says. “You’re old enough to know better.”
“There’s no one here to see me,” I say.
“God always sees,” she says.
“God sees underneath my clothes too. He sees me naked.”
“That has nothing to do with it. You know that.” Her voice is harder. “It is a matter of modesty. A girl who can lift her skirt like that is a pruste meude.”
Father and Levi come back whith their hair wet and their clothes dry. They look completely cooled off and comfortable. It is obvious that they removed all their clothes and went in for a good swim. But they are men, and they’re not ashamed of their bodies.
They are not the sinning Eves we are. ” (p. 85)
I especially disliked Rachel’s mother and Israel. Even when their behaviour is meant to be good, it isn’t. But they don’t know better. In the eyes of her mother, Rachel can’t do anything good. She is always very busy and doesn’t have any time for her. I think ‘ma’ is too hard on Rachel, but this is probably a part of the culture. She makes Rachel feel like an idiot, like someone who is always wrong.
Quote: When ma saw her in a bathing suit:
“ “Before she leaves, ma walks over. Quietly, for only me to hear, she says, “Aren’t you ashamed? Walking here in front of these small children like that, naked. Showing everything you’ve got to these children.”
Everything I’ve got. Breasts, hips, and thighs, the body of a woman. She doesn’t wait for an answer. There is no answer. She and Mrs. Lender leave the pool, leave me there in my life-guard’s chair feel ugly, disgustingly grown-up and naked, fat and ugly. ”
There were some parts that made me laugh, so I did find humour in the book. I especially liked the part when father drives the family to Sea Gate for a holiday.
Quote:
“ Ma and I watch out for cars with wild or anti-Semetic drivers. We can tell when people look at us that way: they stare at Father, at his hat and his locks. They laugh. Ma keeps telling Father to go slow: slowly, slowly, as if we’re not crawling already. I tell him when to switch lanes or let someone get ahead.
At stoplights, we have to tell him when to start up again, because he’s reading from his psalm book. When I say he shouldn’t be reading behind the wheel – it makes other drivers angry – he says, “What’s the hurry? They should run as fast to do God’s will.” ” (p. 76)
I really liked these kind of parts in the book.
Quote: When she is talking with Elke about love:
“ “What about love? I don’t love Israel.”
“You think too modern,” Elke says. “You always did. You always did things that were too modern for your family. Too modern even for the most modern girls in our class. And you’re from a rabbishe family. Everyone in school talked about it. Even Leah things so. She says you just never know when to stop, that you have no limits.”
I think it’s easier for Elke because she doesn’t think about love in novels. She hates reading. She thinks only the Chassidic way, real life. For the first time, I see a reason not to read.
(...) Elke is always ahead, a veteran. I used to think things would be different for me. That my life would be different. But it isn’t. ” (p. 221)
My favourite part in the book was part two: chapter eleven till chapter twenty-four. I especially liked chapter eleven till fifteen, because Rachel is happy in this part. Her mother is away for some time and her father isn’t often at home, so she can do what she wants. She goes with Leah to lifeguardinglessons and she becomes a lifeguard at a pool. She loves this time, so it is really nice to read she is happy. She also saves a life when she is working at the pool. I liked that part of the book, because she finally got respect for what she does.
I learned from the book that life could always be worse. I must not complain about the things I’m not allowed to do. I always say my parents are too strict on me, but next to Rachel’s parents, they aren’t. I still complain (even after reading the book) when I have to be home at 01:30 on saturday-night, when my friends are allowed to stay away all night. But, somewhere in my head is the voice: ‘You shouldn’t complain! Your life is so perfect, be happy with the family that you have, with your friends, with your clothes, food.. everything!’
Next to this ‘lesson’ I learned, I also learned a lot about the Jewisch culture. I didn’t know anything about the arranged marriages and shaving off the hear.. now I do.
The Scientist – Coldplay
Come up to meet you, tell you I'm sorry,
You don't know how lovely you are.
I had to find you, tell you I need you,
Tell you I set you apart.
Tell me your secrets and ask me your questions,
Oh, lets go back to the start.
Running in circles, coming up tales,
Heads only silence apart.
Nobody said it was easy,
It's such a shame for us to part.
Nobody said it was easy,
No-one ever said it would be this hard,
Oh take me back to the start.
I was just guessing at numbers and figures,
Pulling your puzzles apart.
Questions of science, science and progress,
And not speak as loud as my heart.
And tell me you love me,
come back and haunt me,
Running in circles, chasing tails,
coming back as we are.
Nobody said it was easy,
oh its such a shame for us to part.
Nobody said it was easy,
No-one ever said it would be so hard.
Im going back to the start.
The sound of this song gives me the same feeling as the book. Sad, but beautifull. But, the lyrics fit too, when you think about it. I think the relationship that is descrbibed in the song, is the one Rachel wanted so badly with her parents and other people. A relationship where you can tell each other you are sorry, where you can love, ask questions, tell secrets.. Maybe she wanted to go back to the start, try again.
Nobody said it was easy
Nobody said it was easy – No-one ever said it would be this hard
I take it back to the start
This part fits with her growing-up and marriage. She had no-one who would have listened to her, no-one who told her how it was going to be.
The Summary
The story is split into three parts.
Part one
The story starts when it is mid-night at Shabbat and Rachel and her younger sister Leah feel that something is wrong. There is another baby on the way in the Benjamin’ family. That night her mother gave birth to the seventh child: Esther.
Living in a ultra-Orthodox Judaism community isn’t easy for Rachel Benjamin. As the eldest daughter of a Hasidic rabbi, she is expected to be a example for the community and for her brothers and sisters. Rachel is very unhappy, she dreams about being a normal American girl: wear normal clothes instead of a dress or skirt, wear sheer stockings, swim in a bathing suit.. There are a lot of strict rules, she isn’t allowed to do things that seem so normal. She dreams about taking a bus, being a member of the library, read English novels. But, she is expected to follow in her mothers footsteps. And, as the eldest child, she must help at home, clean, cook, take care of the children. Ma is a loving mother, but always busy and strict. This makes that Rachel has a lot of quarrels with ma and father.
They live in Ashley, and because the community is very small there aren't many children of her age who are in the same situation. Her father dreams of building a synagogue there, that would make a lot of Jewish people want to live there, but that is merely a plan. She’s lucky to have a sister who’s is nearly her age, so Leah and she are always together. David, Levi, Sarah, Aaron and Esther, the other children, do not understand them. Rachel and Leah are a team, a duo who are different then the other Benjamins. Leah is as rebellious as Rachel, but her parents don’t know that. Next to Rachel, Leah looks like a perfect Jew, but she isn’t. She also reads the forbidden novels that Rachel buys or gets out of the library. Rachel dreams about the world described in the books. A world with true love, with dark-haired men with boots. A world that she’s not even sure really exists. The books make her dream, the stories take her away from the reality, from her world where she is unhappy.
Part Two
Ma misses Israël and wants to move back. She wants to see her family and live next to other Jews. Father doesn’t want to ‘give up America’, he wants to build a synagogue and stay here, in Ashley. They start a fight that ends in a compromis: father stays in Ashley with the eldest children, Ma leaves for a couple of months to Israël with her ‘babies’: the younger children. Rachel first doesn’t like the idea, this means that she has to take care of the house, the children, everything. Father wouldn’t be much at home, so they would be by themselves. Then she understands: all by themselves! She and Leah would be independent, no parents who are at home. They take this opportunity to do whatever they want. First Leah doesn’t want to do things that are forbidden, but who would find out?
The money that is saved for emergencies is used for lifeguarding-lessons. They buy nice clothes and sheer stockings. Leah and Rachel love this time. They enjoy the lessons and learn fast. They hide their bathing suits and instruction books, so no-one would find out. Even Rachels’ best friend Elke doesn’t know their secret.
Of course they miss their mother and little brothers and sisters. It is quiet in home and the work they need to do is hard on them, but they are independent. When they have their lifeguarding licence, they got a job in the pool of Mr. Gartner. They like the job and earn good money. When her mother is home again, she finds out about the life-guarding. She sees them in their bathingsuits and makes them feel ugly. Ma and Father forbid to go on with the job, but when Rachel saves a life, she finally gets respect for what she does. And because they earn good money, they are allowed to be a lifeguard.
Rachel falls in love with Mr. Gartner. He’s a nice man, and he makes her think about the novels – but, he is married and ‘old’ – she is seventeen.
Part Three
Now when ma is back, and she and father see that they can’t control Rachel, they think it is time for her to get married. There is going to be an arranged marriage, according to Jewish rules. There is a meeting between the two families and when both of the families think there is a match, Rachel gets to see her future husband. His name is Israel and even when she can still say: ‘No’ to the marriage, she doesn’t. She thinks that once she’s married, things will be different. But, it doesn’t work that way. She has her own apartment, is married, but is still very unhappy. As a married women, she is supposed to shave her hear and wear a wig. And next to all those kind of things that she hates, she still isn’t allowed to do what she wants. She has to discuss everything with Israel. Even when she wants to buy a radio, she needs to discuss this with him first. Israel asks everything to Rachel’s father, and he tells Israel what to do. Rachel knows this, and hates the idea that everything she does is controlled. When she and Israel are in the city, she runs away when he is asleep in the bus. In her panic she goes home, where she tells her parents she wants to divorce. Her parents agree, and Rachel lives at home again. For the first time in her life she has the idea that she can control her life. And, for the first time, she is happy with who she is.
The review
The Romance Reader invites us to enter the Hasidic world as few have ever seen it - through the eyes of a young woman on the brink of adulthood. The daughter of a visionary rabbi who dreams of founding his own synagogue and center of learning, Rachel Benjamin lives in an insular environment, seemingly protected from the temptations and freedoms the modern world offers. As the eldest of seven siblings, she is expected to set a moral example within her family and the community: She must wear thick opaque tights with seams; she must never wear a bathing suit in public; she is not to read books in English. Rachel is a dreamer like her father; but her dreams are of the strong, confident men and the beautiful damsels in distress she reads about in romance novels she sneaks under her blankets at night. Secretly she begins to wear sheer stockings to school, concealed under high boots, and takes classes to become a lifeguard. She longs to live not in the dying, desolate community of a bungalow colony in upstate New York, where she can't help but be aware of the presence and allures of the secular world surrounding her, but in Brooklyn - in Williamsburg or Borough Park - where the Hasidic world is sufficient unto itself and she could more easily be the good Hasidic daughter she is trying to be. Unlike her siblings and friends, Rachel craves the independence she will never have as a Hasidic woman in an arranged marriage. And yet, as her engagement draws inevitably nearer, the strong pulls of family and tradition, weigh against the frightening unknown beyond her - the secular world she knows only through her beloved romance novels.
REACTIES
:name
:name
:comment
1 seconde geleden