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I Am Forbidden Hardcover – 8 May 2012
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Sweeping from the Central European countryside just before World War II to Paris to contemporary Williamsburg, Brooklyn, I Am Forbidden brings to life four generations of one Satmar family.
Opening in 1939 Transylvania, five-year-old Josef witnesses the murder of his family by the Romanian Iron Guard and is rescued by a Gentile maid to be raised as her own son. Five years later, Josef rescues a young girl, Mila, after her parents are killed while running to meet the Rebbe they hoped would save them. Josef helps Mila reach Zalman Stern, a leader in the Satmar community, in whose home Mila is raised as a sister to Zalman s daughter, Atara. As the two girls mature, Mila s faith intensifies, while her beloved sister Atara discovers a world of books and learning that she cannot ignore. With the rise of communism in central Europe, the family moves to Paris, to the Marais, where Zalman tries to raise his children apart from the city in which they live.
When the two girls come of age, Mila marries within the faith, while Atara continues to question fundamentalist doctrine. The different choices the two sisters makes force them apart until a dangerous secret threatens to banish them from the only community they ve ever known.
A beautifully crafted, emotionally gripping story of what happens when unwavering love, unyielding law, and centuries of tradition collide, I Am Forbidden announces the arrival of an extraordinarily gifted new voice and opens a startling window on a world long closed to most of us, until now."
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherHogarth
- Publication date8 May 2012
- Dimensions15.14 x 2.64 x 21.72 cm
- ISBN-100307984737
- ISBN-13978-0307984739
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Review
"Markovits immediately draws the reader in to a family saga of faith and longhidden secrets, set among the Hasidic Jews of eastern Europe and spanning four generations. A stunning novel; highly recommended."
"--Library Journal "
""I Am Forbidden" moved me deeply. It brings many things wonderfully to life, including parts of history that I thought I knew but I now know better. Above all, it makes vivid the great comfort of strict religion, but also its sometimes painful confinement. I was swept away when I first read it. Now I am enlarged after reading it again."
─John Casey, author of National Book Award winner "Spartina" and "Compass Rose"
"It is the rare novel that manages to be both achingly sympathetic and formidably honest. "I Am Forbidden" is both of these, and much more. Anouk Markovits's exploration of the obligations of faith--and the equally pressing obligations of the loving heart and inquisitive mind--is riveting."
─Tova Mirvis, author of "The Ladies Auxiliary" and "The Outside World"
"In this gem of a book Anouk Markovits takes a reader to an exotic world, portrayed with such warmth and precision that the journey feels perfectly real and the characters become your intimate friends."
─Lara Vapnyar, author of "There Are Jews in My House"
"In her intense and appealing novel on the Satmar pious enclave, migrating after the Holocaust from Transylvania to Williamsburg, Anouk Markovits scrutinizes with a sharp eye both sides of the human conflict between free choice and limitless obedience. It's a fierce and sometimes tragic struggle for happiness through belonging to a community closed in its tradition or through independence and individuality--involving mind and soul, integrity and ideal, hope and despair. The revelatory, well-structured narrative, focuses on a topic that goes beyond Jewish, Christian or whatever religious or non-religious dogma to the very core of many ardent tensions in our
"Orphaned during the Holocaust, two ultra-orthodox Jews bound by love and faith are driven apart by the same forces in a sensitive consideration of tradition and commitment. [A] sober, finely etched scrutiny of extreme belief set in a female context." "--Kirkus"
"Tracing the Stern family from Transylvania to Paris and Brooklyn, [Markovits] focuses on daughter Atara and adopted daughter Mila, closer than close, until Atara wants more than the Satmar world can offer. Markovits plays fair: the believers are not stupid; their harsh world has beauty. We dwellers in the modern world know what "should" happen, but Markovits shows why, for those in the other world, it's not that simple." "--Publishers Weekly" (starred review)
"Markovits immediately draws the reader in to a family saga of faith and longhidden secrets, set among the Hasidic Jews of eastern Europe and spanning four generations. A stunning novel; highly recommended." "--Library Journal "
""I Am Forbidden" moved me deeply. It brings many things wonderfully to life, including parts of history that I thought I knew but I now know better. Above all, it makes vivid the great comfort of strict religion, but also its sometimes painful confinement. I was swept away when I first read it. Now I am enlarged after reading it again."
─John Casey, author of National Book Award winner "Spartina" and "Compass Rose"
"It is the rare novel that manages to be both achingly sympathetic and formidably honest. "I Am Forbidden" is both of these, and much more. Anouk Markovits's exploration of the obligations of faith--and the equally pressing obligations of the loving heart and inquisitive mind--is riveting."
─Tova Mirvis, author of "The Ladies Auxiliary" and "The Outside World"
"In this gem of a book Anouk Markovits takes a reader to an exotic world, portrayed with such warmth and precision that the journey feels perfectly real and the characters become your intimate friends.
"Tracing the Stern family from Transylvania to Paris and Brooklyn, [Markovits] focuses on daughter Atara and adopted daughter Mila, closer than close, until Atara wants more than the Satmar world can offer. Markovits plays fair: the believers are not stupid; their harsh world has beauty. We dwellers in the modern world know what "should" happen, but Markovits shows why, for those in the other world, it's not that simple." "--Publishers Weekly" (starred review)
"Markovits creates a vibrant, multilayered tale set within the conflicting obligations of faith and family." "--Booklist"
"Orphaned during the Holocaust, two ultra-orthodox Jews bound by love and faith are driven apart by the same forces in a sensitive consideration of tradition and commitment. [A] sober, finely etched scrutiny of extreme belief set in a female context." "--Kirkus"
"Markovits immediately draws the reader in to a family saga of faith and longhidden secrets, set among the Hasidic Jews of eastern Europe and spanning four generations. A stunning novel; highly recommended." "--Library Journal "
""I Am Forbidden" moved me deeply. It brings many things wonderfully to life, including parts of history that I thought I knew but I now know better. Above all, it makes vivid the great comfort of strict religion, but also its sometimes painful confinement. I was swept away when I first read it. Now I am enlarged after reading it again."
─John Casey, author of National Book Award winner "Spartina" and "Compass Rose"
"It is the rare novel that manages to be both achingly sympathetic and formidably honest. "I Am Forbidden" is both of these, and much more. Anouk Markovits's exploration of the obligations of faith--and the equally pressing obligations of the loving heart and inquisitive mind--is riveting."
─Tova Mirvis, author of "The Ladies Auxiliary" and "The Outside World"
"In this gem of a book Anouk Markovits takes a reader to an exotic world, p
"Markovits makes her stamp on the literary world with an ambitious, religiously-centered debut. [T]his ambitious, revelatory novel richly rewards your efforts and heralds a promising new writer." -"Entertainment Weekly
"
"A lyrical novel about obedience, rebellion and tragedy by an author who grew up in the Hasidic community she writes about. With poetic grace, she succeeds at depicting the culture from the inside out, conveying the way in which a life of limitation and law can provide a bulwark of meaning." -Ilana Teitelbaum, "Huffington Post"
"Anouk Markovits's "I Am Forbidden" contrasts the fates of a Hasidic family's two daughters, one who breaks with tradition to pursue a life of intellectual and emotional freedom, the other who cleaves to convention only to find her childless marriage is leading her to consider a course of action that falls well outside her religious beliefs." -Megan O'Grady, "Vogue"
"Tracing the Stern family from Transylvania to Paris and Brooklyn, [Markovits] focuses on daughter Atara and adopted daughter Mila, closer than close, until Atara wants more than the Satmar world can offer. Markovits plays fair: the believers are not stupid; their harsh world has beauty. We dwellers in the modern world know what "should" happen, but Markovits shows why, for those in the other world, it's not that simple." "--Publishers Weekly" (starred review)
"Markovits creates a vibrant, multilayered tale set within the conflicting obligations of faith and family." "--Booklist"
"Orphaned during the Holocaust, two ultra-orthodox Jews bound by love and faith are driven apart by the same forces in a sensitive consideration of tradition and commitment. [A] sober, finely etched scrutiny of extreme belief set in a female context." "--Kirkus"
"Markovits immediately draws the reader in to a family saga of faith and longhidden secrets, set among the Hasidic Jews of eastern Europe and spanning four generations. A stunning novel; hi
"The wonder of this elegant, enthralling novel is the beauty Ms. Markovits unearths in the Hasidic community she takes us into. Ms. Markovits, big-hearted and surprising, tenderly captures the complexities of adulthood for the one who stayed.... "I Am Forbidden" whips by, its extravagant narrative steadily cast with complicated, thoughtful characters." -Susannah Meadows, "The New York Times"
"Markovits makes her stamp on the literary world with an ambitious, religiously-centered debut. [T]his ambitious, revelatory novel richly rewards your efforts and heralds a promising new writer." -"Entertainment Weekly
""A captivating tale." "-People
""Markovits's heroines are disenfranchised but resourceful, possessing an innate spirituality, despite, or perhaps because of, the freedom denied them." "-New Yorker
"
"A lyrical novel about obedience, rebellion and tragedy by an author who grew up in the Hasidic community she writes about. With poetic grace, she succeeds at depicting the culture from the inside out, conveying the way in which a life of limitation and law can provide a bulwark of meaning." -Ilana Teitelbaum, "Huffington Post"
"Anouk Markovits's "I Am Forbidden" contrasts the fates of a Hasidic family's two daughters, one who breaks with tradition to pursue a life of intellectual and emotional freedom, the other who cleaves to convention only to find her childless marriage is leading her to consider a course of action that falls well outside her religious beliefs." -Megan O'Grady, "Vogue
""[A] story that will resonate with anyone who's ever bucked family expectations to find their own way of life." "-Oprah.com
"
"Markovits's portrayal of the contradictions and compromises of Hasidic faith is fascinating." "-"Times Literary Supplement""
"Markovits brings off this balancing act with skill and daring. Everyone is given their due. Instead of disrespect or easy judgment, there is generosity of spirit and delicacy of the pen... This is a book absorbing as any midrash and as enlightening as a library. I feel its contribution immediately and powerfully, and am happy to have given my time to it. I recommend you do the same." -"Unpious
"
"A deeply felt account of people caught between worlds." -"The Jewish Daily Forward," Shoshana Olidort
"In Anouk Markovits's outstanding novel, the title words could apply to many scenarios within its pages: cultures, relationships, and expectations all provide constant obstacles to either rise above or muddle through. There are many delicate balancing acts, and through it all, Markovits's characters shine through with determination and intelligence." --"Historical Novel Society "
"Tracing the Stern family from Transylvania to Paris and Brooklyn, [Markovits] focuses on daughter Atara and adopted daughter Mila, closer than close, until Atara wants more than the Satmar world can offer. Markovits plays fair: the believers are not stupid; their harsh world has beauty. We dwellers in the modern world know what "should" happen, but Markovits shows why, for those in the other world, it's not that simple." "--Publishers Weekly" (starred review)
"Markovits creates a vibrant, multilayered tale set within the conflicting obligations of faith and family." "--Booklist"
"Orphaned during the Holocaust, two ultra-orthodox Jews bound by love and faith are driven apart by the same forces in a sensitive consideration of tradition and commitment. [A] sober, finely etched scrutiny of extreme belief set in a female context." "--Kirkus"
"Markovits immediately draws the reader in to a family saga of faith and longhidden secrets, set among the Hasidic Jews of eastern Europe and spanning four generations. A stunning novel; highly recommended." "--Library Journal "
"Anouk Markovits, the author of this spellbinding tale, has created a novel that is brilliant, beautiful and brave. Raised in a Parisian Hasidic Jewish community, Markovits avoided an arranged marriage at 19 by fleeing from her home. This experience informed her as she created Mila and Atara, two exquisitely drawn characters. Two girls raised as sisters in a strict Hasidic family; one continues in the family tradition; the other rebels. As the story of their lives unfold, these complex characters evolve in such graceful and powerful ways that they feel like old friends by the time we learn the full consequences of the choices of their youth. This book opens wide the interior world of the Satmar Hasidic Jewish sect, presenting the practices and traditions with a balance that helps us understand not only the choice to flee but the reasons to stay....If you have ever grown to question beliefs taught you as a child, struggled to find an autonomous identity in the midst of your family, hurt someone you love to save yourself or wanted more than the world allowed you, "I Am Forbidden" will speak to you and the voice will ring true. The writing is stunning, the execution flawless and the plot utterly gripping." ─"Stylist" UK
""I Am Forbidden" moved me deeply. It brings many things wonderfully to life, including parts of history that I thought I knew but I now know better. Above all, it makes vivid the great comfort of strict religion, but also its sometimes painful confinement. I was swept away when I first read it. Now I am enlarged after reading it again."
─John Casey, author of National Book Award winner "Spartina" and "Compass Rose"
"It is the rare novel that manages to be both achingly sympathetic and formidably honest. "I Am Forbidden" is both of these, and much more. Anouk Markovits's exploration of the obligations of faith--and the equally pressing obligations of the loving heart and inquisitive mind--is riveting."
─Tova Mirvis, author of "The Ladies Auxiliary" and "The Outside World"
"In this gem of a book Anouk Markovits takes a reader to an exotic world, portrayed with such warmth and precision that the journey feels perfectly real and the characters become your intimate friends."
─Lara Vapnyar, author of "There Are Jews in My House"
"In her intense and appealing novel on the Satmar pious enclave, migrating after the Holocaust from Transylvania to Williamsburg, Anouk Markovits scrutinizes with a sharp eye both sides of the human conflict between free choice and limitless obedience. It's a fierce and sometimes tragic struggle for happiness through belonging to a community closed in its tradition or through independence and individuality--involving mind and soul, integrity and ideal, hope and despair. The revelatory, well-structured narrative, focuses on a topic that goes beyond Jewish, Christian or whatever religious or non-religious dogma to the very core of many ardent tensions in our troubled modernity."
─Norman Manea, author of "The Hooligan's Return"
"This novel is truly a seminal work on the topic of Jewish Fundamentalism. With unparalleled detail and poignant storytelling, this saga of a Satmar family explores and debunks the myths upon which the extreme version of Judaism we know today was founded, and it does so with a resounding clang. I found myself gripping the edge of my seat quite a few times, holding my breath while I waited to see how the characters in this novel would find self-determination. People will read this novel both because it is a beautiful story told in a magical setting, and because it completely unravels a world heretofore tightly enclosed. I extend my deepest gratitude and admiration for Anouk Markovits, who so skillfully brought my world to life, and abolished the mysteries that remained of my childhood."
-Deborah Feldman, author of "New York Times" bestseller "Unorthodox"
The wonder of this elegant, enthralling novel is the beauty Ms. Markovits unearths in the Hasidic community she takes us into. Ms. Markovits, big-hearted and surprising, tenderly captures the complexities of adulthood for the one who stayed.... I Am Forbidden whips by, its extravagant narrative steadily cast with complicated, thoughtful characters. Susannah Meadows, The New York Times
Markovits makes her stamp on the literary world with an ambitious, religiously-centered debut. [T]his ambitious, revelatory novel richly rewards your efforts and heralds a promising new writer. Entertainment Weekly
A captivating tale. People
Markovits s heroines are disenfranchised but resourceful, possessing an innate spirituality, despite, or perhaps because of, the freedom denied them. New Yorker
A lyrical novel about obedience, rebellion and tragedy by an author who grew up in the Hasidic community she writes about. With poetic grace, she succeeds at depicting the culture from the inside out, conveying the way in which a life of limitation and law can provide a bulwark of meaning. Ilana Teitelbaum, Huffington Post
Anouk Markovits s I Am Forbidden contrasts the fates of a Hasidic family s two daughters, one who breaks with tradition to pursue a life of intellectual and emotional freedom, the other who cleaves to convention only to find her childless marriage is leading her to consider a course of action that falls well outside her religious beliefs. Megan O Grady, Vogue
[A] story that will resonate with anyone who's ever bucked family expectations to find their own way of life. Oprah.com
Markovits's portrayal of the contradictions and compromises of Hasidic faith is fascinating. Times Literary Supplement
Markovits brings off this balancing act with skill and daring. Everyone is given their due. Instead of disrespect or easy judgment, there is generosity of spirit and delicacy of the pen This is a book absorbing as any midrash and as enlightening as a library. I feel its contribution immediately and powerfully, and am happy to have given my time to it. I recommend you do the same. Unpious
A deeply felt account of people caught between worlds. The Jewish Daily Forward, Shoshana Olidort
In Anouk Markovits s outstanding novel, the title words could apply to many scenarios within its pages: cultures, relationships, and expectations all provide constant obstacles to either rise above or muddle through. There are many delicate balancing acts, and through it all, Markovits s characters shine through with determination and intelligence. Historical Novel Society
Tracing the Stern family from Transylvania to Paris and Brooklyn, [Markovits] focuses on daughter Atara and adopted daughter Mila, closer than close, until Atara wants more than the Satmar world can offer. Markovits plays fair: the believers are not stupid; their harsh world has beauty. We dwellers in the modern world know what should happen, but Markovits shows why, for those in the other world, it s not that simple. Publishers Weekly (starred review)
Markovits creates a vibrant, multilayered tale set within the conflicting obligations of faith and family." Booklist
Orphaned during the Holocaust, two ultra-orthodox Jews bound by love and faith are driven apart by the same forces in a sensitive consideration of tradition and commitment. [A] sober, finely etched scrutiny of extreme belief set in a female context. Kirkus
Markovits immediately draws the reader in to a family saga of faith and longhidden secrets, set among the Hasidic Jews of eastern Europe and spanning four generations. A stunning novel; highly recommended. LibraryJournal
Anouk Markovits, the author of this spellbinding tale, has created a novel that is brilliant, beautiful and brave. Raised in a Parisian Hasidic Jewish community, Markovits avoided an arranged marriage at 19 by fleeing from her home. This experience informed her as she created Mila and Atara, two exquisitely drawn characters. Two girls raised as sisters in a strict Hasidic family; one continues in the family tradition; the other rebels. As the story of their lives unfold, these complex characters evolve in such graceful and powerful ways that they feel like old friends by the time we learn the full consequences of the choices of their youth. This book opens wide the interior world of the Satmar Hasidic Jewish sect, presenting the practices and traditions with a balance that helps us understand not only the choice to flee but the reasons to stay....If you have ever grown to question beliefs taught you as a child, struggled to find an autonomous identity in the midst of your family, hurt someone you love to save yourself or wanted more than the world allowed you, I Am Forbidden will speak to you and the voice will ring true. The writing is stunning, the execution flawless and the plot utterly gripping. Stylist UK
I Am Forbidden moved me deeply. It brings many things wonderfully to life, including parts of history that I thought I knew but I now know better. Above all, it makes vivid the great comfort of strict religion, but also its sometimes painful confinement. I was swept away when I first read it. Now I am enlarged after reading it again.
John Casey, author of National Book Award winner Spartina and Compass Rose
It is the rare novel that manages to be both achingly sympathetic and formidably honest. I Am Forbidden is both of these, and much more. Anouk Markovits's exploration of the obligations of faith and the equally pressing obligations of the loving heart and inquisitive mind is riveting.
Tova Mirvis, author of The Ladies Auxiliary and The Outside World
In this gem of a book Anouk Markovitstakes a reader to an exotic world, portrayed with such warmth and precision that the journey feels perfectly real and the characters become your intimate friends.
Lara Vapnyar, author of There Are Jews in My House
In her intense and appealing novel on the Satmar pious enclave, migrating after the Holocaust fromTransylvania to Williamsburg, Anouk Markovits scrutinizes witha sharp eyeboth sides of the human conflict between free choice and limitless obedience. It's a fierce and sometimes tragic struggle for happiness through belonging to a community closed in its tradition or through independence and individuality involving mind and soul, integrity and ideal, hope and despair. The revelatory, well-structured narrative, focuses on a topic that goes beyond Jewish, Christian or whatever religious or non-religiousdogma to the very core of many ardent tensions in our troubled modernity.
Norman Manea, author of The Hooligan s Return
This novel is truly a seminal work on the topic of Jewish Fundamentalism. With unparalleled detail and poignant storytelling, this saga of a Satmar family explores and debunks the myths upon which the extreme version of Judaism we know today was founded, and it does so with a resounding clang. I found myself gripping the edge of my seat quite a few times, holding my breath while I waited to see how the characters in this novel would find self-determination. People will read this novel both because it is a beautiful story told in a magical setting, and because it completely unravels a world heretofore tightly enclosed. I extend my deepest gratitude and admiration for Anouk Markovits, who so skillfully brought my world to life, and abolished the mysteries that remained of my childhood.
Deborah Feldman, author of New York Times bestseller Unorthodox"
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Product details
- Publisher : Hogarth (8 May 2012)
- Language : English
- ISBN-10 : 0307984737
- ISBN-13 : 978-0307984739
- Dimensions : 15.14 x 2.64 x 21.72 cm
- Customer Reviews:
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In their decision making the authoritative elders of the communities and their sheep like adherents are guided not only by perverse and probably unjustified interpretations of Jewish law,but also by myths and archetypes of threats within and without.In these non representative Jewish communities members are taught to despise themselves and to revile themselves for turning the community against them by making individual choices consistent with their needs but out of step with proscribed ones.Tragically, Judith a character in "I am Forbidden" is driven to suicide, a solution and resolution not endorsed by Judaic norms where in accordance with Talmudic norms trhere is nothing more precious than a single life.
In I am Forbidden the myth of race intrudes into the Satmar members' understanding of lineage and descent which unwittingly would seem to give antisemitic race science the victory.The Jews are a population not a race. The Jews are not a race but fundamentalist leaders think in racist terms.Because one of Judith's parents is a non-Jew, and somebody with whom, her mother Mila had a casual affair, and this has been hidden from the community,any hint of this impropriety as well as the notion that Judith is illegitimate would bring the prospects for her 11 children as future members of the Satmar community crashing down, and invalidate the impending marriage of her eldest daughter.In the atavistic thinking of the Satmar Tzadiks,( holy men?),who seem to lack seichel, Mila's lineage would be seen for now and all time as polluted and therefor a threat to the alleged purity and holiness of the Satmar community.There is a hint of Satmar hypocrisy when the leader of the Satmar sect denies having been rescued from Transylvania by secular not religious Jews.
Intermarriage is proscribed and the solution is the expulsion of intermarried families from the Satmar community.This is accomplished by shunning and exclusion rather than by interdiction and violence. In Judith's case, a woman who has been acculturated into Chassidic Judaism , whose identity and self knowledge has been moulded by Satmar rigidity and norms, she has been left with no option other than to shun and eviscerate herself to protect the reputation of her family all of whom have had Satmar educations.She has been taught that sinning will prevent the forthcoming ressurection of the dead.
There seems to be no countervailing concept of a righteous Jewish woman who deviates from the norm in Satmar philosophy . Presumably members of the Satmar sect have never heard of Tamar and Ruth in the Tanach who violated norms to produce quintessential Jewish progeny some of whom became kings of Israel.Capitulation to the community's mindlessness and intolerance leaves one with nowhere to go particularly as Satmar women are taught to be totally dependent and to have no individuality and any one who challenges Satmar doctrine is reviled as an apostate or an apikoros.
Fortunately one cannot equate Chasidism with Judaism or even the Satmar with the whole of Hassidism.Sacrificing family members to ensure that sinfulness does not nullify redemption or the coming of the messiah is barbaric as much by Jewish standards as by non-Jewish ones.A calculated rejection of modernity by the hold out fundamentalist sects leaves out rationality as a way of addressing issues and problems. For some expulsion could be a path towards liberation in the direction of a more enlightened Judaism, but this would entail a literacy and resources which Satmar have taken pains to put out of reach.
Whether or not I am Forbidden is good literature or not it is written by an erudite graduate of Columbia University who knows what she is writing about.In portraying the destiny of her characters she tries to be non-judgmental but to let the dynamics of inclusion and exclusion speak for itself.It is a morbid pessimistic page turner in which characters who rebel are damned, and in which the suffering and torments of the characters will resonate with bored suburban readers lacking any passion in their lives.
Years later, as Anghel wakes early on this small farm near the railroad tracks and the river to the sound of his dogs barking. He sees the shadowy figures of a man, woman and a little girl from his window. He tries to follow. A train approaches, but doesn't stop. As the second train approaches the woman looks out the shed's window, sees the Rebbe and runs to him, calling him. One shot is fired, and the man rushes to her. Anghel's hand covers the little girl's mouth and pulls her from the doorway to hide.
Night falls, and they make it to the market square. The girl's father is there, slashed and bleeding, tied to a post. Her father renames her Mila and tells her to go to Zalman Stern, and begs the boy to tell Zalman Stern to see to it he is buried with his own.
Mila's story begins at the door of Zalman and Hannah Stern. They raise Mila as their own with their daughter Atara, sleeping side by side. Atara is the first to hear Mila speak. Zalman goes to the village where Mila's father and mother died, meeting the farm boy who tells him of the father's request to be buried with his own. When he returns with the news of her father's proper burial, she speaks for the first time, letting Zalman know that the boy named Anghel is a Jew, another child orphaned. Zalman confirms his heritage, and returns home with Josef / Anghel. After seven years with Florina any memories of his Jewish heritage are almost gone. As Zalman prepares Josef for his bar mitvah, he also prepares him for his move to America, while Zalman prepares his own family of their upcoming move to Paris.
Atara is a willful child, questioning every rule and regulation of more and more in the Satmar household. Mila's prayers for a reunion with her parents is foretold by her reunion with Josef. Mila submits to the Satmar ways. It is in Paris that the story really begins to take on unexpected twists and turns and the characters really begin to add depth, and their personal struggles take on an added dimension, some sensational and some tragic.
This is Anouk Markovits second book, her first book "Pur cotton" was published in French.
It is occasionally hard to follow with different eras, locations and people. There are parts that are mysterious and poetic.
"Atara liked to pray with Mila. She could tell that in Mila's prayer, the messiah's coming was not the glory of the Temple rebuilt but a kitchen with Mila's mother in it, a bedtime with the story Mila's father had not finished telling her."
I would suspect that for many people not of the faith, much of the interest here would be encounters with things that might seem "shocking". There is a ritual purity here that goes well beyond keeping kosher: the unwillingness to enter a church or perform certain medical tests (the novel's denouement turns on a medical test), the importance of hair cutting and cleanliness, the needs of religion that keep even a husband and wife apart in many ways. For anyone not having some sense of these things, it is an eye-opening experience.
On the other hand, there are serious problems with this story as a novel. In particular, it is an extremely narrow tale. It seems wide enough at first. It opens during World War II and leaves two Jewish children orphaned: Josef, who is hidden by a Christian woman as her son; and Mila, whom Josef helps reach a Satmar family. After the war, Josef is "recovered" by the Satmars and sent to America while Mila is brought up as part of the Stern family in Europe. Mila grows up as a sister to Atara Stern but, whereas Atara struggles with her faith, Mila is mostly content. Finally, Atara runs away from home while Mila is sent to America to be Josef's wife.
This could have been the set-up for a really powerful story of a clash between ways of life. Instead, it constricts to a story of Mila trying to conceive a child and the years fly by so quickly that the story is robbed of any depth. The rebellious Atara who seems such a key character disappears until near the end when we get a summary of her life. We mainly get Mila and Josef trying to convince themselves to do various forbidden things to conceive a child. When a child finally does come, she does not bring what they expect to their lives. As expected, all ends in tragedy.
Ultimately, I was left with the feeling of having an experience that was all surface and the hitting of obvious targets. Though I certainly agree that living a life of such religious strictness is confining and, in some cases, unfair and painful, any style of life has its own methods of inflicting unfairness and pain. We could have seen this in Atara's life after leaving her faith but she is ignored as a character. Plus, there is something to admire about living in a way that makes everything in life prayerful and focused on God but we get very little of that in Mila and Josef's lives as described here. This wideness of experience in lives both religious and secular is missing in this work. It is an opportunity lost.
The book brings to life what it is like to live in the milieu of this extremely strict Jewish sect. For those who cannot measure up, there is no mercy; the conflict is insurmountable.
The fact I have a little background is useful, but I think anybody who is capable of compassion can understand. I became deeply emotionally involved in the plight of some of the characters. I kept asking myself questions: what if they had made a different decision, or chosen a different action? The book made me think.
In the end, the author has given us enough background so that we understand when we read about the outcome.
In spite of how oppressive the Hasidic way of life may seem, people are able to live in it, and it has a lot to recommend it. I am not drawn to it, but appreciate more than I can possibly tell, the opportunity to get a small glimpse into their community.
They deserve the right to live in peace.
I hope this book adds to people's understanding and willingness to tolerate those with whom they disagree. This is a phenomenal effort, and I only hope that as many people as possible will read it, and understand.