Book Review: The Chosen

by Chaim Potok


My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I haven't gotten all my thoughts together about this book just quite yet. I liked it. I just haven't come to any kind of conclusion about how to apply it to my life. I'm forever trying to apply books to me, and maybe that's my trouble. This one definitely raised some interesting questions in my mind, that's for sure.

The book is about two Jewish boys who are growing up in NY during WWII. They are different sects of Judaism (which I never knew there were) and should be enemies, but they aren't. They become best friends. Danny, the boy practices his religion more fanatically, you might say, is expected to inherit the position Rabbi someday from his father. Danny is a genius with a photographic memory, and begins to seek for knowledge in forbidden books (anything that's not Jewish lit, pretty much) without telling his father. Danny and his father don't speak to each other, except when they study the Talmud together, and it's been this way since Danny was about 4.

Reuven comes along, he is Jewish but not fanatically so, and his father is a brilliant Jewish scholar. They have a great relationship. Reuven helps Danny by listening to his problems, and acting (unknowingly) as a go between for Danny and his Father. The book is about how these two boys grow up together.

It was a pretty suspenseful book. I kept wanting desperately to know why Danny's father never spoke to him except when they studied. I spent most of the book absolutely hating Danny's father. And then in the very last chapter you discover the answer and it turns everything on it's head, in a way. I don't agree with what Danny's father did,I think there must be a better way, but now that I know the reason, I don't think I'm inclined to hate him anymore. And it definitely begs the question, "How far would you go to see that your kids turned out the way you wanted them to?" The last chapter happened so fast, I don't know, I still can't make up my mind about it.

There are a lot of Jewish things (words, traditions, vocab, etc.) in there that I didn't understand, but I don't think that not understanding it took away from the story at all. I thought this book was really good, and I recommend it.