Read: April 25, 2020
Summary: A memoir of a young woman who was grew up in a religiously strict Hasidic Judaism sect, Deborah Feldman describes her struggles with her community and customs that governed governing everything she could do from what to wear to who she could speak to. Despite her strict upbringing and the discovery of novels that weren’t accessible in her community, Deborah was able to imagine another way of life beyond what she knew in through the Hasidic roots she grew up wtih. Through her marriage and birth of her child, Deborah could no longer maintain the tension between her desires and her religious responsibilities. She realized that had to find another path that aligned with her desire for her and her son to be happy and free.
My Thoughts: It was a slow start to reading this memoir in the setting up of Deborah’s situation in the Hasidic community. Once I got though about a quarter of the way through, Deborah’s storytelling and thought process started to pick up. There was more insights into the community she was living in and her navigation of being in that world but knowing she couldn’t quite fit in. It was a touching story seeing Deborah’s battle and her success to start a new life with her son.
