Unorthodox: The Scandalous Rejection of my Hasidic Roots
By Deborah Feldman
Back to my theme of different life perspectives, memoirs, and autobiographies. This one was pretty good. Reminded me of Growing Up Amish, as it was a journey through the realization of being trapped in an oppressive lifestyle, and finding ones way out.
The story was interesting, with unexpected twists and turns. Feldman painted an emotional picture of what it was like to be raised in the Samtar community in New York. The characters she developed were intense and interesting, yet I would never want to be related to them. I am impressed by her resiliency and courage to do the things she did growing up (especially reading all of my favorite books!).
I also read the reviews on Goodreads after I finished the book. I agreed with most of the positive reviews. One things that caught my eye from a negative review is that the reviewer mentioned that this book would have been more effective if Feldman had waited longer to write it after her escape from her lifestyle. I readily agree and disagree with this. There wasn't a lot of depth and complexity to the story at the end. I missed her insight, along with the details from her departure andeginning of the new life. However. This book contract was the reason she was able to get out of the lifestyle with limited education and no money. I will accept that as a fair trade for this book. Years in the future, I hope she adds on a long afterword to help tie together the ending.
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