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vero8's review against another edition
challenging
funny
informative
reflective
fast-paced
5.0
A brain-teaser if ever there was one. Highly recommend to everyone who’s not Jewish especially.
eclectictales's review against another edition
3.0
I won a paperback copy of this novel courtesy of the GoodReads First Reads programme. This review in its entirety was originally posted at caffeinatedlife.net: http://www.caffeinatedlife.net/blog/2014/04/16/review-jews-and-words/
I thought it was interesting how one of the central arguments that both authors focus on with regards to Jewish culture and history was the importance of books. Books, by extension, are also important, perhaps even more so because of how it communicates values, ideas, beliefs from one generation to the next. It is also in keeping with the notion that the Jewish people are one of the peoples of the book. The authors draw up references, text and examples from various literary sources, either from the Torah or other cultural titles, which was very interesting and informative.
To my surprise, curiosity, and ultimately my dismay, the authors chose not to include Jewish beliefs and the religion itself in-depth in the discussions. For a book discussing identity, I was expecting a more comprehensive look at the different elements that contribute to Jewish identity and while they do cite religious texts, it would have been interesting to see how the ideas and beliefs contributed to that identity.
While the dialogue and debate opened up differing perspectives to the cultural/social/historical/whathaveyou nature of Jewish identity, it does drift structurally. There are four chapters, each focusing on a specific topic, which serves as a guiding point. The first two chapters were pretty cohesive and strong, moving from one point to another, but I found the chapter on “time and timelessness” a little all over the place, touching on points here and there but not fleshing the point out to my satisfaction.
While fascinating, I don’t think I could recommend this book as a first-stop if you’re curious about Jewish identity, culture, and community. It’s informative, and it certainly touches on a lot of elements of Jewish culture, but given its partial nature as a dialogue between two individuals about Jewishness as a whole, it does leave the reader wondering what to make of all of the debates and the information. If you’re looking for an introduction, best look elsewhere and then return to this book for a perspective glance.
I thought it was interesting how one of the central arguments that both authors focus on with regards to Jewish culture and history was the importance of books. Books, by extension, are also important, perhaps even more so because of how it communicates values, ideas, beliefs from one generation to the next. It is also in keeping with the notion that the Jewish people are one of the peoples of the book. The authors draw up references, text and examples from various literary sources, either from the Torah or other cultural titles, which was very interesting and informative.
To my surprise, curiosity, and ultimately my dismay, the authors chose not to include Jewish beliefs and the religion itself in-depth in the discussions. For a book discussing identity, I was expecting a more comprehensive look at the different elements that contribute to Jewish identity and while they do cite religious texts, it would have been interesting to see how the ideas and beliefs contributed to that identity.
While the dialogue and debate opened up differing perspectives to the cultural/social/historical/whathaveyou nature of Jewish identity, it does drift structurally. There are four chapters, each focusing on a specific topic, which serves as a guiding point. The first two chapters were pretty cohesive and strong, moving from one point to another, but I found the chapter on “time and timelessness” a little all over the place, touching on points here and there but not fleshing the point out to my satisfaction.
While fascinating, I don’t think I could recommend this book as a first-stop if you’re curious about Jewish identity, culture, and community. It’s informative, and it certainly touches on a lot of elements of Jewish culture, but given its partial nature as a dialogue between two individuals about Jewishness as a whole, it does leave the reader wondering what to make of all of the debates and the information. If you’re looking for an introduction, best look elsewhere and then return to this book for a perspective glance.
herwitchiness's review
5.0
Cannot recommend this book enough especially to Christian or other goyim who want to learn more about Judaism, especially from a Secular standpoint. It made me feel seen, as a Jewish bisexual feminist who is mostly spiritual but not so much religious.
bernrr's review against another edition
4.0
This is a relatively short book, but dense and full of ideas. Taking as its subject an idea that Judaism is a text-based "civilization," the authors use it to address a whole universe.
I was not raised with any knowledge of Judaism, just a vague claim to cultural identity, and the book contained many surprises. I suspect, though, the authors' framing of some ideas may be surprising to any interested reader. One major theme goes something like this: that although the Jewish people have usually been on the wrong side of military and political history, they still were able to control their own narrative through writing, teaching, and reading.
I note one peculiarity of the book is the use of the pronoun "we," used because it has two authors, father and daughter, novelist and historian. The "we" gives it an odd formality, but it is coupled with pretty informal statements of judgment, such as the phrase 'we deem their opinion obnoxious.'
In my own imagination, this subject, with these two writers as teachers, would make for an extremely memorable class. The book is not for everyone, but certainly rewarding.
I was not raised with any knowledge of Judaism, just a vague claim to cultural identity, and the book contained many surprises. I suspect, though, the authors' framing of some ideas may be surprising to any interested reader. One major theme goes something like this: that although the Jewish people have usually been on the wrong side of military and political history, they still were able to control their own narrative through writing, teaching, and reading.
I note one peculiarity of the book is the use of the pronoun "we," used because it has two authors, father and daughter, novelist and historian. The "we" gives it an odd formality, but it is coupled with pretty informal statements of judgment, such as the phrase 'we deem their opinion obnoxious.'
In my own imagination, this subject, with these two writers as teachers, would make for an extremely memorable class. The book is not for everyone, but certainly rewarding.
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