My Name Is Asher Lev by Chaim Potok Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of My Name Is Asher Lev
Book Review: A profound insight into a different world
Summary: 5 Stars
It's many years since I last read My Name is Asher Lev. Potok has always been one of my most loved authors, and this novel is one of his finest. The subject-matter is difficult: an Orthodox, frum Jew, who has to break from his background in order to achieve greatness as an artist, and who, in doing so, hurts many people, including his own parents. Yet somehow he succeeds in retaining his faith and his place within the community. Potok is one of the very few authors who could have tackled the subject without becoming maudlin. His understanding of the Hasidic community about which he writes is blended by his own, far less strict form of Judaism, gving him rare insight into two parallel yet very different worlds. You would think this a pretty recherché subject for a novel, yet Potok brings it off so brilliantly that no-one who is serious about good literature will find any of it an obstacle to a deep reading experience.