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August 30, 2004

Pearls II

So you read the review and disclaimer and decided not to read the book. Here's Miriam with the entire book condensed into one, easy to read, post.

The Romance Reader
What a horrible, depressing book.

Ms. Abraham currently teaches writing. I hope she doesn’t forget to tell her students what she herself forgot—readers must like and sympathize with the protagonist. They are supposed to root for the poor girl who just wants out of the life her parents set out for her. Instead, I read about a conniver with impossible dreams. Books are also supposed to have a steady rise to climax, then a conclusion. This book had a series of conflicts, and then the line went dead. It ended not with a bang, but with a whimper.

Rachel is a Chassidish girl whose father dreams of grandeur as a Rebbe. Perhaps he craves respect from phantom Chassidim to make up for the lack of respect his wife has for him. Rachel is a dreamer like her father, but they want different things. Father wants to emulate the Baal Shem Tov, the founder of the Chassidic movement, while Rachel wants to imitate the characters from her Harlequin books.

Both see some realization of their dreams. Through hard work, living in poverty and with a shrewish wife, Father builds his synagogue (why Abraham can’t use the word “shul” I don’t know) and keeps expanding his vision. He meets with opposition from nature, from his wife, and from fellow Jews, but he is persistent. From a shack of a shul with an inconsistent minyan, to a steady minyan of plain workers, his ideas slowly bear fruit.

Among his obstacles is his daughter Rachel. Rachel who wants a library card, Rachel who discards her opaque tights for sheer stockings, Rachel who creates a scandal when the neighbors learn that she wears bathing suits instead of a jumper at the pool. Rachel who doesn’t want the life that her parents are laying out for her. The romance novels she stuffs under her pillows at night promise a life of silks, of men who aren’t afraid to touch, of a life where seamed stockings are irrelevant.

Her life is a series of small victories against her parents—the stolen books from Waldbaums, illicit talks with her friend Elky, eating on Yom Kippur, riding the train on Rosh Hashana, lifeguard lessons.

Rachel wishes her mother could be like her neighbor, Gita. Gita smiles and hands out cookies. Tova frowns, threatens to leave the family and run away to Israel, and yells at Father in front of the children. She is a cold woman whose rare smiles are brief reprieves from the tension she stirs in the household.

When shadchanim call about Rachel, her parents listen. It’s important for Rachel to grab a good one, a rebbishe bachur, both to bolster her father’s reputation and to provide a strong precedent for the younger childrens’ prospects. But Rachel’s past, the bathing suits, the stockings, frighten away some potential matches. Father’s insistence that the boy be rebbish turns yet others away. Finally, Israel (Yisrool?) gets past the radar because Father knew his family from before the War in Romania. Israel comes on a bus with his parents and grandmother from Brooklyn. His grandmother was expecting a L’chaim. Rachel disappoints after a short meeting with Israel; she needs time before her decision. Israel’s parents are generous; they agree to come back the next afternoon for another b’show, but after that they really must know her decision. After another short talk, Rachel agrees to marry Israel. She wants her Harlequin hero, but Israel and his blue eyes would have to suffice… for now. Even before her wedding, all during the preparations, Rachel plotted her divorce. And she got it, less than one week into a marriage that had already turned sour. Rachel was back with her family again.

And that’s how the book ended.

I wanted to sympathize with Rachel. She had a lot going against her. She was a sensualist in Chassidish clothing, a rebbe’s daughter who just wanted a “normal” life. She didn’t want to get married and have eight children, but saw marriage as her only escape from her stifling parents. But as I said in the beginning, I just couldn’t. Rachel isn’t a likable person. She’s too headstrong and selfish. Her parents aren’t all that likable either. Her mother is fed up with life, and her father doesn’t have his feet firmly set on earth.

All in all, an unpleasant family and an unpleasant book.

Posted by notepad at August 30, 2004 03:04 PM

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