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May 05, 2005
Unique is a Good Word
Breaking Point by Riva Pomerantz is supposed to be a “realistic, hard-hitting portrayal of a kid-at-risk,” You see, “The Fabers were always "one big happy family until their oldest son, Avrumie, dared to challenge the fragile walls that held their lives together.” Key word: fragile.
The book is supposed to be “A good tool for parents, teachers, friends, and teenagers who may be dealing with some of the issues brought to the forefront in this groundbreaking novel.” But I would have to disagree with that. If the story was real and Dina, Avrumie’s mother, would have read the book early on, it wouldn’t have changed her chinuch practices in the least. As the story progresses from Avrumie and Avraham Chaim Faber to just Abe; from a mussar shmuess with Avrumie’s father, to a heart-to-heart with Avrumie’s father, the patterns are clear: the parents are mechanech the children with the typical No Questions Allowed approach. If Dina had read the book, she’d have thought to herself: wow, some people have it so hard! My son is just going through a phase, he’d never do what this character in the book is doing.
I must congratulate Mrs. Pomerantz on the quality of the writing. I found less than five major spelling errors and she does a great job of making her protagonist endearing. One of the reasons this review is so half-baked is that I saw my own story in the book a little too often. The largest difference being that real-life stories don’t end so sweetly. In real-life there aren’t many parents who realize their mistakes, admit to it, correct it, and move on. We don’t live happily ever after, and we don’t pretend to.
The issue the book really should raise is the general chinuch mentality. If 5 out of every 100 children are not served well by the No Questions policy of chinuch, is that not a large enough number to consider changes? While it may be wrong to discuss certain things in class because 90 percent of the class is happy with Emunah Peshuta (?), shouldn’t children be encouraged to ask questions if they do have any? Shouldn’t Rebbeim, or melamdim by us Chasidim, have the answers to these questions?
Posted by notepad at May 5, 2005 07:47 AM
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Comments
Do you expect any better from feldheim?
It is accepted as gospel in the charedi world that the education system should be geared to producing Gedolim and the ones that fall by the wayside should support the Gedolim anyway, that's the only way they have value and purpose.
TRK
Posted by: The Rabbi's Kid at May 8, 2005 04:20 AM
I happened to really like the book, but maybe because she's my favorite person in the world... I could be biased. Its true, some parts of the book are exagerated, in order to show a point. And yes, maybe if Dina read it, it wouldnt change her. But thats only because most people don't realize their issue. However, if someone realized they were having issues, and THEN read the book, the book could give some ideas of what to do.
Posted by: somethinghiding at May 8, 2005 01:54 PM