"No one says you have to paint ultimate anguish and torment. But if you are driven to paint it, you have no other way." - My Name is Asher Lev, page 326
This book has been on my "to-read" list ever since it was first recommended to me five years ago. I can't tell you why I put it off for so long. My Name is Asher Lev is easily the best book I've read in the last two years.
My Name is Asher Lev tells the story of a Hasidic Jew whose love of art and painting puts him at odds with his devout father, who feels the boy's days would be better spent studying the Torah. The boy continues to develop his art, despite the fact that his paintings reflect the conflict he feels with his community and injure the people he loves.
That's the plot in a nutshell, but the experience of reading is so much more rewarding than a one-paragraph synopsis would indicate. At first, Chaim Potok's writing style made reading a chore. His narrator speaks in terse, unemotional sentences that really taxed my attention (I believe this may just be Potok's style, as I had a similar response to The Chosen).
However, in time, Asher's short sentences reveal themselves to be full of tacit emotion. The boy paints because he CAN'T communicate in words as most people do - at least, not in a way that others would find meaningful. Asher continues to paint, even when he believes his art may lead him to hell, because he literally can do nothing else.
I don't know that I can really add much more. My Name is Asher Lev was nearly a revelation. I feel more inspired - to write, to draw, and even to live my faith.
So, yeah, it's recommended.
3 comments:
I had to read it in High School. I hated it. I don't remember why exactly, although I do remember the slow writing you decribed. Maybe I should read it again...
Did I recommend this to you? Good for me! I did indeed love this book, and am glad that you found it to be as revelatory as I did. I'll have to revisit it someday.
Hmm. I remember considering this book because I enjoyed The Chosen, but I think I got distracted by something else at the book store and bought that instead. I'll have to reconsider reading this one.
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