Rating: 
Summary: I enjoyed the book. Everything rang true.
Review: I enjoyed the book very much. Everything about it rang true
Rating:
Summary: Pass the salami salad!
Review: There is so much to admire in this warm, funny, and wise novel. The collective voice of the ladies auxialiary is fresh and vital, revealing their inner strengths and weaknesses with honesty and affection. But God is really in the details here, from the overflowing shelves of the kosher grocery to the salami salad on the buffet (and that secret in the freezer). At its best the novel inspires us to question and reaffirm the complications and beauty of family and faith. One wonders what Ms. Mirvis has in store for us next.
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Summary: Magnolia's and Matzas -- a Southern-fried Shtetl
Review: At last a wondrous new and original voice that richly creates the mythical world of a small Orthodox Jewish community in Memphis,Tn--Tova Mirvis paints a larger than life portrait of southern characters infused with Jewish traditions that will make you laugh and cry and renew your spirit. Move over Shalom Aleichem!
Rating:
Summary: Probing but lighthearted, critical but loving
Review: This book made me think about religion in a new light. It portrays orthodox Jewish customs with an obvious love that can make anyone not of that community jealous. But it also delves into the inner workings of one community -- one that is assuredly not unique among the smaller communities of any religion or group -- to examine the conflicts and the very human feelings of the people who are so tightly connected to their community, their family and their religion. And it accomplishes these very serious objectives with a sense of humor that can make anyone laugh while they are crying.
Rating:
Summary: Gossip is never idle
Review: Near the end of this novel there is a marvelous lesson about gossip. A woman who has damaged another person's reputation with gossip goes to her rabbi and asks him how she can take back the harm she has done. The rabbi tells her to take a feather pillow to the top of a hill and rip it open. The woman does this and returns to the rabbi. He then tells her to go back to the hilltop and collect every feather and put it back in the pillow. "But, Rabbi! That is impossible!" she tells him. He then replies yes, it is and such is the case with gossip. Once the harmful words have been spoken they cannot be taken back.This is a wonderful novel about a close-knit religious community and the suspicion and fear that envelops it when an outsider moves in. The fact that this outsider is a young and very attractive widow only adds fuel to the fire. Ms. Tovis pulls no punches here in her depiction of the viciousness of gossip and how devastating it is not only for the victims but for the ones who participate in it. An excellent story with a lot of detailed descriptions of Jewish family life and Jewish holidays. I loved it.
Rating: 
Summary: Surprisingly Enjoyable
Review: I didn't think I would like "The Ladies Auxiliary" very much, as I'm not a huge fan of 'chick lit.' But my boyfriend's mother insisted! And who would I be to disappoint her? I'm pleasantly surprised to be able to give it four stars.
In the interest of full disclosure, I am a convert to Judaism. So the story of the converted Batsheva and her struggle to find a place in the Jewish world really hit home for me. I might thus be giving the book more credit than it deserves. Still, as far as I can tell, author Tova Mirvis was a born and bred Jew. It speaks very well of her talents that she can write the convert's perspective in a compelling and true manner.
Some of the story did feel contrived. Batsheva, though a sympathetic character, was a little too over-the-top. You don't have to be a total radical to have trouble fitting into a new community, especially one as insular as Mirvis' Memphis. And some of the book felt a little routine and predictable. You knew, for instance, that the rabbi's son Yosef was going to make the choice he did, and that Shira Feldman was going to be An Issue. There were few surprises.
Still, Mirvis' use of the "we" was a perfect narrative choice. Many of her characters are rich and funny. You feel like you know them personally. It is a heartwarming story that sticks with you for a while. It is indeed worth a look.
Rating: 
Summary: Boring
Review: I am so glad that I'm not the only person who thought this book wasn't very good. I can't figure out what the reviewers in the front of the book are raving about. Reading this book was like trudging through mud up to my knees. In fact, I put it down when I was about one-quarter through, and read 3 other books before I picked it up again. I kept hoping it would get better. It didn't. I found the use of the first-person plural pronoun for the narrative voice very annoying. Although, I don't think any voice could overcome the slow-moving and boring story.
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Summary: What a letdown!
Review: The blurb on this book sounded terrific. The actual book was bad! The writing was stilted, the characters shadowy and unreal. The heroine whas too much just that, a heroine. I expected her to appear in a Wonder Woman outfit at any moment, except that it wouldn't have been modest enough for her Orthodox Jewish persona. There were no shades of gray in the characters - either all good or all bad. And are we really expected to believe that such stereotyped characters really exist? Ms. Mirvis paints the small, tight Orthodox Jewish community as not only small town, but small minded, and not only ready but eager to destroy anyone who isn't like them. As a Jew, it made me uncomfortable. I'm sure there really are women such as these, but do they really need to be Jewish? The author makes some good points about needless gossip, about jumping to conclusions, etc. However, I think she felt she had to bludgeon the reader with her opinions. A little subtlety would have been nice.
Rating:
Summary: Gossip is never idle
Review:
Near the end of this novel there is a marvelous lesson about gossip. A woman who has damaged another person's reputation with gossip goes to her rabbi and asks him how she can take back the harm she has done. The rabbi tells her to take a feather pillow to the top of a windy hill and rip it open. The woman does this and returns to the rabbi. He then tells her to go back to the hilltop and collect every feather and put it back in the pillow. "But, Rabbi! That is impossible!" she tells him. He then replies yes, it is and such is the case with gossip. Once the harmful words have been spoken they cannot be taken back.
This is a wonderful novel about a close-knit religious community and the suspicion and fear that envelops it when an outsider moves in. The fact that this outsider is a young and very attractive widow only adds fuel to the fire. Ms. Tovis pulls no punches here in her depiction of the viciousness of gossip and how devastating it is not only for the victims but for the ones who participate in it. An excellent story with a lot of detailed descriptions of Jewish family life and Jewish holidays. I loved it.
Rating:
Summary: An outstanding study of the evil women do
Review: Fantastic! An excellent study of the evil women do. Batsheva, a young widow, moves into a very small Orthodox Jewish community in Memphis. As an unmarried woman and a stranger, she is instantly the subject of gossip and speculation. As a convert, her enthusiastic love of Judiasm is suspect---in a community where ritual and rigid obedience to the law has replaced a love for religion and/or God. The women in the community are highly individualized and therefore, easily recognizable. They are women we all know and they can be found everywhere in Amrica. There is a Mrs. Levy (the gossip who always begins everything with "I don't want say anything bad BUT...") in every community---just as there is a Helen (the woman who blindly follows others because she is afraid to discover who she really is), a Tzipporah (a woman convinced of her righteousness) and a Rena (a woman struggling to hide her own secrets). The characters are fantastic. Buy this and share it with all the women you know.
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