The Chosen

Rating:
Summary: I love this book
Review: I read this book for outside reading in my English 10H class, and i loved it. The prose was wonderful and i really appreciated the themes. The ending almost made me cry. It is true that there is not much action in the story, but that is because this book is about friendship and the relations between fathers and sons, not about runaway trains and hijacked nukes. If you want action, go buy the latest John Grisham or Stephen King. This is a really moving book for those who want reading material with more depth. It is well worth reading.

Rating:
Summary: A waste of time
Review: I found this book to be completely boring. Don't get me wrong-- it did have some good content, but it just wasn't exciting. I like to read a book where there are some suprises that keep me reading. This book had none, which may be the reason I had difficulty staying awake while reading. THe first chapter caught my attention, with the baseball game, but from then on I was bored. I do not recommend this book-- SO TAKE THAT DORIS!

Rating:
Summary: what fiction should be about
Review: this book is what fiction should be like. although it's intelligent, historical, meaningful, thematic, complex, what's at the core tying all these things together is sympathy, such that these characters can sneeze or look at the yard and you're totally enthralled. How much better then when they're unusually interesting people involved in fascinating things. life is made and shown to be deeply fascinating. you ride along in their lives as if they are alternate lives of your own, and afterward feel that you yourself truly have lived through something. This book is what happens when someone has a true genius for his art - there's no need for him to show off, you're simply swept along.

Rating:
Summary: The Chosen- BAD! BORING!
Review: This book was uninteresting. It was boring and uneventful. I felt it had a lot of unneccessary details that made the book even more unexciting and slow. The book had no meaning to me and I felt the ending was horrible. The author made led you believe that something would happen at the end because the rest of the book was not eventful. Instead, he just let everything go together! BORING!

Rating:
Summary: It's Not Just a Good Story...
Review: This masterpiece is not just a novel, it's an inside view of Jewish history from before the dark ages. It gives the reader not only a good story, but an insight into the various schools of thought, how they developed over history, and how it affects the Jewish Nation and the world today. This story isn't just for those of Jewish extract, it's a great and interesting story for anyone who enjoys history and an absorbing novel. It may have been published thirty years ago, but the events and characters are timeless. A fine addition to anyone's library!

Rating:
Summary: "The Chosen": A Friendship Story
Review: I read "The Chosen" as an assignment preceeding my becoming a Bat Mitzvah. The basic story was very easy to understand for a 12-year-old, and it described the evolving frienship of two once-enemies, now best buds. There are three books within the novel, and as the second book culminates and the third book starts, the text begins to get "heavy". The average reader easily becomes distracted with the in-depth writing about Hasidic Jews, the Talmud, and other subjects pertaining to the Jewish religion. Even I, a well-educated Jew for my age, was confused. In a nutshell, "The Chosen" deserves four stars for its vivid description and interesting plot; however, it was a incredibly intricate.

Rating:
Summary: One of the greatest books i have read
Review: At first I thought, another reading assignment... but after a while the book really came together and i ended up loving it and acclaiming it as one of the best books I have read.

Rating:
Summary: The Chosen
Review: This book is about a Jewish boy and how he grows up in a small Jewish ghetto called Williamsburg in Brooklyn during the era of the holocaust. In this story young Rueven Malter must face the challenges of growing up in a strict and powerful Jewish society. During the length of this story Rueven meets the son of a highly respected Jewish rabbi. The two boys become best friends after an unfortunate baseball accident. Even though their parents have different views of how and what holy things occur, the boys manage to remain friends until college when they are forbidden to see each other. This story however ends with the two back together. Personally I thought the subject was interesting, but was told in an uninteresting way. The author took too much time discussing Jewish history and costums that he didn't really explain enough of Danny and Rueven's lives. After finishing this story I am still wondering what the writer's reason for creating this book, what was he trying to get across? Mabey I spent too much time trying to pick out the details of the boy's lives to understand what was happening. If you are the kind of person who enjoys reading things in which the writing is mechanically correct than this would be your book. The mechanical writing was perhaps the only thing that really reminds me of this book, other than that I am surprised that the Jewish philosophy did not interest me.

Rating:
Summary: The Chosen By Chaim Potok
Review: If you manage to wade your way through the unbelieveably deep themes that lies in this overwhelmingly meaningful book, then you will find that you have enjoyed a great piece of literature and learned countless moral lessons. But be prepared to read paragraphs twice and thrice and also to THINK. Do not pick up if you are looking for an easy read, but if you're one of those people who could find meaning in a cheeseburger, you'll love it.

Rating:
Summary: very well written, moving story
Review: The Chosen is very well-written and contains a very moving story. I have always been interested in history; religion, wars, whatever. It facinates me. This book offers a wonderful view of two boys with exceptional differences that create a great friendship. Even though this book does not offer a lot of action, it is so well written that it just captivates you into the story. Kudos to Potok.