The Chosen

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Summary: Friendship and Dissension : A story of two best friends
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"The chosen" is the probably best book I think I have ever read. If you want to be captivated by a world of two intellectuals, who's main goal is to remain the best of friends, through the thick and the thin, then I would strongly suggest reading this particular book.

I have never read a book that I literally couldn't put down, but as I was reading "The Chosen" I stayed up all night because I just couldn't stop reading. The way Potok writes is so mesmorizing that the reader is drawn into a world of dissension and yet a world of true friendship. If you have'nt read this book already you are missing out on one of the best pieces of classical literature there is (in my opinion).

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Summary: CHOSEN FOR WHAT??
Review: After the people of his village are ordered to evacuate Tevye, the milkman in "Fiddler on the Roof" asks himself "Lord, I know we are the chosen people, but couldn't you sometimes choose somebody else?" This wistful statement is at the heart of Chaim Potok's The Chosen. In this novel we are introduced to Reuven the traditional Jew and his ulta-Orthodox friend Danny the son of Reb Saunders. Against a backdrop of post World War II Brooklyn and the yet still mysterious Holocaust the reader bares witness to the inner conflicts the Jewish people have dealt with and continue to today. Struggles between ultra-orthodox and less religous Jews dominate today's headlines just as they dominate the them of The Chosen. In the end the secularly named Danny becomes more secular, perhaps symbolic of the growing assimilation of American Jewry after World War II. Danny leaves behind his world for entrance into the greater society of academia. In doing so, however, he looses something that social acceptance cannot compensate for. H. Brookman

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Summary: This review discusses the effect this novel had on me.
Review: Being a book person, I have done a lot of reading. The majority of the books I read are forgotten soon after. However, it has been more than a year since I first read The Chosen, and I have certainly not forgotten it. In fact, my understanding of the book is far more acute than it was when I finished that book for the first time. Briefly summarized, this book is about two Orthodox Jewish boys from Brooklyn who have grown up in strikingly different societies and have been exposed to strikingly different views, whose lives are bound by a single event at a baseball game. The boys form an unlikely friendship, through which they each learn about the other's world. They each grow from this friendship. and, ultimately derive from it the courage to follow their dreams. Whether or not the reader is familiar with the world of Orthodox Judaism, he/she can't help feeling drawn to the characters of Reuven Malter and Danny Saunders. Chaim Potok portrays these characters so beautifully, they don't come of seeming like characters at all, but like people -- real people whom the reader can care about. A few chapters into the book, the reader will feel him/herself becoming a part of these characters, and engulfed in their Brooklyn world. The book goes from chapter to wonderful chapter, until the unusually captivativating final chapter, which will leave you wanting to know more. To read more about these luminous characters, read The Promise, a sequel to The Chosen.

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Summary: great!!!!!
Review: The Chosen by Chaim Potok is a must in any person's reading list who is interested to know about the world that surrarounds him/her. Potok takes the reader into a factional world, where fantasy and illusion become reality, and the characters take in life of them, to a point that one could feel part of a Jewish community located in a pre-WWII New York City. His prose is beutiful, with a rich description of every small detail with the same care of the bigger picture. Just as Potok paints the scenery with a skillfull brush, he explains the psychology of his characters. He points out their weaknesses, their flaws, and, in a joyful tone, their triumphs. Reuven, the narrator of the story, lives in a world where knowledge doesn't only provide power, it also gives its owner a great responsability, as is proven by his friend, Danny, who is the son of a rabbi and a also a genius. Danny has to confront the reality of the family tradition that would force him into the service to his community as a rabbi, because his mind is needed there to guide his people through one of the most turbulent moments in the history of Jewery, the discovery of the Holocaust and the establishment of the state of Israel. However, Danny's soul wants him to be the next Freud, the man who would unveil human kind's flaws, and solved them. The book doesn't cointain much of a physical suspense, but the tormented minds and souls of its protragonists clearly make up for it. Potok has created a universe where poetry is law, and where a dreamer can go and escape from reality into a world of innonce that is controlled by the warm souls of the innocents.

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Summary: A powerful & touching novel
Review: This is a novel about growing up.
This is a novel about growing away.
This is an intense novel about two boys in Brooklyn, and their paths to becoming men. It's about families, fathers, religion. It's about stubbornness and love and fear. The Chosen literally sings a story which cannot be put down.
No action packed thriller, the Chosen--instead, it is like a calm, warm summer. It's comforting and hauntingly familiar. The characters are real, they are lovable, and impressive. It is the most immersive novel ever written.

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Summary: An amazing tale of changing times and traditions
Review: I found this book to be both highly moving and extremely educational. The characterizations are vivid and truthful. This would be a wonderful text for an adept high school literature class, but that doesn't mean it shoudl be confined to that purpose. "The Chosen" is a book for everyone.

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Summary: A Wonderful, Kindhearted Story
Review: I read "The Chosen" in one sitting...something I haven't done in a long, long time. The book is a coming of age story about two Jewish teenagers, Reuven and Danny, who become best friends as a result of an accident during an interscholastic softball game. Danny is raised as a Hasidic Jew, while Reuven is raised as an Orthodox - a less strict sect of Judaism. Danny's father expects him to become a Rabbi but he wants to be a psychologist, and Reuven's father, who is much more liberal than Danny's father, would like him to be a mathematician, and he want to be a rabbi. The book explores the relationship between the two boys and their fathers. It is a story of contrasts, but at the same time is depicts how alike they all really are.

While the story is interesting and educational, I found the character's development stifled by Potok's inability to delve into their lives outside of a religious context. The story takes them through high school and college but we never get to know anything more about them then their relationships with their fathers, and the impact of their religious differences. But I guess that's the point of the book. I can't fault Potok for these limitations because he is an excellent writer and tells a great story. However, I wanted a bit more meat to the story. There are many wonderful themes in "The Chosen" and I highly recommend it to anyone in the mood for a clean-cut, "G" rated read.

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Summary: My first Chaim Potok novel
Review: I found the cover intriguing on my way through the bookstore, and picked this one up. Being raised Catholic, I wasn't sure that I would relate, but the premise seemed interesting, so I bought it. This novel really turned me on to Potok's work, and I've since purchased all of his other books. I find this work the easiest to read by far, as those who are not familiar with the Jewish faith will still be able to follow it well.

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Summary: Excellence.
Review: This book was a wonderful read. Very good indeed. I expected that the book would be very deep and meaningful, but I didn't expect it to come across so well.

One thing that is minorly surprising is C. Potok never really talks about Reuven's (the main character) faith.

All in all this book has earned it's place among the great classics.

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Summary: Another A+ for Chaim Potok!
Review: Chaim Potok's book, THE CHOSEN, is an extremely well written book. If you read and enjoyed MY NAME IS ASHER LEV, also by Potok, I would highly recommend this book to you! Besides the fact that the story itself was excellent, the vocabulary and context of the story are very easy to follow.
The story begins with a baseball game that includes excellent details that keep even a non-baseball lover intrigued. During this game, the protagonist, Reuven, is injured by a player on the opposite team, Danny. This book discusses the growth of the relationship between Reuven and Danny. It goes through the struggles Reuven has with Danny's father, as well as talking about each of their personal growth. Danny, the son of a Hasidic rabbi, wants to become a psychologist, while Reuven, the son of a professor and great thinker, wants to become a rabbi. This book describes their lives chronologically through Reuven Malter's eyes.
This book was yet another success for Chaim Potok! I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a great story and wants to learn a little more about Hasidic history.