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Summary: Reviewer from NY
Review: This is the BEST book I have ever read!!! It is very well written, its subject is great, and its characters are very well rounded. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes realistic fiction. READ THIS BOOK!! My mom bought it for me when I was 10 because she liked it when she was a child and is now reading it after I told her it was outstanding. The rest of my family also wants to read it.
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Summary: Blink Of An Eye
Review: This is one of those books that come back to you. The thoughts of the readers, the highlighted moments, their downfalls and upheavals. I just want to share with you the main point that Potok is trying to make in the book."Human beings do not live forever. We live less than the time it takes to blink an eye, if we measure our lives against eternity. So it may be asked what value is there to a human life. There is so much pain in the world. What does it mean to have to suffer SO MUCH...if our lives are nothing more than the blink of an eye?
I learned a long time ago that the blink of an eye itself is nothing. But the eye that blinks, THAT is something. A span of life is nothing. But the man who lives that span, HE is something. He can fill that tiny span with meaning, so it's quality is immeasureable though the quanity may be insignificant. Do you understand what I am saying? A man must fill his life with meaning, meaning is not automatically given to life. It is hard work to fill one's life with meaning. THAT I do not think you understand yet.
A LIFE FILLED WITH MEANING IS WORTHY OF REST. I want to be worthy of rest when I am no longer here." THAT is what The Chosen is about.
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Summary: If I could, I would give this book 10 stars
Review: This was required reading for my World Religions class. I didn't like the teacher much, hadn't been impressed by his choices before, and had been expecting another novel about the woes of the Holocaust period, so I was relunctant to pick this book up, but once I did, I just couldn't put it down. The Chosen is a novel about two boys (Reuven Malter and Daniel Saunders) on the brink of manhood (15 years old, both of them) who are struggling with the values of the community they live in. Danny is a member of the Hasidic community- his father is the Rebbe (which, for those of you who don't know, is different from the rabbi, and is I believe, the second most powerful leader next to God in the religious community), and Danny will eventually inherit that position from his father. However, there is a problem . . . Danny doesn't want to be a rebbe, he wants to be a psychologist, despite his obligation and the fact that his father apparently thinks that the world outside of Judaism is wicked. Danny spends his afternoons shut up in the library reading because he's driven by a desire to know about the world. The novel essentially centers around the struggle about Danny's desires and that of his father for him, between Danny and Reuven's friendship, and, of course, the Holocaust and WWII, which are both going on throughout the novel, though surprisingly, Potok leaves out any mention of the Holocaust whatsoever until the end of the novel. The Chosen is an intriguing read- not something you can read on the bus to school, or on the plane to whatever destination, though. This is something you have to set aside at least an hour to read through, but it's well worth it. Not only do you get a fascinating story, you'll learn plenty about Jewish history as well without having to sit through hour and a half long classes listening to a professor droning away.
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Summary: Good job Potok
Review: Not only does The Chosen present an entertaining story of the relationship and maturity of two young men, it also presents a deeper theme of the mental maturity of all people and the essence of human nature. Potok introduces the two main characters, Reuven Malter and Danny Saunders, as rivals, or enemies, however, through the fateful accident during the baseball game the two are brought together and become the closest of friends. The two are practically inseparable and each plays a major role in molding the mind of the other, effectively helping each other come to decisions concerning each one's own future. Together, the two experience adolescence and eventually adulthood while sustaining a friendship that endures their religious differences and forced separation by Danny's father.
From the beginning, The Chosen is packed with symbolism such as the baseball game, Reuven's friends in the hospital and Potok's references to sight, which run throughout the novel. In the story, the baseball game is simply a contest between schools and the bringing together of Reuven and Danny. Symbolically, the game represents two groups of Jews playing the "greatest American past time," baseball, showing that they, as Jews, can be as American as everyone else. Additionally, the game sets the attitude of each Jewish sect with respect to the other, which is, of course, unfriendly. The irony of this situation lies in the current world events during the time of the setting of the novel. WWII and rumors of the holocaust are evident in the background of the novel. Even with the extreme persecution of the Jewish people, these two groups of Jews in America let their petty differences and religious disagreements lead to feelings of hatred among themselves.
An enlightening novel, The Chosen presents the journey through life of two friends and relates to all people, for all people must first discover their place in the world and then have the courage to pursue their dreams. Only then is life lived to the fullest and happiness finally achieved.
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Summary: Unforgettable and Haunting
Review: This is one of those books I should already have read but hadn't. There are so many of those! I am so glad I finally picked this up. It's short and straight-forward, as books used to be, yet complex and beyond meaningful, as books at their best are. It isn't hard reading, by any means, but it reveals a strong, strong lesson played out through the friendship of two young boys, their complex relationship to one another and within their small world, their fathers' relationship to each another (and their worlds and thought processes), and how they are viewed--and view--their school and community. All of this in such a tiny book - while nowadays books are 800 pages of nada (and I'm just in my 30's). It's not a children's book and, while simple, it's far from simplistic. The "lesson" or "moral" or journey of the two boys is life-altering for them, and really, in its way, was for me too - because of how haunting it is, how direct its story, how the plot is the thing. We're handed the message, easily, on a platter - and that is all that's needed. The levels of complexity are within these peoples' worlds, not wordplay or fancy writing. It's the/their real world - a world full of those who don't fit in where they "should," those trying to find their own ways, being judged by others, and pressured by their own. Some of the themes are universal; the world in which these two live isn't. Their world is specific and small, and has to be for this story; yet, for anyone interested in this particular world--the multifacets of Judaism and its sects at some of the highest, most historic or profound, levels--the book is a history lesson. It isn't a boring history lesson but one told through the eyes of two boys finding their ways through their respective cultures and into the world. Do people [does a person] want to be the part of the world laid out for them and what is involved in leaving it? This question applies to everyone. It's mainly their relationship to each other that reveals the information. Two boys talk and teach one another; people love and resent; one boy is uniquely pressured, the other more free. This is a book about Jewish history, about friendship, about personal choice, and the road to independent thought. The thing that makes a character a brilliant talmudic scholar is the same character trait that makes him an independent thinker who questions the path set out for him and his duty to fulfill it. His duty and his feelings are at odds; he is a young boy and his struggles are moral, intellectual, historic, and human. His conversations with his friend are profound and eye opening, both for the characters and the reader. Conversation and human interaction dominate a book that is predominantly a journey of thought. It's lovely. This approach leads us to feel not only for the characters but for their relationships - the boys' to one another and each to his and the other's father, as well as the bonds formed with "minor" characters. From the first chapter, I was hooked. It begins with an edge-of-your-seat baseball game. I couldn't be less interested in baseball, but there was something going on here, a nail biter, a bring-us-in chapter that brought us into a world so complicated yet, again, written and shown to us so easily. Piecemeal, in a way - from the game to the hospital, other characters in the ward, then to their outside-the-hospital world that is the rest of the book. It's a must read, truly. It is a must-read for Jews (I am Jewish) but also universal in theme, and an insight into particular elements of Judaism. I'd recommend it to absolutely anyone. It's taken me a long time to write the review since finishing the book, as I didn't even know where to start. But, The Chosen is with me in the same way as the day I put it down, and as I hope it will always be. I hope not to forget. I hope no one does.
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Summary: Great Book! :)
Review: I have just completed this book as a report for my school. Potok tells the interesting story of two boys, of completely different religions who againest all odds form a friendship like no other. The book takes place during Word War II in Brooklyn, New York. The two boys run into each other when they both play in a baseball game. Potok's ability to catch readers attention really shows when he writes the story of the baseball game. It just catches your attention and grasps your soul even after the story is through. This unique story of two boys who even though the parents dont want them to be friends it happens. Reading this story will be just like a roller coaster ride: there are scary parts in it and really exciting parts where you just dont want to put the book down. This book is an awesome story of friendship that i would recomend to everyone to read. After reading this book i have learned valuable lessons on friendship and more things about certain religions and the Holocaust that i reccoment it to everyone and give this book 5 stars.
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Summary: Not Bad
Review: The Chosen encompasses some of the most important ideas that human beings face during the course of their lifetimes. Potok investigates the theme of self-discovery in the growth of both Reuven and Danny as individuals. These characters start out with blinders on in regards to the real world, but due to a high intellect are able to see past what their social surroundings have hidden from them. Reuven has an easier time with this than Danny mostly because of his father's guidance while Danny on the other hand must rely on books at the library.
The concept of questioning one's own religion or lack of is apparent when Reuven compares his particular sect of Jews to the orthodox followers of Reb Saunders. Reuven wonders if the Hasidic ways are really right which leads him to examine his own beliefs. Danny even takes this so far as to break away from the traditional Jewish hierarchy which would have forced him to fill in the position of tzaddick and starts on his way to becoming a psychologist instead. This situation illustrates the struggle to find an answer in religion, the same struggle that is common to all people.
The competition between two similar groups of individuals as seen in the early baseball scene can be compared to almost any fight between two types of people. Potok uses the friction between the orthodox Jews and the "apikorism" to remind the reader of how out of hand things can get when people take small ideas such as physical or religious differences too seriously. We can use the situation to help us recognize the inconsequential issues that we face in our daily lives.
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Summary: The Chosen
Review: Like few authors have, Chaim Potok vividly illustrates the precious bond of friendship and its profound impact on choosing one's destiny as well as one's path to becoming a man. From worldly issues of war to personal issues of faith, Potok delves deep to provide a moving story.
Potok subtly but brilliantly depicts the inability of humans to get along with each other. In the midst of WWII when the Jews are experiencing extreme persecution, still they bicker with members of their own faith over rather trivial issues. While the central conflict is between the two Jewish sects, many other more underlying conflicts exist. Potok illustrates the existence of conflicts inside conflicts thoroughly enough to show that that this situation does not just apply to the Jewish faith. From a Hasidic Jew to Liberal Jew, Hindu to Punjab, Shinto to Taoist, Chinese Buddhist to Shin Buddhist, humans have an incapability of keeping peace and good nature not only with each other but within their own faith as well.
On a less global matter, Potok also portrays the difficulties of the transition from adolescent to adult from the perspectives of two Jewish boys. A young Hasidic Jew named Danny struggles with choosing his path in life. He wants to please his rabbi father by becoming a rabbi himself, but at the same time yearns to have the close bonded relationship his best friend Reuven has with his father so he can tell him that his true passions in life lie away from a strict Jewish life. Reuven struggles with his father's illness as well. Their paths to manhood are twisted and rocky, but each boy makes the trip with the other's friendship.
The theme of friendship is explored comprehensively as well. Despite Potok's tone of multiple conflicts, the two boys of very different Jewish background come together to form a bond carried through the toughest of times. During a long-term separation they both find a piece of themselves missing and are not really happy until reunited.
The novel is an inspirational story of a struggle between paving your own path in life and walking one paved, while all at the same time making sure the path leads you to happiness. Potok always makes sure you feel for the character in every situation and in turn teaches lessons to be applied to all of our lives.
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Summary: An exemplary novel
Review: "The Chosen" by Chaim Potok delivers the finest form of literature. This novel, set near the ending of World War II in Brooklyn, New York, combines realistic and historical events. First, interactions between the characters formulate a pragmatic environment. One example involves a tragic, fateful incident which ironically makes two teenage rivals named Reuven Malter and Danny Saunders become friends. Another case includes a friend helping another through arduous dilemmas, like whether to pursue a destined career. Two conflicting fathers regarding religious beliefs, ways of raising their children and dramatic situations add more realism to the remarkable novel.
Also, historical actions provoke insight toward the people living in that time period. One of the greatest strengths of the book involves the somber reactions of the people regarding President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's death. Religious debates between Jewish sects over the development of a holy state, the radio broadcasts of the progress of World War II, and the aftermath of the Holocaust are among the other topics covered.
Although the first chapter drags with many descriptions about the two competing teams and mostly the same dialogue retold, like Davey Cantor constantly referring to Danny's team as "murderers," the rest of the chapters redeem the novel. The second chapter commences the novel's comeback by introducing a great minor character; the comical yet unlucky boxer named Tony Savo, who acts like a mellow version of MacMurphy from "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest." The novel "The Chosen" by Chaim Potok provides a variety of issues regarding the irony of relationships and memorable occasions that charm the reader.
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Summary: An Extraordinary Novel
Review: The novel, The Chosen, by Chaim Potok is an extraordinary novel, traveling through the lives of two individual boys, Danny Saunders and Rueven Malter, as well as their family and family lifestyles. The Chosen begins with Rueven Malter and his life and feelings towards that life. Chaim Potok shows through Rueven a life full of open-mindedness, the ability to think for oneself, as well as the respect and understanding of other individuals. The Chosen then introduces the life of Danny Saunders, portraying an individual with a world ahead of him, but who is reluctant to open up to that life and world. Throughout the novel, Chaim reveals through Danny the struggles of a child wanting to be free from a life chosen for him. Potok takes ideas to a deeper level when then introducing the father's of both boys. Rueven's father David Malter, strongly shows a dedicated and concerned parent, one which just wants his son to be happy. While through Danny's father Reb Saunders, Potok shows an individual who holds his feelings and emotion deep down inside. The novel portrays both father's as well as children in many different and complicated ways. In reading the novel, a great amount of courage and commitment to that courage is expressed. The novel, The Chosen provides an example of friendship, courage, and the need to endure all of life's complicated situations and day to day events, through two close individuals, who happen to have extremely different views as well as dreams. During the course of the novel, the relationship between Danny and Rueven is detailed in their struggles to accept their individual aspirations. Finally, through the novel, Potok makes the lifestyles as well as the lives of each boy into a game, A game full of different beginnings as well as different endings.
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