Rating: 
Summary: Perhaps Chaim Potek's greatest novel
Review: In The Chosen we are brought inside the world of World War II and post-war Brooklyn, and get a chance to see both the Hassidic side and the more liberal yet still Orthodox Jewish side that was the backbone of the Zionist movement of the time. It offers fascinating insights to the thinking of both groups.
At the same time we get to crawl inside the head and life of a young boy, Reuven Malther. He is an excellent student and well-liked, well adjusted boy who is being raised by his widowed father. A Hassidic boy of the same age, a young genius, named Danny Saunders clocks him with a powerful hit during a softball game between their two schools, and Reuven lands at the hospital fighting for his sight. Danny comes to apologise to him, Reuven regains his sight, and they overcome their initial hostility by slowly developing a deep friendship and mutual respect.
This is a story about the differences between people and peoples, about friends and sons and fathers, and it is a story about relationships and misunderstandings. The Jewishness of the boys is interesting, the historical perspectives (World War II, the birth of Israel as a country) are interesting, too, but the story is a universal one. Chaim Potek is a wonderful story teller who keeps the action moving while tying all these threads together beautifully.
Rating: 
Summary: Reflections of Life
Review: The Chosen is a fascinating book! Chaim Potok writes about two Jewish boys who develop a deep unexpected friendship from a rare incident. The book takes place in Brooklyn during World War I. The two boys, Danny and Reuven are completely different Jews. Danny is the heir to a Hasidic rabbi, while Reuven is an Orthodox Jew to a Zionist father. The book explores the struggles Danny and Reuven go through. Even though they both are Jewish they have many spiritual clashes with their fathers. Chaim Potok builds the two main characters to be very believable and realistic. As I read the book I felt I knew the characters and could feel what they were going through.
I really enjoyed this book because I learned a lot about Jewish culture. This book put my life into a different perspective. I thought about my family and how much pressure I receive. I also thought about my relationships with my friends and how it compares to Danny and Reuven's relationship. I highly recommend this book to anyone. It does not matter if you are Jewish or not. I myself am a strong Catholic and found it interesting to learn about a different religion.
Rating:
Summary: Profound
Review: Of all the books I have read, "The Chosen" is perhaps the most deeply moving work I've had the fortune to discover. Although very educational about Orthodox and Hasidic Jews, this book is not merely about two Jewish boys but opens our eyes to a vast range of emotion and depth - the family ties that bond us, the friendships that free us, and the deepest desires of our hearts that drive us beyond where we ever imagined we could go. It's a disturbing book that requires much courage on the part of the reader to understand its depth and beauty. Potok writes in such a way that I was shaking at the end. Danny and Reuven were not just characters I was reading about; they became a part of me, a part of my heart. Though the whole book is moving, the ending especially is extremely intense. I wept with Danny - not only for him, but with him. His weeping tore me apart, and no longer was the typed page a barrier between me and these characters, no longer holding back suffering, forgiveness, and love. "The Chosen" transcends all preconceptions and barriers to reveal profound universal truths. It is a gift.
Rating: 
Summary: Not bad....
Review: This book is ok...it teaches important life lessons, but the whole book is a waste of time and too long to read. I found it to be very very boring and didnt want to finish but i had to for a school report
Rating:
Summary: A look into different types of Judaism in 40's New York
Review: Mr. Potok gives a brilliant look into the differences in the lives of two boys growing up Jewish, and in different worlds just a few blocks away from each other. It illustrates the ups and downs of Hassidic Judaism and Zionism in a difficult time for the Jews and America in an unusual and unlikely friendship that started by a freak accident involving a baseball, glasses and Reuven's left eye. We watch Danny and Reuven grow through the war, their life, their schooling, their fathers and their friendship.
Rating:
Summary: The Chosen
Review: The book started off great, you could tell the friendship between the two boys was full of hatred, but it ended up to be a great story of how a boy lives on his life with his father practically controlling his every move, but does it in silence. Great book, highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Not perfect, but powerful.
Review: I am a Freshman in high school, and had to read this book for Communication Arts. I myself am Jewish, so I figured okay, here's a book about a Jew; nothing new. While reading the book, many interesting ideas were brought up, but the overall appeal of the story was just alright. As it progressed, I began to fall deeper and deeper into the story and characters. By the last chapter, I was in tears. Why? No, not because it was happy. No, not because it was sad. It was because everything worked out just as you would have imagined, and it all fit together like one big puzzle. Give this novel a chance, you will not be disappointed.
Rating: 
Summary: The Choice of The Chosen
Review: This book doesn't do anything for me. The Chosen, by the late Chaim Potok is very misleading to me. From what I get, it is about a Jewish teenager who learns how to grow up in a Jewish culture. The first time I read this (and believe it, I've read this many times!) I couldn't get it. I was all uh...err... and just couldn't make sense of it. So I started over, and over, and over. But if you, however, are used to more advanced novels, read this. From what I did get, this book was quite intriguing. So take it from me, this is a great book about cultural diversity. Or don't, depending all on how you look at it.
Rating:
Summary: A classic
Review: The measure of a writer is the diversity of people whose hearts he or she can reach. By this standard, Chaim Potok was a genius. His story of a Jewish boy growing up in 1940's Brooklyn spoke directly to me, a Catholic girl growing up in small-town West Texas at the most recent turn of the century. The story of unlikely friendship was beautiful and one to which I think many people can relate. Who would have thought the son of a Zionist and the son of a Hasidic rebbe would be such good friends? Their beliefs were as different as two Jewish people's could be. They didn't- but God did. That is clear in this book. It meant a great deal to me, as my own best friend is a member of the Church of Christ. We're as opposite in beliefs as two Christians can be. But we help each other. That's what friendship is- that's what The Chosen is about.
Rating:
Summary: a subtle story, written simply
Review: This highly lauded book is a tale of fathers, sons, differing traditions, changing times, and ageless truths. Written in deceptively simple style and from the point of view of Rueven, a teen-aged Jewish boy in WWII era New York City, "The Chosen" is the story of his unlikely friendship with Danny, the son of a leader of Hasidic Jews in Williamsburg.Inextricably woven through the narrative is the study of the Talmud, which in terms of time and attention, is the center of both boys' lives. The two boys must work out their relationships among themselves and their fathers, and must find a way to pursue their
callings. Ironically, Danny's vocation is to become a "secular" psychologist rather than, as tradition dictates, a rabbi in the
footsteps of his father. Rueven is the one who senses a call to the rabbinate. Potok writes cleanly, never letting his style get in the way of the story. At its close you will know the hearts of its four major characters.
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