My Name Is Asher Lev

Rating:
Summary: simply great
Review: Although I don't like all of Chaim Potok's work, I simply love this book (as well as The Chosen and In the Beginning). Beside Potok's usual strong points I think that the unique thing about this book is that it superbly descibes how an artist (painter) might feel while creating his work. No other book so far could show that to me as clearly and understandable.

Rating:
Summary: only the best book i have ever read
Review: I read My Name is Asher Lev over the summer for a summer reading project and during a family vacation, with a lake, a boat, and golf courses within reach, I could not put down the book. I am not usually a heavy reader, but this book was so moving and touching, and so powerful. Potok wrote with great thought and inspired many readers who have read this book. I found myself with tears in my eyes in many instances while reading. Such a powerful book with a wonderful message. A MUST READ!

Rating:
Summary: a favorite
Review: Potak describes Asher's art so well - he truly is painting with words

Rating:
Summary: My Name is Asher Lev was one of the most touching of stories
Review: My name is Asher Lev was by far one of the best books I have read. After becoming a fan of Chaim Potok's work after reading The Chosen, I had to read others. This book has become a personal favorite and I am now reading the follow-up The Gift of Asher Lev. This book gave me a realistic and vivid view of the Ladover Hasidus and the Jewish people in general, as before I knew very little. Although I am [young], I found I could relate with the character Asher Lev, as I also know the power of art. In my opinion, this book surpasses five stars.

Rating:
Summary: An excellent book!
Review: This book tells the story of a young boy who struggles with the same problems we all struggle with in life. Overall, it is an excellent book and I would reccommend it to anyone.

Rating:
Summary: Potok is creatively inciteful.
Review: Underlying Potok's already original plotline, this novel is artfully laced with subsurface metaphor and imagery. Potok also has a magnificent skill for character development, which draws forth a connectedness with the reader. I would rank this novel as one of the best literary works I've read during my college career.

Rating:
Summary: I love this book
Review: I really enjoyed this book. Chaim Potok is such a wonderful author. He is able to paint a picture with each one of his novels so vividly that one often finds himself caught up in the story as soon as he begins reading it. I thought that the novel was powerful and thought provoking. I read this book in high school for a book report, and I will never forget it. What a great story! Thank you, Chaim Potok, for another masterpiece!

Rating:
Summary: THIS BOOK HAS BEEN MY FAVORITE BOOK EVER SINCE I READ IT
Review: "MY NAME IS ASHER LEV" WAS A WONDERFUL BOOK! I COULD BARELY PUT IT DOWN. CHAIM POTOK WRITES GREAT BOOKS, YOU CAN ALSO READ "THE CHOSEN". "MY NAME IS ASHER LEV" WAS BETTER THOUGH. YOU REALLY BECOME PART OF THE STORY. EVERYONE SHOULD READ THIS BOOK!!!!!!!!!!!

Rating:
Summary: My Name Is Asher Lev is an amazingly powerful book.
Review: From the first page on you will be completely engrossed with the fictional auto-biography of Asher Lev. As we observe the unique life of Asher through his own eyes we continually find ourselves feeling his emotions, and relating to his thought processes. Chaim Potok delivers and incredible effort in which he captures the mind set, and view point of a growing boy to the last detail. Potok is able to make the reader grow with Asher through his unique and troubling life. As the young Jewish boy attempts to find a way to maintain his faith, as well as his artistic gift Potok shows us his every thought,and paints characters around him that are frighteningly real. Also, not only does Potok deliver a poetic, and emotionally satisfying novel, but one with an ever thickening plot that concludes in a creative, and thought provoking way. I highly recommend this novel especially to the mature teen age audience, as well as an adult audience that would enjoy reliving some of the curiosity, and emotions of their youth through the eyes of Asher Lev.

Rating:
Summary: a book about issues bigger than life itself
Review: What I found most striking after reading this book for the second time, finishing it just yesterday, was that it answered of question I have struggled with for quite some time; is there anything more precious than life itself. In other words, are there things so important that you must do them, no matter what difficulties you encounter. This question also brought to me the difficulty of rationalism and its role in controling our western style lives. My name is Asher Lev, besides being a book in which issues such as rebellion and inter cultural clashes are subtely though thoroughly treated without taking sides, was to me an answer to that one question. Asher Lev feels that he must paint. Why, he can never quite explain, and even though he hurts everybody he loves, and insults everything he believes in, he continues on the path which seems to have been chosen for him. He does it because he must, and therefor elevates his art beyond rationalism, and transforms it from childs play to a religion in itself. The Brookly Crucifixion, in my opinion, does not only portray the suffering of his mother, as she is torn between a father and a son which, she can, through all her efforts and pleading, not reconcile, but also the suffering of Asher, torn between the love for his family, and the inner drive of his art. He is the one that has truly been crucified as he is sent away. He suffers for something he holds dearer than life itself, and what that is exactly he cannot rationally explain. It is a book of belief, integrity, and conviction, all based on feeling and not on rationalism, and has enriched my life.