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Summary: The book is worse than bronchitis
Review: Chaim Potok is a koifer, yemach shmo v'zichro. How a yid could stray "after his EYES and his HEART" (he doesn't have a heart, he's a sinner and may God blot out his eyes). And he's from New York, a good JEWISH place. Oy. In case you can't tell, I'm kidding; but really, he's a mediocrity.
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Summary: My Name is Asher Lev
Review: I thought this book was a really fantastic portrait of a tormented artist. It focuses largly on the Jewish religon but it is perfectly understandible for Christians too. It is poetic, occasionaly tragic, and I've already read it twice. My only critisism is that it assumes you know certain facts about the Jewish religon, and some may not.
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Summary: judaism should have more then one view!
Review: i had to read Asher Lev as my english text book for these exams coming up. i am jewish and believe that this book expressed exaclty what i believe in life. if a person has a talent use it! Asher had that talent and in my opinion he was right to express the way he felt. as he was an artist he could also show the real stress and pain of life. life has defaults which asher always managed to see! his father, even though i dont believe was totally wrong due to his beliefs, i still think he could have supported asher in his work like parents should always do! im not saying that asher is an angel, byt he had to do things that he felt strongly for. even though im a jew i agree 100% with Asher Lev,..............a boy with such talent.
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Summary: Asher Lev: A dramatic metaphoric autobiograghy of Potok
Review: The subtle irony, the saddness and truth to the book illistrates a large and underground problem of many communities. I read this for HS Honors sophmore english. I am now reading the sequel. The philisophical and deep thoughts of this novel will evoke you to a series of emotions including love, hate and acceptance. The symbolism will cause you to realize many small ironic routines in your life that slowly and surely carve your path.
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Summary: A Priceless Work Of Art
Review: This is the struggle between Art and Religion, Sensuality and Rationalism, Beauty and Logic. Asher Lev represents the quest of humankind to both experience and express truth with the hope of a full circle of communication only to be misunderstood by those whose opinion is most valued and rejected by those whose love is most desired. And yet at such great a cost, the contribution to the quest for understanding is priceless. This book is one you must have in your own library to return to again and again
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Summary: A book to return to
Review: The story of Asher Lev's struggle for his art fell into my hands as a 16 year old on a plane trip from NZ to UK and reminded me that I was not the only one who was always half a world away from some part of my home.
The book was assigned reading for my English class and such is the power of the story and craft of the author that there was not one of us in a class of 20 who was not moved touched and in some way altered by the reading.
It is one of books that seems to read you as much as you read it and is one that is regularly lifted down from the bookshelf or more commonly found in arms reach of a favourite reading place.
The sytle is absorbing and easy to read but it makes you look at your life as you do so.
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Summary: Chaim Potok's 'My Name is Asher Lev' is breathtaking.
Review: Being an artist myself, reading this book caused it to come alive for me. The pages seemed to turn
themselves and the book itself was glued to my fingers. This masterpiece will capture readers for centuries to come. I can't get this book off my mind! Chaim, what have you done to me???
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Summary: This is one of my favorite books of all time.
Review: I read this book as a young adult. It was my first experience with the jewish way of life. I enjoyed it and always remembered it
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Summary: The persistence of art
Review: I had the pleasure to take a seminar with Chaim Potok at the University of Pennsylvania on Postmodernism. One of the books we read was "My name is Asher Lev." Being an artist on the side myslef I was transfixed by the power this man's talent had over him. Reading this book one can't help but believe in destiny. Potok can tell an interesting story while delving deep into the human soul. A central point to the novel is a painting called "A Brooklyn Crucifixion." On the last class, Chaim Potok had everyone at his house for brunch and when I walked in, what did I see hanging on the wall but the "Brooklyn Crucifixion" painted by Potok himself! Seeing how personal this book was to him made it even more special to me
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Summary: Definitely not his best work
Review: I recently read another book by Chaim Potok and have since been devouring anything of his I can find. This book was, however, disappointing. The book is just as gripping as any other of Mr. Potok's books, but I had an extremely hard time relating to or even sympathizing with Asher Lev. While I understood that painting became his life, the better he got at it, the less compassion he seemed to have for everyone. The childish refusal to go to Vienna with his parents just made me dislike him even more. On the other side, I couldn't relate to his parents either. I understood a little better why Asher was so stubbornly infantile when his father acted the same way. A last point of contention for me was the completely depressing atmosphere of the entire book. Even when things are going his way, Asher is consistently pessimistic, nervous, and angry. Of course, this can relate to his inner struggle between art and Hasidic Judaism, but it is SO pervasive and SO overdone that it hinders our sympathy for Asher rather than endearing him to us. The only reasons I finished the book were my respect for Chaim Potok and my love of well-written literature. There are much better books by the same author for your money.
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