Rating: 
Summary: The right book for today
Review: "A story of hope" indeed, beautifully written and conceived. This is an extraordinary book. I couldn't put it down. It combines an in depth analysis of the human drive for revenge with a very personal quest. Frankly, while I found the study of revenge customs, in general, to be interesting, the personal story blew me away with its intensity and message. One hopes that this author's approach could be applied to the current situation. She succeeded in teaching one terrorist, at least, that his victim was a human being, rather than an impersonal military objective.
Rating: 
Summary: Interesting but self-centered
Review: Clearly, the author is oblivious to the seemingly unending suffering of the Palestinians. She fails to comment on the history of the situation, as if these attacks truly evolved from nothing. Zionism is the problem in Israel and the cause of her father's attack. She might realize this if only she would quit whining. I'd expect more from someone with a Master's Degree.
Rating:
Summary: Nobel Prize Material
Review: Faulkner said that great books touch the human heart and Revenge certainly did that for me. Blumenfeld mixes her personal story with scholarly research on a topic that keeps wars brewing and personal happiness at bay: revenge. She layers religious history with current news and throws in her account of her honeymoon year. Her prose is elegant and her characters unforgettable.
Our book club had a longer discussion on this book than we have ever had. Most of us had borrowed the book from the library, but decided we need this gem in our personal libraries.
Rating:
Summary: Nobel Prize Material
Review: Faulkner said that great books touch the human heart and Revenge certainly did that for me. Blumenfeld mixes her personal story with scholarly research on a topic that keeps wars brewing and personal happiness at bay: revenge. She layers religious history with current news and throws in her account of her honeymoon year. Her prose is elegant and her characters unforgettable.
Our book club had a longer discussion on this book than we have ever had. Most of us had borrowed the book from the library, but decided we need this gem in our personal libraries.
Rating:
Summary: Riveting, timely, and relevant today.
Review: I have followed the Middle East conflict for decades and read dozens of books on the subject. Revenge adds unique insight into the region and the cultures involved that I have not found elsewhere. After reading this book I believe that Laura Blumenfeld put her life and soul into this work. A must read for anyone interested in world events and the motivations behind many of the conflicts that exist today.
Rating:
Summary: Shallow book
Review: I just want to warn prospective buyers - this book is shallow and not worth the read. My bookgroup and I read this as one of our selections. All of us were excited at first - because several of us had heard the author interviewed on the radio and the interview was very interesting - however, the book itself was disappointing. We came away with no deeper understanding of how someone deals with the very natural feelings of revenge. There was too much information shared about her family conflicts - dialogues with her parents. And it just wasn't interesting. As I said earlier, I was shocked at how shallow this book is considering her subject.
Rating: 
Summary: Laura Blumenfeld has a wonderfully flowing pen ..but
Review: I read this book word for word.At times I was embarassed by the simple mindedness of the author and even more, of her mother (e.g. making a fool of herself in the Israeli court room). She writes very well and I have had to make a sharp distinction in this book in matters of form and content. I was personally offended by statements such as: p.52 "Do you think they got the right poeple:?.. They often arrest the wrong people." That is a terrible accusation and it is actually a calumny. On two occasions she calls the Land of Israel ugly (e.g. when she compares it to an ugly woman two men fight over, too drunk to see how ugly she is. Indeed!)Another, when she is waiting to see her father's shooter in a bus and the dust around her is what she thinks Arabs and Israelis are fighting over. (she just does not understand that even her smug existence in New York is a function of the survival of Israel, dusty or not) Later she quotes her (long suffering husband) as saying Israelis can be Monumentally rude. I doubt that Americans are refined and civil at all times. But that is of no major consequence. In one of her letters she writes: "..He (David Blumenfeld) thinks you have been wronged by Israel in your life. He believes that you went through hell, as did your brother, Imdad and your parents.." ( I think this is where the true intent of the book shows through like a sharp knife through a sack) One of the main hobby horses is to render the conflict personal rather than national. Well, it is an ideological conflict and not a personal one. She managed to see it from her own (very ego- centri eyes) which is fine given the archetypal JAP she is as portrayed by herself in this book. For the rest of us, it just isn't a personal matter, it is a historical one, a national one and an existential one. It takes a lot of "Hutzpah" to be so judgemental from the safety of a middle class Diasporah existance. For every Jew living in Israel it is not such a matter of luxury. We have no choice. For us it is a matter of life or death, not of pretty sentiment. I found the exchange of trinkets and the gooey relationship between the family of the terrorist and the victim between off-key and down right nausiating. I am sure in Kalandia more than one person found Laura Blumenfeld as corny as I do here in Jerusalem. I wonder why Laura had no time for Jewish victims (countless orphans whose perants were murdered in cold blood over the Sabbath Table, only a few days ago but also during the time she snooped around this land)and had all the time in the world for people who have very little in common with her. She was actually patronizing and therefore degrading to them. And yet, she writes so well! A pity that what she has to say is mostly shrieking sentimental kitch. Life is not that cardboard, black and white, good/evil scene at all. But to speak in the "black and white, no shades in between terms, consider this: If the Arabs renounced violence tomorrow, there would be no violence in this land.
If Israel renounced armed confrontation tomorrow, there would be no Israel. (this is taken from some material circulating the internet.) A book that will be forgotten before too long.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting but self-centered
Review: I saw the author interviewed on the PBS News Hour. She spoke about her story and it is amazing. She transformed a relationship with a Palestenian man who attempted to murder her father more than a decade earlier. She was after revenge and in the end got 'sweet' revenge. This book not only talks about that amazing transformation, but we also learn about Laua's first year of marriage and she provides a terrific analysis of revenge and how it is dealt with in several different cultures. Woven into the analysis is her own drive for revenge and how she comes to terms with that. I highly recommend this book.
Rating:
Summary: An amazing story
Review: I saw the author interviewed on the PBS News Hour. She spoke about her story and it is amazing. She transformed a relationship with a Palestenian man who attempted to murder her father more than a decade earlier. She was after revenge and in the end got 'sweet' revenge. This book not only talks about that amazing transformation, but we also learn about Laua's first year of marriage and she provides a terrific analysis of revenge and how it is dealt with in several different cultures. Woven into the analysis is her own drive for revenge and how she comes to terms with that. I highly recommend this book.
Rating: 
Summary: Nothing is Sacred
Review: I was surprised at the way the author describes her parent's divorce. Since both are still alive, I would imagine that they might regard the telling as too personal and intrusive. Why does the reader need to know, for example, that her mother used the personal ads in a magazine to find a successor for the husband she wanted to leave? Moreover, I wonder why this is even in her book when it has absolutely nothing to do with the underlying theme.
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