Rating: 
Summary: Another bummer book
Review: When I finished reading this book the first question that came to my mind was what does this story (novel) have to do with Orthodox or Jewish life. In no way does it resemble anything close to such lifestyle.
Awhile ago I read her first book "The Romance Reader" which although it does not resemble the life of a average orthodox jewish girl, it does portray the the life of a jewish girl struggling with her beliefs and hasidic surroundings.
After reading both books I have come to the conclusion that the author has no vision or imagination for writing novels or fictions. Her first book is actually not a novel but a
portrait of her own life. In this book "Giving Up America" the author attempts to write a novel and all it does is portray her as a person with a poor and immature imagination, even her sex scenes shows that she lacks fantasy or imagination..
Unless youre on a deserted island and there is nothing else to do, I wouldn't recommend waisting your time reading this book.
Rating:
Summary: all surface, no inner lives
Review: A chassidic woman married to an orthodox jewish manfor seen years and no children. There's no law that says such a couple has to have children, but if they don't, it's a stark contrast from their respective traditions and to avoid dealing with it, as the author has, means there's much to the inner lives of these characters we aren't learning (I wonder if the author has even thought them out). This is just one example of the sort of short cuts that drive me crazy in this book. Such an approach to the "little" things leaves me entirely unconvinced regarding the supposed "big" themes of this novel.
Rating:
Summary: Worst book I've read in 5 years!
Review: For anyone just now becoming acquainted with Pearl Abraham's writing, I would recommend skipping this book and reading "Romance Reader," her first novel. The characters in "America" are less well drawn, less sympathetic, and less compelling. Ultimately, I had a difficult time reading this book, as I didn't like any of the characters well enough to really commit to them.The novel is the story of Daniel and Deena, a recently married Jewish couple. As time goes by, it becomes clear that their religious background is almost all they share, as they walk about their new house becoming increasingly isolated from each other. Deena becomes increasingly shrewish, while Daniel, seemingly uncharacteristically, becomes a flirt with their common friends. Will they separate or won't they? This is also the central conceit of "Romance Reader." Unlike that novel, however, there is no one character to sympathize with or to keep you interested in their plight. This novel shows promise but is ultimately unfulfilling. It is a major let-down after the deeply felt "Reader."
Rating: 
Summary: A less than stellar follow-up to "Romance Reader"
Review: For anyone just now becoming acquainted with Pearl Abraham's writing, I would recommend skipping this book and reading "Romance Reader," her first novel. The characters in "America" are less well drawn, less sympathetic, and less compelling. Ultimately, I had a difficult time reading this book, as I didn't like any of the characters well enough to really commit to them. The novel is the story of Daniel and Deena, a recently married Jewish couple. As time goes by, it becomes clear that their religious background is almost all they share, as they walk about their new house becoming increasingly isolated from each other. Deena becomes increasingly shrewish, while Daniel, seemingly uncharacteristically, becomes a flirt with their common friends. Will they separate or won't they? This is also the central conceit of "Romance Reader." Unlike that novel, however, there is no one character to sympathize with or to keep you interested in their plight. This novel shows promise but is ultimately unfulfilling. It is a major let-down after the deeply felt "Reader."
Rating:
Summary: dissatisfied with the author's portrayal of orthodox judaism
Review: Giving Up America gives an unfair view of what orthodox Judaism can be and what it usually is to those who lovingly adhere to it. Adherence includes all the beautiful traditions and rich customs and meaningful family life. It is not about keeping ancient laws that have no connection to you. It is about connection; connection with generations past and generations future. The author sadly relinquished her connection when she left her yiddishkeit behind. Daniel does not in any way represent a true orthodox jew. He is sad, his life is empty, and he is looking for a way to fill his void. Where are the children? Where is the community life? The charity work? The holidays? The shul? The weddings? The births? The family celebrations? This is orthodox judaism. Giving Up America is Pearl Abraham's way of ridding the ghosts that haunt her.
Rating:
Summary: Not worth your time in reading this book
Review: Giving up America wa a very boring book with a bad storyl-line. I kept thinking that something more exciting would happened in the story but unfortunaltely it did not. The characters were not well developed and one could not identify with any of them. Pearl Abraham better take more courses in writing!!
Rating: 
Summary: Giving up America-----> Eva Dekker ( HWC Amstelveen
Review: I found the book very interesting because the writer makes us clear what happens in the minds of both persons. She lets us know the differences in their characters. The most interesting for me was that in every chapter you could feel the distance between them growing. There was already a difference between them, but meeting people from the world outside their Jewish community made the developments going faster. If you read the book you feel that it's inevitable that they will split at the end. You feel that there could not be another way.
The writer lets us live the whole story together with the main characters and that is why I liked the book. So....Go buy or rent the book!!!!
Rating: 
Summary: Slow to start and slow to finish
Review: I got through a lot of this book before something started to maybe happen. Then, when things started to get "good," it still was a long time coming. The honest prose makes this seem like a very auto-biographical book, so I can't knock that. But, sometimes real life needs to be spiced up a bit for good fiction. Real life is not stark black and white, but fiction kind of needs that. In real life, people are mamby pamby and tip toe around things. In books, people should not. Half way through the book, I found myself skipping whole chapters to get to the "good parts," and then reading the final page just to see how it turned out. That's not the making of a classic book.
Rating:
Summary: Slow to start and slow to finish
Review: I got through a lot of this book before something started to maybe happen. Then, when things started to get "good," it still was a long time coming. The honest prose makes this seem like a very auto-biographical book, so I can't knock that. But, sometimes real life needs to be spiced up a bit for good fiction. Real life is not stark black and white, but fiction kind of needs that. In real life, people are mamby pamby and tip toe around things. In books, people should not. Half way through the book, I found myself skipping whole chapters to get to the "good parts," and then reading the final page just to see how it turned out. That's not the making of a classic book.
Rating: 
Summary: A page-turner that manages to be both subtle and complex.
Review: I just read Giving Up America and experienced it as a real page-turner. It's quite different from The Romance Reader, Pearl Abraham's first book, and interestingly so. It's a more difficult book somehow. The themes aren't obvious and the writing more subtle, which probably means that lay readers won't take to it. Oh well. My advice to the writer of the above criticism: It might be wise to learn to spell before passing judgement on a true and gifted writer. I highly recommend Giving Up America to all those who like reading books that make them think.
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