The Chosen

We just had our book club meeting last night and I was so excited to discuss this book! It was an amazing read! It took me 2 days to read through and I was captivated from the first chapter. There is a ton of Jewish history throughout. It is about 2 teenage boys that meet by chance and become best friends even though they were from 2 very different jewish faiths. They grew up about 5 blocks away from eachother in the Bronx and it took place back in the 1920's (I think - dates are awful for me to remember). It was fun to watch their friendship develop as they started out as enemies in the beginning and then humbled themselves and overcame their differences. Reuven was raised by his father and their relationship is extremely strong. They were completely open with eachother and really confided in the other with such great sense of closeness bonding them together. Danny on the other hand, was raised in silence from his father. They never spoke outside of their religious study timeframe. So it was nice when Danny and Reuven met that Danny was able to confide in someone and develop that trust and intimacy that he never had with his father. Throughout the entire book, Danny always had such great respect and reverence for his father (the rabbi of Hasidic Orthodox jews) and was expected to take his fathers place as the passage of their family's tradition as the firstborn son. After getting to know the characters, we find that Reuven is a smart boy, really good at math, and wants to go through college and become a rabbi. Danny is an exceptionally brilliant child who is expected to become a rabbi but his truest desire is to become a psychologist. That is completely against his religious beliefs and much of the book is focused on his attempt to keep this secret from his father. In the end, it is finally explained why his father had been silent to him for his entire lifetime - just him, not his brother or sister - and I don't want to give that away so you just have to read it! I fell in love with the way these boys were so hungry for knowledge! The way that they studied their Talmud (religious books) was incredible. I wish I had half that desire to keep pushing myself to the limits as far as my quest for knowledge! This is an absolute must read book! There is so much info to discuss in it and you really fall in love with the characters and feel for them. If I had a scale, I would totally give it 5 stars! So go check it out at the library today!