The Chosen, by Chaim Potok
A deep and interesting book, about timely and timeless things
(Review posted 5 Sep 2004 22:05:00)

I read The Chosen because my daughter had to read it for school, and she recommended it to me. I'd certainly heard of it, but I'd vaguely categorized it as a Young Adult sort of book, something that I might eventually get around to reading when I wanted something light. That was a misimpression.

This is a good book at three levels (at least). First, it's just a good story: an interesting and well-told growing-up story, about a boy and his friend (and their fathers, and their neighborhoods and schools and...) in New York during and after World War II. Second, it's a story that involves all sorts of stuff that I didn't know, about Judaism and the history of Hasidic Judaism in particular, about the end of World War II and the founding of Israel as seen from the streets of New York.

And thirdly, it's about fatherhood and childhood and responsibility, about minds and souls and ways of bringing up children. There's a deep thought about growth and suffering and intellect and compassion that informs much of the story and motivates much of the plot. It's a thought that I believe is ultimately wrong, and the narrator (but not his father, or his friend's father) seems to agree. But reading about the thought, and being made to think about it, and seeing how it drives the characters, and they they agree with it or disagree with it, is something well worth doing.