Customer Reviews (4)

Women's Minyan
Excellent portrait of a true story that touches on the cloistered environment that is the Haredi community.Naomi Ragen is such a champion of those who have no voice.

Self righteousness vs Godliness
I loved this play! Once again Naomi Ragen challenges us to think, to explore what it means to love God. She challenges us to follow after God and not man. Very enjoyable and I can't wait until I read her next book!

a sad story of a brave woman
naomi ragen has done so much for this poor woman. this play is based on a true story of a woman named chana. her husband was domineering and convinced the people in their town in israel that chana was a bad woman.ultimately he divorced her and spread lies about her to the town.she was not allowed to see her children. this is a good read.

For Justice's Sake
Naomi Ragen has long championed the rights and causes of those who have little voice through her columns in the Jerusalem Post, and her play Women's Minyan is just another example of her dedication to those who the world does not seem to hear.Do not be put off by the fact that Women's Minyan is meant to be performed as a play, as it translates well on the page and is impossible to put down.Opening a window into the insular world of Ultra-Orthodox Judaism, Ragen sheds light on the struggles a woman often faces when attempting to divorce her husband under the jurisdiction of a Beit Din, or religious court.Women's Minyan is based on the true story of a woman from Jerusalem, giving even more power to Ragen's play. ... Read more

Book Description
Set in the 1950's in New York City, CHAINS AROUND THE GRASS is a portrait of a Jewish-American family that glows with affection, tenderness, and courage when tragedy changes the lives of all who are left behind. A passionately personal and heartfelt book, based heavily on autobiographical material, this is the book Ms. Ragen says that she became an author to write.

Sara is barely six years old when her beloved father unexpectedly vanishes from her life. Her mother, Ruth, a dreamy and reluctant housewife, is now left with three small children to bring up, and the knowledge that she will somehow have to pick up the pieces, if she is to survive and fend for the family. But Sara takes up a vigil at the window of their dismal apartment, refusing to accept that her father won't be coming back.

"She thought of herself as a lighthouse keeper, a watchman on guard, a sailor on the topmost rigging, scouting for land. It was her duty to be there when the magic moment happened as it surely must, for no other explanation made any sense.

She scouted the men passing by, searching for those of a certain height, a certain weight, a certain walk... She followed each with hope until he turned right instead of left or left instead of right, or drew close enough to prove too tall or too short, too thin or two heavy. And each disappointment chipped away at her hope, reducing it, but never actually killing it. Like a plant cut to the ground, the roots sent up foolish new growth that twined around the facts, embellishing them, giving them something akin to beauty."

To this bittersweet and moving tale of childhood and the loss of innocence, the author brings the added intensity of a personal memoir. This is Naomi Ragen at her best, her writing charged with a searing, emotional truth as she unravels a tale of childhood, betrayal and the unending resilience of family love. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (9)

beautiful in every way
I LOVED THIS BOOK.It made me laugh outloud and it made me cry.Mostly it made me think.

This is a story about real life and not the usual immigrant founding a dynastycliche.

All of the characters are well devoloped and I found myself loving them and hating them as if they were members of my own family.And of course they could have been.

The universal message of what the measure of a man is is profoundly moving especially in our materialistic world.

Measuring Your Life with the Right Yardstick
Naomi Ragen is an international bestseller novelist, a writer of and about the core of human life. Chains Around the Grass (The Toby Press, USA, 2003) is the book Ms. Ragen says that she became an author to write. Setting the story of a poor Jewish family in the heart of America, Naomi Ragen calls for a revision of attitudes shaped by the sickness of reckless capitalism and its people who have turned into machines fuelled with business.

The novel's prologue is captivating. Through the eyes of the moment, little Sara Markowitz is shown sitting in humility in her rich uncle's house with her mother Ruth and brother Jesse out for the funeral of her father David Markowitz. Pursuing the old American dream of a well-off future, David never realizes the greater need of familial love that is showering him all along and the lives of his family chug along the uncertain paths of the business world. With the loss of David the family slumps into an indefinable channel of struggle against the demands of the society and its own integrity.

Chains Around the Grass is one of the semantically richest works carrying a number of issues. Sick capitalist values are questioned in the suffering of widowed Ruth and her children with several close, rich, relatives. The dilemma of a poor minority's identity under social pressure speaks in Ruth's resentment of changing Jesse's family name to `Marks'. What underlies insanity is illustrated cogently in Jesse's character. Sara's character embodies the process of personality development under early childhood traumas. The best explored is, perhaps, gender inequality prevailing in the social world, best instantiated in Sara's feelings of hatred towards her own brother.

Naomi Ragen's striking symbolism in her novel's situations is the quality of her work that best complements other merits. The heaven of idealized life is shattered to `chips flying away under time's relentless chisel'. When they were united and beautiful like young lush grass, they were out of reach on account of `chains' around them. One set of `ropes' is replaced with another and the dream of catching your life's beauty is never actualized until you see your life's time ending abruptly like a dream. Naomi Ragen is at her best in justice with her characters. Reality comes to them as they finally learn to `measure their life with the right yardstick'. Through Ruth's faith, we all know that a purely humanistic relationship is possible if we know the beauty of our inner self. It is an illustration of Eric Fromm's humanistic psychoanalysis; a story as real as reading one's own mind.

With all its beauty of language and elements of realistic fiction, Chains Around the Grass carries a problem as a book. The title and the prologue are suggestive of Sara as being the protagonist. It is through Sara's eyes that the tenderness of life and monsters of fear are revealed to us but Sara's character is treated scantily as compared to that of her parents and her brother Jesse. Essentially it is the story of Ruth's life. Her figure could have given a better illustrative title and prologue.

Depressing novel about a family mired in poverty.
Naomi Ragen's four previous novels dealt with Orthodox Jews and their personal problems and struggles.These novels were intensely human, very frank and controversial.In a departure from these themes, Ragen's new novel, "Chains Around the Grass," focuses on the unfortunate Markowitz family and their myriad personal problems.

The time is the 1950's and David Markowitz, husband of Ruth, and father of three children, is again forcing the family to move, for the fourth time in ten years.He is a dreamer who thinks that one day he will strike it rich, and his family will then have the life that they deserve.For the time being, however, the Markowitz family is moving into a low-income housing project in Far Rockaway, Queens, while David plies his trade as a taxicab driver.

"Chains Around the Grass" does not succeed, mostly because Ragen has no central focus beyond describing the family's miserable lives.She touches on many themes, but they do not coalesce into a satisfying whole.Ruth Markowitz stays at home with the children, as was traditional in the pre-feminist fifties, although she has few domestic skills.Her considerable brains and talent are underutilized, which contributes to her depression and keeps the family income low.David is a charming but unstable man.He fights with his relatives who are better off than he, and he is simply unable to work at a steady job long enough to make good.None of these themes has enough resonance to make the novel come alive.

The book does have its poignant moments, especially those that center around the middle-child, Sarah.She is an excellent student, who believes that school and perhaps religion will be her ticket out of her dead-end existence. However, Ragen does not show us what is unique about this family and why their story is worth telling."Chains Around the Grass" is little more than a very bleak story about a very unhappy family.

skip it
I've read other books by this author and couldn't even finish this one. It was an extremely depressing story and there was far too much philosophical mumble-jumble. Read her other books instead.

I've read better by her
I typically love Naomi Ragen's book, but this one left a lot to be desired.I believe that she felt that she needed to write a book and this is the first thing that came out of her pen.

While the first half of the book is the story of Dave, the husband, the second half is the story of no one.Depsite the fact that the back of the book leads you to believe it is about the daughter, Sara, she is not the main character in any sense.

There is no story for you to follow and the characters don't develop well.Their characteristics just sort of "appear."

The Jewish thread seems manufactured as if she had to insert it somewhere.

If you want to read a bood Naomi Ragen book, read ANY of the others. ... Read more

Book Description
A modern classic of Jewish-American literature, a remarkable journey into the shrouded world of Chassidic women. Naomi Ragen's first novel has been called "one of the 100 most important" Jewish books. Abraham Ha-Levi is a wealthy American businessman and the last male survivor of an important Orthodox Jewish family. He decides it's time he finally honoured his religious and cultural inheritance and so forces his 18-year old daughter - the beautiful and intelligent Batsheva - into an arranged marriage. Her new husband is a devout Torah scholar who lives in Jerusalem. Batsheva finds herself plunged into a new life and a strange land, among people who follow their religious laws to the letter. Then she realises that her husband's piety is merely a mask for his cruelty. A magnificent book that builds up momentum compellingly ... Read more

Customer Reviews (21)

Awkward Writing, Ridiculous Plot
I bought this book on a whim while in Israel, having forgot to pack anything to read on my vacation.Pluses: Ragen knows how to keep the plot moving, and the book provides some insight into the world of the ultra-orthodox.Minuses: Awkward, occasionally excrutiating writing, huge plot holes, and ridiculous (yet utterly predictable and telegraphed) plot twists.How huge are the holes?E.g., at some point the heroine decides to fake a suicide-murder of herself and her son.No bodies, of course, are ever found, but her extremely wealth father never bothers to look into things further.How do I know?Because the heroine winds up in England, assumedly using her own passport!How did she get to England without anyone realizing that the wealthy heiress of a great rabinnic dynasty traveled abroad on her (and her son's passport). Geez, all they had to do was check the airline manifest, or with immigration control.Basically, if you read this book and you are halfway intelligent, you will feel cheated. The good news is that if Ms. Ragen was able to develop into a respected, famous novelist, there is help for us all.

Jephte's Daughter
Compelling story within the Orthodox Jewish Community and the struggle to find one's place within.

a shining and affirmative thing
It is difficult to categorize this seductive first novelistic offering by Naomi Ragen.

Somewhat sheephishly, this middle-aged, white, male reviewer confesses its tones of over-written girly pop, an aspect that explains its being laid aside half-read for six months before it jumped back into my suitcase and lured me into a hungry, late-night series of readings to finish it. This element of Jephte's Daughter is most charitably explained as the work of an immature but promising novelist.

Then there is the tendency towards caricature, a trait placed in service of an almost Wellhausian disdain for ritual. This leveling of complex religious reality is used against both Jewish and Gentile denizens of Ragen's pages: for example, the preternaturally hateful Hassidic first husband of Ragen's heroine (Isaac ben Harshen) and the erstwhile Roman Catholic noviate who eventually gets the girl (the promisingly named David Hope). The key virtue of the latter protagonist is that he escapes all that churchly stuff that had him tied in knots.

Caricature also appears in the clumsy reconversion of David Hope from the Church's bosom to the heretofore secret Jewish identity of his deceased mother, though this may merely be the quibble of a Gentile and Christian reader who must acknowledge that stories of conversion that run in the opposite direction are rarely handled any better.

She has cast her academics in almost universally unfeeling and villainous form and located them in all the right places, Cambridge chief among them. I suppose it provides a convenient place for that.

Finally, there is the unblinking romanticism of the book, whereby the appeal of strong feeling and its culmination in the girl getting the guy--and vice versa--are granted a self-authenticating absoluteness without the need for further discussion.

So, if Ragen has written these several books within the cover of just one, how is that that this reviewer in the end finds himself strangely moved by the book and eager to move on now to the more mature Naomi Ragen?

'Difficult to say. I think the young novelist touched a vein. She has taken the measure of religious bigotry in several of its guises and offered something that seems compelling and real in its place, even if one wonders how the dazzling Batsheva and her David got along after the rains returned to Jerusalem and the drains clogged from time to time.

She has in the end told a good story, not with the character development of an accomplished novelist, but with enough justice that a chain of improbable sequences actually comes together as remotely plausible and--mirabile dictu--rather gripping.

One actually lays the book down feeling rather fond of Bathsheva and David, shaken by their odyssey, and wishing them well.

Only a novelist on the way to accomplishing her potential could have pulled that off for this grumpy old man. So let's give credit where it's due.

Book Covers and Reader Expectations
Jephte's Daughter is the story of Batsheva Ha-Levi, the last surviving descendant of a Hassidic dynasty nearly wiped out in the Holocaust.A dutiful Orthodox Jewish daughter, she marries the man her father chooses for her--a renowned scholar--and moves off to Jerusalem to begin a life with him with nothing but youthful and vague romantic notions and her deep Jewish faith to guide her.In the disastrous marriage that follows, both fail her for a time, but ultimately her faith sustains her and gives her the courage to save herself and her son, and while she outgrows youthful romantic ideals, she ultimately finds love in the end.

If I had bought Jephte's Daughter in the new edition, packaged as women's literary fiction in trade size with an abstract design on the cover, I probably would have been as disappointed as many of the readers reviewing it here were.Yes, the storyline is often silly and unbelievable.Some of the supporting characters and dialogue are almost unbearably cheesy.

But I read the original paperback version of the book, published in 1989.The mass market paperback features an exotic Jerusalem backdrop and a beautiful long haired woman in the foreground, gazing out with longing and determination, and the cover art and packaging show the books true origins: not an Oprah-style literary novel, but a romantic saga of the kind that was so popular in the 1980s, of the Belva Plain/Judith Krantz variety.Judged as a product of the 1980s women's fiction market and not that of the 2000s, Jephte's Daughter actually succeeds pretty well, meeting the conventions of those stories (fabulous wealth, family history, bad experiences with men before the right one emerges, a strong central female character) but departing from them into the interesting setting of the Orthodox Jewish world.

The parts of the book showing Batsheva's upbringing and life in Jerusalem are the best parts of the book.Ragen's love for the rituals and the learning that suffuse traditional Jewish life is evident in the details that she pours into this part of the book.Batsheva's husband and mother in law are cartoonish bad guys, but underneath the soap opera melodrama are real issues, as Orthodox women in Israel sometimes do find themselves trapped by tradition and mores in disastrous marriages with abusive husbands who refuse to give them divorces.

The book weakens when it leaves this setting, and the section set in England is cringeworthy in its depiction of goyish male lust and snobbish anti-semitism.Some of the dialogue is simply laughable.And the man who ultimately turns out to be Batsheva's true love is unbelievably perfect.But the story was suspenseful enough to keep me turning pages quickly, even if I did wince at some of the worst dialogue and skim over the purplest prose.

I can't wholeheartedly recommend the book, but I know that the author, Naomi Ragen, has continued to write books set in the world of Orthodox Jewry which is a setting that fascinates me, and I know that her recent books have been fairly well received, so I would definitely read more of her work.Taken as a dated 1980s novel and a first novel at that, it's not horrible, but it probably should have been left back in the 1980s rather than dusted off and repackaged for current day release.

there's good and bad
it's a compelling story, but as other reviewers have noted, hard to believe.I found the portrayal of the conversion to Judaism to be completely unrealistic.No one should trust a man who is in the seminary suddenly converting like that.These religious issues would normally take years to work out.Any why does every convert have to have a hidden Jewish ancestry?That seems like a cheap plot device.

still, I liked the fact that Batsheva had a happy ending :). ... Read more

Book Description
Tamar Feingold's life is haunted by the painful, yet unspoken memories of her parents' time in a Nazi concentration camp. Battling between her feelings and her religion, the secrets of her past threaten to explode and destroy everything she has. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (15)

Excellent Book!
This was the very first book that I've read by the author, and I thought that it was absolutely amazing! This was such a compelling story, I read it all in one night. I've read other reviews here, and I totally disagree that Tamar's rapist was black simply because the author was trying to re-enforce the image of a "black criminal" or because she is racist herself. I think the fact that he was black was very essential to the plot. Had he been white, then Tamar would have had an option to pretend that the baby was her husbands. No one would question it, her husband would never suspect it, Tamar alone would know the terrible secret. Because he was black this was obviously no longer an option.
In the begining of the book Tamar is seen as good but extremely weak woman. Ever since she was a child the decisions which directly affected her life, were made for her. First, by her parents, then by her husband. She has choices when faced with pregnancy, but can't decide herself, and still choses to do nothing. Her faith seems to be rewarded at first, but we see how that affects the rest of her life. I loved her transformation into a woman who truly accepts herself and takes control of her life. I would highly recommend this book.

A compelling read

Tamar Finegold has a secure and predictable life , as wife of one of Brooklyn's leading ultra-orthodox rabbis , but when she is violently raped by an intruder , all of this is thrown into turmoil.
She turns to two childhood friends , but keeps the secret from her family , until years later , a strange turn of events forces her to confront her past.

Naomi Ragen's books deal with the struggle of Jewish communities and the various threats and dilemmas that face them.
I had previously read The Covenant and The Ghost of Hannah Mendes.

This book shows both the tranquility and beauty of religious life and the dilemmas faced. It is beautifully written and shows how Tamar deals witht he trauma of her rape by an intruder and how her life and that of her family develops, as well as that of her two friends, one who has wisely embraced all that is good in Judaism , and one that has divorced herself from her roots.
A very compelling and easy read , that gives us a rare insight into ultra-orthodox communities and their ways of being and thinking.

good book yet too predictible
the book in itself has a good story line yet it is too predictible and also has some parts where you just "get lost" in it...
being from israel also didnt help me understand some of the complex terminology of the book which made the reading a bit more harsh then fun.

Nice read, if a bit predictable
This book was loaned to me along with Naomi Ragen's other book, "Sotah." (Which I am currently reading.) The book does give a glimpse into a world seldom ever shared with outsiders, and I found this intriguing. The book certainly "grabs" its readers from the beginning. However, the flashback scenes to the main characters childhoods, even though providing necessary information, was almost a distraction. As well, the flashback takes up a good 1/3 of the book and I felt it might have been better stated at the beginning of the book.

When the book is half finished, it becomes rather predictible. The main character is raped by a black man, has sex with her husband the same night, and give birth to a white child. That would seemingly end the story, yet it continues. This leads the reader to pretty much figure what happens next.

Even with that, I enjoyed the book as a pleasant diversion. (And enough to go ahead and begin "Sotah" as well) 3 stars is lower than I would give this book, but it doesn't quite reach 4 stars, in my opinion. I would truly give it 3 1/2 stars, if that were possible.

I thought the more interesting points in the book were below the surface and how three differing points of view, from three very different women, were demonstrated: from the rebellious Hadassah, to the accepting Tamar, to the reflective Jenny. All three women are strong characters in their own right, and all follow different paths. The relationships between the three and within their own worlds is a fascinating character study.

A desilusioning "Ragen"
I am not a complete fan of Naomi Ragen's style of writing, but from "Sotah" and "The Ghost of Hannah Mendes"I learned about a community foreign to me or a historical period. This book was too predictable, I do not like it when after the first chapter I stop being surprised. I thought the characters to be too limited and charicutaristic, the negative use of the "violent black genetic material" enoying. ... Read more

Book Description
With more than half a million copies of her novels sold, Naomi Ragen has connected with the hearts of readers as well as reviewers who have met her work with unanimous praise. In The Saturday Wife, Ragen utilizes her fluid writing style--rich with charm and detail--to break new ground as she harnesses satire to expose a world filled with contradiction.Beautiful, blonde, materialistc Delilah Levy steps into a life she could have never imagined when in a moment of panic she decides to marry a sincere Rabbinical student. But the reality of becoming a paragon of virtue for a demanding and hypocritical congregation leads sexy Delilah into a vortex of shocking choices which spiral out of comtrol into a catastrophe which is as sadly believeable as it is wildly amusing.Told with immense warmth, fascinating insight, and wicked humor, The Saturday Wife depicts the pitched and often losing battle of all of us as we struggle to hold on to our faith and our values amid the often delicious temptations of the modern world. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (21)

This book was hilarious!
I don't know why some folks wrote less than complimentary reviews on this hilarious novel. I found it so entertaining I could hardly put it down.The subtle humour had me in stitches and I enjoyed the insight into Orthodox Judaism.Not being of that culture or religion I had no idea about the legalism involved to be considered 'righteous'.I found this novel satisfying, funny, sad, interesting, entertaining and witty. The author has a way with words and an understanding of human nature.Good job!

Ragen is no Flaubert!

I've read Gustave Flaubert; I've taught "Madame Bovary; Ms. Ragen, you are no Flaubert, and Delilah is no Madame Bovary!

Ragan's best yet
The Saturday Wife is a superb satire involving Modern Orthodox Jewry living in Long Island and Connecticut, as it happens. Very very funny. Yet gives plenty of food for thought about Modern Orthodoxy and religion in general. If you like Jewish themes this book is for you.It took me out of a long depression and I have been feeling just fine ever since I read it. Laughter is indeed the medicine. Read it.

Disappointing
I have enjoyed some of Naomi Ragen's novels in the past, particularly Jephte's Daughter, but Saturday Wife was a big disappointment.It lacked substance throughout, had needless detail, was very shallow, was filled with Jewish self-hatred, and had a very weak, disappointing ending.Many times she interrupted her narrative using straight proseto insult traditional Judaism; I had the strong impression that bashing religious Jewish life was the author's real purpose in writing this book.Had this book been written by a gentile, it would have definitely been labeled antisemitic.

Too simple a read...
Although the character descriptions were vivid, and the story entertaining - Saturday Wife was a disappointment to someone who has read and savored each of Naomi Ragen's books. One of the tag suggestions for Saturday Wife is "chic lit," and I'm afraid that this book meets that shallow category. Naomi Ragen is a fine writer, a great storyteller. Her characters and plots generally evoke great passion from readers, and have the depth of mind and spirit that are the hallmark of true literary fiction.

"Jephte's Daughter," "The Sacrifice of Tamar," "Chains Around the Grass." These are books that will remain always and proudly on my bookshelf - next to books like Jerry Marcus' "Abraham, Isaac, Jacob & Zev" and Chaim Potok's "My Name is Asher Lev" and "Davita's Harp."Please, Ms. Ragen. You are a gifted writer who has far more to offer than shallow characters like Delilah and Chaim. ... Read more

Book Description
Living in terror-torn Jerusalem, Elise Margulies constantly fears for the safety of her loved ones. Confined to bedrest during a difficult pregnancy, she happily awaits the return of her husband and little girl from a ballet recital, only to find that her worst fears have finally been realized. All seems lost until a phone call to her grandmother in America unexpectedly revives a decades-old oath, creating a force that transends time and place, to rescue her loved ones. Over the course of five terror- and hope-filled days, the ties that bind two generations forge a potent alliance against contemporary evil. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (32)

Required Reading for News Watchers
The most useful part of this book, which is written by a columnist living in Jerusalem, is the extent to which it describes the distortion of facts by the media. It does not merely allege such distortion, but shows how it occurs, and why, in ways that have been substantiated in real life. You can actually see it for yourself, when you compare the news from the original sources to what you see edited in and out. We are on the receiving end of this manipulation every day. Or, as a small example, open up the newspaper and read an article critical of a public figure, and watch the way in which the facial expression of the public figure is smiling when it should be somber, for example. And then realize that the paper has a stack of file photos, and picked just that one. Not the one where the subject of the article has the facial expression he wore during the interview, or during the events. So they might be talking about starving children and use a file photo of the politician that shows him smiling or laughing. That picture might be six months old.

I will not get into the plot of The Covenant, which other reviewers have already covered, except to say that it involves wishful thinking. Terrorists have been abducting Israelis for years, and no one ever finds them again. The barbarity of terrorist attacks has been swallowed up by false "tit-for-tat" coverage that attempts to justify anything. The United States saw a fragment of this after 9/11, when journalists would chatter with righteous indignation at the suggestion that the perpetrators were "evil," and would go into the ways in which our foreign policy was to blame (so, in order to make our foreign policy more appetizing, it should be sanctified by people who believe in using babies as human shields, and in intentionally killing civilians? Isn't this like taking Dennis "BTK Killer" Rader and putting him on the state legislature?). This is a digression with a point: There are no secret societies with hidden, far-reaching influence working to save the innocents in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem or Judea and Samaria. That is what makes Israelis so brave. The terrorists have Reuters and AP as their own PR companies, and world opinion turns against them because of it.

On the other hand, writing the story without those four brave Holocaust survivors perhaps would have made the truth too unbearable. Easier to blame the victims as, in fact, some so-called intellectuals have tried to blame the victims of the Virginia Tech massacre (with lies such as that they didn't fight back because they "forgot the lesson of Flight 93;" they bullied Cho; that they lacked discipline and courage...). There really is an impulse to blame the victim in order to displace our own sense of helplessness. So perhaps having this book have so much hope is the only way for people to accept the bitter truths within it.

Anyone who consumes news from any source should read this. And then go to The Second Draft and other sites for proof.

Best Book in Long Time
THE COVENANT is, without a doubt, the best book I have read in a long, long time!The mystery aspect of it, mentioned often in other reviews, takes a very distant back seat to the amazing commentary on religion and terrorism about which Ragen writes so knowingly and empathetically.This definitely is a book I would recommend to anyone; there is a message for all of us in this story!

Point of View Rather Than Opinion
The Covenant is a novel full of incendiary material.In the post 9/11 world, we have all had to take sides in the Israeli/Palestinian conflict and the Arab/Israeli conflict which is at the heart of this novel.

No matter which side you are on, living through the lives of the characters in The Covenant can open your eyes.Ragen doesn't try to convince, doesn't argue points, doesn't indulge in diatribes or polemics.She simply shows you what the entire situation looks like from several different points of view.

When I started to learn fiction writing in my early teens, I learned that a writer sets an imaginary camera on the main character's shoulder and lets the reader view the entire situation through that camera lens.

The reader knows only what the character knows, and thus can enter into that character's emotional life through the character's point of view.

The Covenant uses many points of view which dilutes and disturbs the emotional bonding with the characters, but also promotes objectivity about the total situation.This is an example of excellent craftsmanship at its shining best.

Ragen does character sketch essays for each of the main characters so marvelous that they sneak up on you and suddenly you're wrung out with overwhelming emotion.

The novel amasses an astounding breadth and depth of facts that shower down upon you as you read.All those facts are juxtaposed and arranged with the spare clarity of a Japanese Brush Painting.

You don't have to judge whether the facts are true or not.You are riding on the shoulder of a character for whom that fact is true, and you can learn something about what it feels like for that fact to be true.

Only a novel can deliver an emotional reality with such clarity.

I recommend this book for beginning writers to study in depth.

Jacqueline Lichtenberg
[...]

The Covenant
Am 100% pleased with the delivery of my book and have so thoroughly enjoyed reading it from cover to cover...sure is a heck of a lot easier ordering from Amazon.com than running down to Barnes and Noble or Borders to order a book.Many thanks for a job well done.

The Covenant
Worth reading if you are recovering from major surgery and on pain meds. I read it in these circumstances and doubt I could recommend it otherwise. ... Read more

Book Description
When Catherine da Costa, a wealthy Manhattan matron, learns she has only a short time to live, she realizes that her family tree will die unless she passes on its legacy and traditions to her granddaughters.But Suzanne and Francesca, beautiful young women caught up in trendy causes and ambitious careers, have no interest in the past.Catherine almost despairs until one night she is visited by the ghost of her family's anscestor, an indomitable Renaissance businesswoman named Hannah Mandes.The ghost of Hannah Mendes encourages Catherine to use every trick in the book to coerce the granddaughters to journey across Europe and acquaint themselves with their roots.While the sisters honor their grandmother's request out of loyalty, they believe their quest is futile--until it starts to uncover ancient pages from Hannah Mendes's fascinating memoir, and brings new loves into their lives. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (56)

Intriguing
Two sisters who are of Jewish faith loved their grandmother enough to do as she asked, to seek out the lost memoirs of their relative Hannah Mendez, lost due to the Spanish Inquisition and expulsion of the Jews from Spain. Even though it was a huge incovenience to both of them, they did so because of their devotion to her. But it was the coincidences and fate that brought them toward their goal.It was an intriguing story because of the way they went about it because the sisters were so different in personality and desires. However, their grandmother felt if they found the memoirs and Hannah's story was complete, it may bring true meaning to their lives.

Wonderful history, rather tired plot
Naomi Ragen has a great love for Jewish history and religion, and this shows in her book on the Spanish Inquisition and the fascinating and little-known Jewish heroine, Hannah Mendes. Her accounts of Sephardic traditions ring true, and she is clearly a great believer in traditions of all sorts. We are all connected to our families of the past and future, and this is our immortality, Ragen believes. Only by connecting can we live a meaningful life.

Both of the granddaughters, Suzanne and Francesca, are disconnected from their roots, each in her own way. Suzanne is caught up in meaningless relationships and Francesca in her career. The plot of the book is their journey of rediscovery of their past.

However, like other reviewers, I was put off by the rather weary plot and by the wooden characterizations of the male leads. There is nothing wrong with a good romance novel, but Ragen resorts too often to tired cliches of writing and of characterization.

Still, I learned a great deal about the Sephardic heritage, and -- perhaps partaking of the coincidences in the book -- I just discovered Cecil Roth's acclaimed biography of Mendes, Dona Gracia of the House of Nasi, among my book collection, and now I plan to read it.

excellent read.
This book is all that the historic novel reader might be looking for.I highly recommend it.

Terrific Historical Fiction
I gave this book 5 stars because the fictionalized historical parts were so fascinating.It was hard to put down.It's even more fascinating when you realize Hannah Mendes a/k/a Dona Gracia really existed -- one step ahead of the Spanish Inquisition.

I must confess, though, that I skimmed some of the contemporary material as it's not at all of the same caliber.Maybe if you like romance novels (I generally don't), it would be fine, but I was disappointed.

In short, I heartily recommend this book.Just be forewarned that it's uneven in places.

My favorite Naomi Ragen novel
I greatly enjoyed how the author wove a historical novel into a contemporary romance. And I confess that I love the happy ending, with the heroines and heroes ending up together, which I hope isn't giving it away. Of course I found the Jewish aspect fascinating, especially learning about the life and times of Hannah Mendes (the ghost). I think this book was an inspiration in starting me writing my own historical novels, Rashi's Daughters, Book 1: Joheved and Rashi's Daughters, Book II: Miriam.
Thank you Naomi Ragen. ... Read more

Book Description
Set against the backdrop of Jerusalem's ancient rituals, a contemporary story of sacred and profane love, and a young woman's struggle to reconcile tradition with freedom. Ninety-three weeks on the best-seller list.

Sotah introduces a family with three daughters approaching the age of marriage: Devorah, Dina and Chaya Leah. In the strict orthodoxy of their world, a sotah is a wife suspected of infidelity who can be tried by ordeal to prove she is guiltless. Which sister could be capable of such a thought, let alone the act? Into the pious world of strict chaperoning, modest clothing, where a married woman's hair must never be seen by a man other than her husband -insinuates this serpent suggestion of evil. Ragen's powerful tale of three sisters spins endless questions: Which one? Could she? Did she? What changes could come into this orderly world because of unthinking actions? ... Read more

Customer Reviews (24)

very easy read and very good book
Informative about life in the religious Jewish community in Israel. I chose the book for a book group and all 5 of us enjoyed the book.

ALMOST really great
I found this book to be exhilarating, fascinating and enlightening as well as moving and compelling.Though somewhat predictable and stereotypical, I found myself caught up in the plight of the characters and the injustice of the protagonist's life.I appreciated the opportunity to become enmeshed in the world of the Hasidim and Israeli life.And it is very much like becoming a temporary member of their world.One finds oneself thinking all sorts of things whilst reading the book such as: what would a life feel like that was completely structured, no questions asked, no decisions to be made, everything fully dpre-determined?And how does such a life compare with the complexities, moral dilemmas and confusions in the lives of those of us who pride ourselves and freedom of expression and decision?In this novel, the characters lead a life of structure and predestination.And I must admit, there were moments in which I felt a sense of envy at its relative ease.Overall, of course, one realizes that the freedoms forfeited are best left in tact.I found some of the characters flat and lifeless and way too 'all good guy" or "all bad guy". In that way the book was too simplistic.But overall I loved the plot and the fun of being in a new world, if even for a short while.

Looking through frosted glass...
The title intrigued me. Sotah is an incredibly difficult topic in Orthodox Judaism and I was interested in what this book had to say about it. I shouldn't have bothered. The book joins a long list of slanderous works which present a completely false picture of Jewish life. It is clearly written by someone who not only hasn't the foggiest clue about the subject but who uses her considerable writing and storytelling skills to push the usual agenda: secularism is liberating, orthodoxy is stifling. The loaded language of the editorial reviews says it all.

I wouldn't have bothered writing this review except for one fabrication that I find truly horrific and which was mentioned by several of the reviewers. There is no such thing as a "modesty patrol" or vigilante "morals police" in the Jewish community and violence, threatened or otherwise especially against a woman, would evoke nothing but condemnation. It is also relevant that for various religious and religious-legal reasons there is no such thing as a Sotah in the modern world so the title is little more than a provocation.

If you like well written, emotional, women's stories (I do not mean that in any derisive way) this book fits the bill. But please, don't think that you can learn something meaningful about the topic it purports to cover.

I am not now an observant Jew but come from an observant family.

Sotah
The book was excellent and rivited me to my seat!!I am not an Orthodox Jew, but was held spellbound throughout.

Religion dictates much here
The story of a Jewish woman and the demands her faith and family put place on her.The book examines the consequences of an adulterous relationsip and scrutinizes the dictates of a fundamentalist Jewish sect.Ragen's presentation of an unexpected clash of cultures is insightful and thought-provoking.This is another book I've kept to myself as I'm not sure my reading friends would take away the same insights I have.I recommend it to the more serious thinkers among you. ... Read more

Product Description
DRIVING FORCE By Dick Francis: Freddie Croft doesn't have an enemy in the world. Once a champion jockey, now the owner of a thriving horse-transport service, Freddie has a long list of satisfied customers. Still, there's something strange going on. First a mysterious hitchhiker turns up dead in one of Freddie's transports. Then an employee is found murdered. Seems Freddie does have an enemy after all. Someone who wants to put him out of business--permanently. Dick Francis is back, with another tale of horseplay and homicide that races to a nail-biting finish.SOTAH By Naomi Ragen: In the heart of the Holy Land a rabbi's beautiful daughter faces the joys and burdens of her heritage--and her own deepest yearnings. Although Dina Reich was raised to be an obedient daughter and a dutiful wife, she harbors dreams: dreams of knowledge, of romance, of excitement. To follow those dreams, she must pay a high and bitter price, but only then can she reclaim the meaning of her own life. A deeply felt story of the struggle to reconcile choice and tradition and to shape a life enriched by faith and love.THE DOLL'S HOUSE By Evelyn Anthony: With the end of the cold war a nightmare scenario emerges. Six professional spies--their jobs obsolete but their deadly skills intact--combine forces as terrorists for hire. Their leader is a charming but lethal assassin named Harry Oakham; their headquarters, a picturesque hotel in the English countryside. When Rosa Bennet, a newly divorced diplomat on a mission for British intelligence, infiltrates their lair, the scene is set for danger and intrigue. From the author of A PLACE TO HIDE, a thriller of page-turning intensity.THE BEARS AND I By Robert Franklin Leslie: In the 1920s a strong young man could still rustle up some funds for college by digging for gold in western Canada. One such adventurer's stint in the wild was altered completely when he was adopted by three boisterous orphaned bear cubs. ... Read more

Book Description
Word count: 1422. ... Read more

Book Description
This digital document is an article from Midstream, published by Theodor Herzl Foundation on July 1, 2001. The length of the article is 1781 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: An Interview with Naomi Ragen.(Interview)
Author: Jenny Weil
Publication: Midstream (Magazine/Journal)
Date: July 1, 2001
Publisher: Theodor Herzl Foundation
Volume: 47Issue: 5Page: 31

Article Type: Interview

Distributed by Thomson Gale ... Read more

Product Description
Large Print, First Edition, 2005. This is a must-read book; a tribute to the power of friendship and the strength of love in the face of evil. It is a mesmerizing multigenerational novel. ... Read more