A few days ago I finished reading The Outside World by Tova Mirvis. The book was absolutely phenomenal. Mirvis, being frum herself was able to capture the frum lifestyle perfectly,and her message was clearly conveyed.
The book is about Tzippy a 22 year old FFB girl who was going crazy because she was still single and all the guys she was dating seemed the same.
In the meantime Bryan/Baruch comes back from Israel after two-years of learning in Yeshiva. While he was raised Modern Orthodox, he came back from Israel- to his parents dismay- a lot frummer.
Both Tzippy and Baruch end up in Israel and they bump into each other and... (I didn't give anything away, this is all on the back cover).
I strongly recommend reading this book. The author is fabulous. :) Its also a quick and easy read. Nothing too serious for you busy types who cannot commit full attention to their reading.
Here is one quote from the book that I just had to keep:
He had been raised to think that only Harvard, Penn and Columbia were good enough. Law School, Medical School and Business School were his parents' most heartfelt dreams. He had once accepted this as the word of truth. He had worked hard to get into Columbia. He had wanted to be a corporate lawyer like his father. Now he saw that his parents worshipped the false idols of achievement and success. Learning for the sake of learning because it was the will of Gd was of no value to them.
The above is a brief description of what Baruch felt when he returned home from Israel and had to stay in his parents house.
The book is phenomenal! The other book by Mirvis The Ladies Auxiliary is also really good. :)
8 comments:
I also read both books. The author has her her pulse on the Orthodox psyche. I even heard her talk about her book in some shul. I must add that she is also a hot babe
LOL Jay!
Sounds really good. Can I borrow it from you?
Learning is never for the sake of learning.
In the frum world, you can replace Harvard with the Mir, and Colombia with Ger. Nothing less will do, just like in the secular world...
Everyone worships success, it just wears different outfits for different people and doesn't necessarily come with lots of money.
tova mirvis has a wonderful talent. the ladies auxiliary was unputdownable. thanks for recommending this other book. i shall add it to my must read list.
jay: lol. glad u enjoyed both of the books
yente: Sure. :) Lemme know when u want me to pass it to u.
JS: I agree with you 100%. Its all about where, when and how you learn, and w/e the equivolent of the GPA is in the Yeshiva system.
Hadassah: np :)
ive read both of tovah mirvis' books. i loved both of them.since im originally from outside of new york, i especially liked them because they were about communities outside of new york.
I also recently read "The Outside World". There plot didn't really go anywhere, but it's a pretty good picture of reality. I would have liked to see a more in depth description of the community in Memphis and what living in a smaller community is like, since I live in one myself. She never meantions what their shul experience is like, etc.
One interesting point. I read this a few months ago. Soon after I read it, the kosher market in our town closed and Kroger opened up a large kosher section to take up the slack, along with a deli counter. Where it differs from the description in the book is that ours is owned & run by Kroger in cooperation with the Vaad, not by some investors, a young guy with little experience, and his overeager father in law. So hopefully, ours will fare better.
DYS: Mirvis's other book "The Ladies Auxiliary" shows what life in Memphis (or generally a small town) is like.
That book is great as well. I even cried a couple of times (but then ofcourse I'm a crybaby)
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