[.ca] My Name Is Asher Lev (ISBN 1400031044)

Five Stars for the Brooklyn Prodigy:
My Name Is Asher Lev by Chaim Potok is a remarkable story from the first page to the last. Potok takes the reader on a captivating journey through the complex mind and painful life of the "Brooklyn Prodigy" while dealing with reoccurring questions concerning acceptance, forgiveness, and the struggle to face one's identity. Potok creates a unique cast of characters and forms powerful relationships between them. No relationship, however, is as powerful as the one that Asher forms with his passion for painting. Through his passion, Asher and his family experience torment, anguish, confusion, and heartbreak. Their hardships, however, prove to teach life altering lessons about truth and love. Potok's use of vivid language and imagery help the reader to experience, feel, and learn as the characters do. This thought provoking novel had a great impact on me and is by far one of the best novels I have ever read.

Torn Apart:
Torn. Torn between the two incompatible worlds of Art and Judaism is the life that Asher Lev lives. Chaim Potok, in his book My Name is Asher Lev weaves a poignant story about an artist whose immense talent is a curse and a gift at the same time. He traces Asher's life from the first discovery of his gift to the art shows in the midst of his fame, and shows us that these eventually get him exiled from the Hasidic community. By using first person narrative, Potok gives the reader a glimpse of the Ladover Hasidic world through Asher's eyes. One does not have to be an artist to understand the turmoil that Asher goes through. Potok's portrayal of the rift that eventually widens between Asher and his parents as well as the Jewish community is simply and clearly portrayed. The reader sympathizes with Asher throughout the story, hoping that the young prodigy can somehow merge the two worlds he loves so much. Potok's characters make this book even more engaging. Each character has his or her own distinct personality and problems that help the reader understand their viewpoints. Take, for example, Asher's mother. She is torn between her husband and her son, and till the end tries to make the two men in her life understand each other. However, this small, fragile woman is no match for the powerful forces pulling Asher and his father apart. The use of Hasidic Jewish terminology like Shabbos and Ribbono Shel Olom is confusing at first, yet it binds the reader into Asher's Jewish world more and more securely as the novel progresses. It helps the reader understand the world of Aryeh Lev, Asher's father, who continually works for the good of the community. It also helps the reader realize that Asher's dreams of his Mythic Ancestor are a symbol of his own guilt. Asher feels like a traitor to his family because he is not continuing the work of his ancestors. I would recommend this book to anyone that wants to be a part of Asher's life, with all of its joys and sorrows. Come grow up with Asher in this excellently written book, and for a while imagine his talent is your own. Follow his example, and go wherever your heart leads you. Just don't forget to take his teacher's advice and be great at your chosen path, as that will justify all the consequences.

The Best:
I'm a teenage kid with a busy life of school and other things, but all that just stopped as soon as I picked up this book. Have mercy on my soul, this book was good. It hit me deep and made me think. I was totally taken over by the story and I began to connect and relate with the characters. Chaim Potok's style of writing is so easy to read and get into. I read through this whole book just itching for more the entire time. I would recommend this book to anyone; young, middleaged, old, it doesn't matter. Anyone can appreciate my new favorite book. I can't wait to start The Gift of Asher Lev.

My Name is Asher Lev/ A Critical Review:
My Name Is Asher Lev--A Reader's Review My Name Is Asher Lev. My Name Is Asher Lev. Wow! What a book. If you had told me that more than a hundred and twenty-five pages into the book that I would eventually love it, I would vehemently argue to the contrary. But, it's true. This story became intriguing. This story became enlightening. This story became exciting. I'll start from the beginning. This is the story of the family of Rabbi Aryeh Lev, his wife Rivkah, and their only child, Asher. They live in the densely Chasidic area of Crown Heights, in Brooklyn, New York. The story takes place over a twenty-five year period from when Asher was about to start day school. In the first third of the book, we're treated to a meditation of sorts on the existence of living in the aftermath of a post WW 2 world. Europe was almost completely destroyed. Six million Jews murdered (such acts are called "genocide" not "ethnic cleansing"--there's nothing clean, or pure or even righteous about murder/ genocide). And, the daunting task of Jewish renewal, restoration, and restitution was just beginning. In the relative safety of a northern US metropolitan city, descendents of European Jews, more specifically (but not limited to) Chasidic Jews made frequent trips abroad to address the needs of cultural and political restoration. This was Aryeh Lev's calling. Lev, a Chasidic Rabbi, came from a long and distinguished line of Rabbis, as author, the late Chaim Potok tells us. Lev married into another distinguished family that had generations of Rabbis. It was in this union that Aryeh wished his young son, Asher would continue the tradition and "not forget his people." What becomes abundantly clear is that Lev has no rapport with his son and very little with Rivka. It seems as if the brunt of his work has always been geared toward the male adult mind. Rivka on the other, at this point, is somewhat of a sycophant. She is clearly defined by the male relationships in her life. She is Aryeh Lev's wife, she's Asher's mother. She is the daughter of a famous rabbi. When her brother dies, Rivka, descends into a stupor which many thought may lead to her death. Interestingly, in the absence of her husband (traveling commitment, death of her brother and Asher being at school) this traditional model of femininity discovers that she has interest that she has time to pursue. She ultimately decides to go to school. First earning a bachelor's, master's and a doctorate in political science and history. This plays an instrumental part in Asher's upbringing. With Aryeh in Europe for weeks and months on in, Asher is without a father-figure. Rivkah used to answer Asher's childhood inquisitiveness by repeating Aryeh's thoughts on the matter. However, as she becomes more independent, more liberated, more educated--more daring--she indulges Asher in his artistic pursuits, now as a young adult. Along the way, people on the periphery of Asher's life, Yudel Krinsky (an art supply store owner) and Rebbe of his day school and a distant, but gregarious Uncle Yitschok all placate Asher's budding ambitions. The Rebbe even goes as far to recommend him to a noted Jewish artist, Jacob Kahn for instructions. It proved to be the defining relationship of Asher's life. Asher Lev becomes an artist out of the absence of compassionate and reasonable dialogue. Asher sees the world and speaks to and against his world with art. When Asher runs out words (themes) to express his anguish, he uses the language (symbols) of the Goyim. The result is one of the most memorable and thoroughly provocative reading moments I've ever had. The first part could have been reduced by at least 75 pages, but boy do I love this book. 4 1/2 stars.

Definitely not his best work:
I recently read another book by Chaim Potok and have since been devouring anything of his I can find. This book was, however, disappointing. The book is just as gripping as any other of Mr. Potok's books, but I had an extremely hard time relating to or even sympathizing with Asher Lev. While I understood that painting became his life, the better he got at it, the less compassion he seemed to have for everyone. The childish refusal to go to Vienna with his parents just made me dislike him even more. On the other side, I couldn't relate to his parents either. I understood a little better why Asher was so stubbornly infantile when his father acted the same way. A last point of contention for me was the completely depressing atmosphere of the entire book. Even when things are going his way, Asher is consistently pessimistic, nervous, and angry. Of course, this can relate to his inner struggle between art and Hasidic Judaism, but it is SO pervasive and SO overdone that it hinders our sympathy for Asher rather than endearing him to us. The only reasons I finished the book were my respect for Chaim Potok and my love of well-written literature. There are much better books by the same author for your money.