Chaim Potok: A Critical Companion (Critical Companions ... (ISBN 0313311811)

A thorough and useful guide to Potok's novels:
Sanford Sternlicht's CHAIM POTOK: A CRITICAL COMPANION is part of the Critical Companions to Popular Contemporary Writers series put out by Greenwood Press. Having worked at a public library reference desk, serving high school students in very real need of in-depth sources on modern writers, I cannot recommend this book highly enough. It admirably and thoroughly fills a serious scholarly gap for students needing information on Potok, one of our greatest modern Jewish American writers. In addition, the book is an interesting and informative read on its own. What I found in the book piqued my interest and I plan to read at least three of Potok's novels. The book leads the reader to an understanding of Chaim Potok and his works on many fronts. There is a short biography of Potok, an analysis of his literary acheivements and his sources of inspiration, and then an most helpful analysis of each of his eight novels; each novel is assigned its own chapter. A most intriguing feature in Sternlicht's book is his explanation of various styles of literary criticism, followed by an application of that style of criticism to a Potok novel (i.e., psychoanalytic theory is applied to The Chosen, reader-response criticism is applied to The Book of Lights, feminist criticism is applied to Davita's Harp, etc.). Far from being a dry or dull, these discussions and analyses are clearly written and shed light on aspects of the novel that the reader may have never before considered. Another fine aspect of the book is that Sterlicht provides the historical background of each novel as well as character and plot development and thematic and symbolic elements. Each of these aspects of the novel being discussed is laid out in a clear, concise, and logical fashion, making the book very easy to use for students doing research on Potok's novels. I don't think that anyone could ask for a clearer or more balanced analysis of Chaim Potok's novels than what Mr. Sternlicht has provided in CHAIM POTOK: A CRITICAL COMPANION. It belongs in all secondary school, undergraduate, and public libraries, and in the private libraries of anyone who enjoys Potok, American literature, and/or just a plain old good read. Sternlicht's qualifications as a prolific author and as professor of both English and Judaic studies at Syracuse University are very much in evidence in this volume. He has performed a great service both to Mr. Potok and to lovers and students of literature everywhere.

Far More Than a Text For Students, But For YOU TOO!:
This is a book that evokes the broad spectrum of books that Chaim Potok has written, but most especially The Chosen. Beginning with a history of the author and then a history of the Jewish-American novelist, Sternlicht gives us the advantage of his teaching in the Jewish Studies program at Syracuse University. Each novel is then adressed, with a careful description that brings back the delight of its original reading, and then followed by a discussion in its larger historic and ideational context. It is a most enjoyable and informative book, reminds one of the pleasure from earlier Potok novels, and I hope for more of the same from Sternlicht.