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Customer Reviews (1)

my favorite of her books
Like many of Ragen's books, a family seems to "have it all" and yet it falls apart.The beautiful materialistic life is never enough b/c it has been gained at the expense of relationships.That is a theme she writes about over and over.Then there is a false accusation and the family loses all of their supporters, though they had been active in the Jewish community for a long time.This book is set in Boston, where the family lives, and Israel.

Kayla, the daughter who is engaged, is distressed by the attention and never felt happy in the life she was living.She runs to Israel and finds comfort there, though the material conditions are not comfortable. Daniel has suffered greatly due to terrorism and his growth is rewarding.Kayla has conflict but she is a realistic individual and ends up on a good life path.I do not agree that Abigail's strength turns to mush as per publisher's weekly.I think she realizes that what she had valued such as the good life and other people's approval is not of much interest to her and changes her life accordingly.Adam values clearing his "good name," which seems to be viewed as a somewhat unproductive exercise because the people around him value him when he succeeds and turn away when he fails.In that situation, caring about what other people think of you may not help much b/c you know they will not be there when you need them, which implies their attention in better times is somewhat insincere.This makes sense given the value that the family and community put on success and material things.

I like the visual images in this book, especially of the desert and the stars.And the image of the Mona Lisa in which the question of whether the mystic is speaking directly to Abigail is a good one.There is a charismatic mystic in the desert who gives a speech that Abigail responds to strongly.She is unsure of whether the mystic is speaking to her directly and this is compared to the experience of viewing the Mona Lisa, in which a common reaction is for people to think she is looking directly at them.

There is information here about singing and dancing that I really like.I like the descriptions of mysticism, and I will start learning more about it.It's a really good book and I read it at the right time.People who value success and material things too much will let relationships go easily despite capability to maintain them.That is a lesson I learned from this book. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (40)

Heart-Breaking, Compelling, and Very Moving Account of Life in Israel under Attack!
As an American Jew, this book was particularly moving for me to read and attempt to absorb. Ms. Ragen's writing style is clear, concise and - frankly - somewhat journalistic in approach. This style is precisely what is needed to expose the realities of Israel Under Attack. Accordingly, and without reservation, I highly recommend "The Covenant."

A Little Too Far Fetched For Me
The covenant was an agreement between four Auschwitz survivors who vowed to tie their lives together should they survive.The husband and great grandaughter of one of these women was kidnapped in Israel by Palestinian terrorists, putting their covenant into action.While the horrors created by terrorists and the absurdities of sympathizing with them were well written, the characters seemed stock and one dimensional.
On a personal note, one of the woman in the covenant was based on Irena Gut Opdyke, a Polilsh woman who saved a dozen Jews by hiding them on the property of a Nazi commandant's home.I was so taken with her story, that I invested in a play written about her, "Irena's Vow" that was brought to Broadway earlier this year.In the introduction Ragen mentioned how she created some of her characters.Nowhere does she credit Ms Opdyke, which was a shame, since unless you knew her story in advance, you had no way of knowing that her character was based upon a real person, and finding out more about her and her heroism, if you were so inclined. If you are interested, she wrote a wonderful memoin, "In My Hands".

Great
Not only did it come in great condition, it was delivered in more than a timely fashion to my dear friend. She is thrilled. Great Condition. Thank you!! This is a dealer you'll want to buy from.

Israel's dilemma
Good story, care about characters.
A little bias to Israeli view, but Palestians dilemmas also portrayed

The Covenant by Naomi Ragen
One of the best books by Isreali author Naomi Ragen.
This book is not only a love story- and a story of a woman's love for
her family...but a tale of reality for Jewish and Arabs living in
Isreal and across the Mideast.

This book should be required reading for all American News Broadcasters
and Journalism students who wish to specialize in International News.

The reality of how the news is presented on the BBC regarding the
Isreali-Arab conflict certainly should open one's eyes to realize
how subjective the British Broadcasting Corporation's news reporting
division should be shamed into presenting a more balanced view point.

I highly recommend this book.



... Read more

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Customer Reviews (43)

Awesome book especially if you are jewish and from Long Island
Funny book about Jewish life and New York.Loved it so much bought a book for my mom.

A good, quick, light read
I read this book with my book club (otherwise, I would probably not have picked it up).It was oddly fascinating--I didn't like any of the characters as people, and yet I felt a nosy compulsion to keep reading.Eagerly anticipating the heroine's comeuppance, I kept turning the pages with a guilty, gossipy pleasure.

The author's writing style is smart and well-observed--though many personalities and scenarios are rather far-fetched--and I would be open to reading more from Naomi Ragen in the future.I particularly appreciated her constructively critical view of womens' roles in the Jewish (and more specifically, Modern Orthodox) community.It certainly made me think about the interplay of our public and private selves.I found the ending unexpected and (intentionally, maddeningly) open-ended; however, I won't spoil it here!

The Saturday Wife
Wonderful book.Very enlightening as to the duties of a Rabbi's wife.I recommended it to my book club and they enjoyed it.I gave a copy to our local public library as I knew they would not purchase it.

Disappointing
I usually love Ragen's books, but this was not enjoyable at all.The main character was so hateful that I had no desire to find out what happens to her, and the supporting characters were almost as unlikeable.Skip it and read her other books!

2/3rds are wickedly funny. The last third dies
This book about a corrupt frum chick and her Madame Bovary like ascension to the ranks of self-indulgent creepiness is very funny at first. She's a wonderfully horrible figure who is both too scared to break away from her frum environment and too independent to conform to expectations so she happily justifies even the worst behavior. The opening pages were so funny and so cruel that I rewatched Curb Your Enthusiasm: The Complete First Season just to watch something with the same level of vicious humor.

Sadly, Delilah is no Larry David. Neither is Naomi Ragen for that matter. The annoying portions of the book become more pronounced the farther one gets into it. Ragen loves to eviscerate characters so much that one gets the impression that there are no decent people in any of her books. Even those of us familiar with the Orthodox community and the stuff that she's talking about like the old broke down shuls that feel sad and the vulgar ostentatious business people don't see anything at the level of the book. And while you can put it under the category of satire or parody, it seems more like Ragen is just being lazy. And Ragen's habit of explaining everything as if the audience is full of non-Jews gets wearisome. The opening part where she thanks every reader who told her stories of their shul politics would be inocuous if it didn't prefigure the part of the book where she is obviously trying to tell EVERY SINGLE STORY she collected in the research.

And what does Ragen have against blondes? Really? The only thing missing from the parade of stereotypes were Upper West Side college students chasing after Asian chicks.

What's worse is the fact that Delilah has no insight or intelligence whatsoever. And the longer the book takes to get to its conclusion, the more Delilah's ignorance comes to for fore. And Ragen delights in reminding the reader that her protagonist is stupid. When the final Garish Bar Mitzvah scene comes along, you just hate everyone involved with the book. Talking about how much they spend their money and show off just makes you hate them past the point of being able to hate them.

Some laughs, but overall this is a boring book. You could get the main point by sitting in a shul board meeting instead. It'd be just as painful but not as long.

... Read more

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Customer Reviews (34)

Profound, Heartbreaking, and Incredibly Well Written.
This book explores the profound questions of faith, the individual's journey, self-identity in religion, love and self-discovery.I would HIGHLY recommend this book to anyone interested in a page-turner-story that will stick with you for years. Totally worth every penny, I couldn't put it down. MUST READ.

Fiction & Culture
This book is the perfect combination of scandalous fiction and Jewish culture.Couldn't put it down!

Clearly a religious agenda here
"Sotah" started out well - Dina Reich was an engaging character, for all that she was too Pollyanna-ish, as was the rest of her family. (I liked Chaya Leah much better, but that's a different story.) But the book started going downhill when, instead of listening to her own inner voice, she consented to an arranged marriage she clearly wasn't ready for - take, in comparison, her older sister's feelings about her own wedding at the beginning.

And then, like an indecisive, spoiled child, she tired of her pretty new toy and went on to the next one. Yes, her mother's death was a convenient plot device that made some sense, but *ugh* - was the man who seduced her ever a sleaze! Even Dina should have been able to recognize him for what he was sooner rather than later. And this from a girl who's supposedly so observant? I call BS.

When she ran away because of some threat, when she had not only her family but her entire *community* who probably would've stood behind her, I really raised an eyebrow.

I read the whole thing, all almost-500 pages of it, and I finished it disappointed. "Sotah" was clearly a religious agenda disguised as a love story. Of *course* Dinah went back to her arranged husband, of *course* she was happier than she'd ever been, and of *course* the secular woman who befriended her and took her in became dissatisfied with her own life because of the saintly Dina. As a very secular Jewish woman, I'm not only shocked - I'm disgusted.

will appeal to a wide circle of readers
I just finished reading Sotah last night and felt compelled to add to the comments on this page. I am not Jewish and have never been to Israel. My background is Protestant with an 18-year sojourn into fundamentalist Christianity, including a "liberal" Mennonite church. The only church I would attend now would be a Unitarian Universalist, which is accepting of all, or no, religious beliefs. So, it was impossible for me to read this book without bringing my own experiences with patriarchy, with Bible-based beliefs, and with strict moral codes to the mix. I learned about a culture within Judaism that I knew nothing about and I could relate to the beautiful structure within the family and culture, but also the limiting side of it. I thought I might put the book down halfway through, but thankfully kept on and can say the best part of this book happens after Dina is sent to NYC and then on. I loved the way the author wrapped up the story, and the ending of it. This book is thoughtful and thought-provoking. It would be of interest to women who want to live more conscious lives, question what they've been told by tradition or church, yet retain the good, and the G-d, within those institutions. I found the character of Judah to be really wonderful and, really, there seemed to be several "archtypes" within this novel.

Jewish Tragedy
I'm not haredi (ultra-religious Jewish) nor would I defend everything every haredi group does. And I'm sure there are problems in the haredi world just as there are everywhere else. But this fiction with a thin veneer of Jewish terms and descriptions is a tragedy on so many levels. Tell everyone how beautiful observant Jewish life is, but that faithful Jewish women can only end up dead of exhaustion, wild, or adulterers? And on the literal level, why read a page-turner that is just rushing towards the worst for the main character? I picked it off the library shelf because I'd heard of it, and read more than half way through. But enough already. I won't be finishing it, and I don't recommend anyone bother starting. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (20)

incredibly dreary and cliched
In her last book Naomi Ragen's main character reminded me of a Jewish Madam Bovary. In this book, I'm reminded of the old Southern Gothic, Desiree's Baby. In Desiree's Baby, Armaud's falls in love with a nice girl, marries her and is shocked when she gives birth to a black child. He's furious and sends her on his way. Later he finds out that the black ancestry in the family is his own.

The Sacrifice of Tamar is set in New York and Israel but it's just as turgid as the old gothic. Tamar is an unpleasant, smug character who's only redeeming feature is her love for her son Aaron. Aaron is also the son of the black man who raped Tamar when she was still a newly wed. A severely traumatized Tamar tells no-one about the attack and carries on. The son, shows no black ancestry but his newborn son looks like "burnt" monster who sends everybody in the deliver room into a frenzy. I really could've done without that scene.Everything plods predictably along, Tamar feels sorry for herself through out the entire book and I couldn't wait for the whole dreary mess to be over with.

Sacrifice of Tamar
"The Sacrifice of Tamar" is another one of Naomi Ragen's compulsively
thrilling books to read. She is just an incredible writer. I recommend
this book to anyone interested in learning more about their Jewish
heritage.

Oy Vey!Bring Your GPS Device Or You'll Get Lost In the Details
The writing in this novel is exquisite. However, any reader who isn't familiar with the Orthodox Judaism will need a road map, a cultural dictionary and a Yiddish-speaking tour guide if they want to understand the book.The time line is also confusing as the story jumps back and forth between the present and the past.

Author Naomi Ragen writes beautifully about the culture of religious Judaism, but she never lets the reader in on the secret, never decodes the lingo so that they can walk in Tamar's shoes, which is necessary if the reader is going to be able to empathize with the character.For this reason, the book is less than satisfying and I would hesitate to recommend it.

Read it and weep!
I absolutely loved and HIGHLY recommend this gem of a novel!

The story of a young ultra-religious girl in 1950s Brooklyn having to deal with having been brutally raped by a African American man and unable to tell anyone or deal with the consequences, was gripping, intriguing and an extraordinary premise. Yet this book is about so much more....it is about friendship, beliefs, tradition, family loyalties, truth, honor and love.

It is a book that will stick with you a long time after reading it and hopefully you'll feel as compelled as I to pass it along to friends/family.

Despite its predictabilty, I would consider this a "must-read" and recommend it highly. For those of us who grew up Jewish, or at least familiar with Jewish culture/traditions, it will be extremely compelling and relatable....(I was proud to recognize/understand all those yiddish words I heard growing up!) However, I hope it finds a universal readership, across cultural and religious lines, as I believe it is through learning about other people/cultures, that we become a more tolerant society.

Loved this book!
From the first page to the last I found this book to be a wonderful yet sad story.I'm generally not a fast reader, but this one went very quickly - I just didn't want to put it down.There were a few slow parts, but all in all I think it's a wonderful choice. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (10)

Abused Women
Even after the women was abused and forced to leave her marriage, she is again abused by the women of her community.Only until she tells the truth is she forgiven and allowed to see her children for the first time in years.How religion subverts women to second class status.Thank you Mrs. Regan for giving us a glance into a secret,harsh society that grades women for their own good.

An uncomfortable look at the realities of the ultra-Orthodox world
The actions sound extreme, the choices unbelievable. But to anyone who has spent time within the Ultra-Orthodox or Charadi community in the U.S. or Israel, the play will ring uncomfortably true.

The author has captured the internal pressure to conform and the absolute nature of the standards Orthodox communities set for their members, particularly women. In this play, the choices the daughters make, the rumors accepted as fact despite clear embellishment as they are passed along, and the price one woman pays for her freedom might appear to some as fictional. Sadly, they are all too real.

Although I have heard stories and reports of similar levels of control within Orthodox Christian and Muslim communities, I can only speak to the one I have seen first-hand. Naomi Ragen has accurately portrayed the control and group-think that characterizes these insular Jewish communities today. While certainly few and far between amid many far more open Jewish communities across the spectrum of observance, exposing the truth about the few fanatical ones is critical for giving the women involved a voice, and alerting would-be ba'al teshuva about the realities they would face in such a community.

Orthodox community
I was a bit surprised when I recieved it that it was a play. when you are checking out this book to buy it it does not say that this is a play it is very deceptive. In the description it does not say that it is a play I wish people would be more clear when they are trying to sell an item and what it is about. I thought it was a written novel.I was disappointed in seeing how the book was written.At first it was kind of hard to understand it. you had to read it a few times to really get the feel for it.over all the story was excellent and my heart went out to this lady and the pain and the heart break what she went through and in the end of her loss.That was just sad. what made it worse was that this is a true story.My heart goes out to her.It was so sad how the Jewish community, her friends, even her very own family was not there for her when she needed help.That was so sad.the only person who even would help her is a co-worker.it was an awesome book and I read it at one setting.I would of liked to see this written as a novel and not a play setting.It was interesting and I totally enjoyed it.

Women's Minyan
I love the author's writing, and her play was no exception.
Good window to view a discordant side of what it can mean to be Jewish.

disappointed
It would have been nice to see the description "Play" before I purchased this book.I'm not planning on a stage production, I just wanted to read a good book. This drama is a difficult read.I imagine it would make a good movie, but as reading material it lacks a lot.
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Customer Reviews (26)

Juicy and soap opera-ish
This is the 3rd book I've read by Naomi Ragen so I was more familiar with the ultra orthodox communities her characters belong too.I got into the story more this time because I wasn't so focused on trying to understand their bizarre world.I have to say this book was JUICY and kept me interested.Especially the end was a real page turner.It had a soap opera quality to it with the rich father and all the honor and expectations the family had, plus you had the evil husband and mother in-law.Jephte has big balls and you really root for her.She's a spoiled princess who's still innocent and kind with a self preservation about herself you can't deny. Interesting reading for sure, I would recommend it.

wonderful
This is a beautifully written book.As a person whose father was a non-practicing Jew and mother a soul-searching Anglican, this book held many revealing truths for me about my own self.The intensity of the characters and believability of their internal religious struggles was poignant.I couldn't put this book down and highly recommend it for anyone interested in exploring the basics of Judaism and how it compares to Christianity, or for anyone who loves a passionate love story.

Easy to read, not great.
I agree with the reviewer who compared this book to Danielle Steele. The setting is the world of Orthodox Jews (which was fascinating to read about because it is such a closed society) but the narration style and the plot twists felt very 80's and loaded with cliches, cartoonist characters, and unbelievable "fixes" by the author.

Also, the book dragged at the beginning, and the middle was not exactly a page-turner either.

I think there were a few interesting ideas in this book, but I had issues with the heroine and the villain and didn't buy the Mr. Perfect solution at the end. I couldn't understand why the heroine (mother of a small child) feels she must immediately start dating when she's on the run. This didn't ring true to me at all, especially since she was an abused wife running away from her evil husband, not to mention her tendency to jump into cars at night with the most disgusting suitors. She was said to be smart but her behavior showed otherwise. Also, I couldn't understand why the author had to add insult to injury by making the husband a wife beater on top of everything else. He was awful to begin with. Why turn him into a cartoonish figure? I think the story suffered for this. Another thing that bothered me about the story was the author's "fixes". I had a hard time suspending my disbelief when the heroine uses her passport and is not found by her billionaire father. There were many similar problems with this book. Lastly, I felt that the whole story lost its hold on reality and took an eye-rolling turn into a fairytale when the "good guy" is introduced and up to the very end of the book.

All in all, an easy read for the subway--but definitely not a masterpiece.

A day in an orthodox women world.
I bought her latest book called "Women Minyan" I totally loved it I was not depointed.I picked up this novel and once again I was not disapponted either. I loved this book and it brought back a lot of memories. Once I started reading the book I had a hard time in putting it down. It shows how these orodox men claim tobe"Religious" and they keep the law to the letter but when it comes to loving their spouses and their childen they know nothing about love,romance and showing them love.Its a very sad life that these women live. I feel sorry for them and what they have to endure each day of their lives. I cried reading the book and at the end I cheered for her when things finally went the way that they should of been from the very begining.

This is a true story
I have been reading the reviews, favorable and otherwise, for "Jepthe's Daughter", and have been struck by one thing-- almost all the reviewers found the story to be not believable, outrageous, ridiculous, and so on. What I know, for I have heard Naomi Ragen speak, is that this is a true story. "Batsheva" was a real person, who really did live this life (obviously this is a fictionalized account). This scenario is played out hundreds of times a day in the Ultraorthodox community both here and in Israel. Most women do not escape. In this so-called religious community, child abuse and spousal abuse are epidemic. It is all kept very quiet,and handled very quietly by religious and community leaders. This is a very closed society, where everyone is pressured to conform at all costs, and where everyone knows how to keep a secret. The real "Batsheva" did not escape, as the book suggests. The real "Batsheva" committed suicide.
I do not really care that this is not great literature. I can read Dickens for that. I do care about this story. I commend Naomi Ragen for having the courage to write "Batsheva"'s story.





















ltraorthodox community here and in Israel ... Read more

Product Description

With The Ghost of Hannah Mendes, international bestselling author Naomi Ragen is poised to embrace her largest readership ever. Wise and deeply moving, this novel raises one of our age's most profound questions: As we journey into the new millennium, should we carry with us the faith, wisdom, and rituals that nourished our ancestors -- or shed them, like so much excess baggage?

When Catherine da Costa, a wealthy Manhattan matron, learns she has only a short time to live, she realizes that the family tree will die unless she transfers its legacy to her granddaughters. But Suzanne and Francesca, beautiful young women in their twenties caught up in trendy causes and ambitious careers, have no interest either in her or in the past. Catherine almost despairs until, falling asleep before her fireplace, she is visited by the family matriarch, an indomitable Renaissance businesswoman named Hannah Mendes (a true historical figure), who offers her a partnership.

Encouraging Catherine to use every trick in the book -- bribery, guilt, and the threat of disinheritance -- to coerce her granddaughters to put their lives, in New York City on hold to journey across Europe, the ghost of Hannah Mendes promises to do her share to reacquaint the young women with their roots through the pages of an ancient manuscript -- her own handwritten memoir.

While Suzanne and Francesca are honoring their grandmother's request out of a sense of loyalty, they believe their quest is futile -- until manuscript pages begin to turn up all over Europe, along with, two mysterious, attractive men. As the women read the pages of the memoir, their lives mysteriously begin to parallel that of their ghostly ancestress until, in a final, shocking encounter, the boundaries between past and present, spirit and flesh, blur with profound consequences that will change their lives forever. And the dying wishes of Catherine da Costa are fulfilled in ways that none of her family -- not even Hannah Mendes -- believed possible. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (59)

I wanted to love it
I started this book just excited to be reading something Jewish.The longer it droned on (and this book DOES drag on quite a bit in the middle), the more I wondered if I should read other books by this author. In reading the other reviews, it appears that I'm not the only one disappointed by this effort.

Suzanne and Francesca were parodies of the archetypal Jewish American Princess stereotype.Janice was a one dimensional character who I quickly grew to resent.The story of (Gracia) Hannah Mendes was little better than reading the wikipedia stub on her, as was the information on the Inquisition and Great Expulsion.The multitude of "Love At First Sight" events drove me up the wall.I'm not saying it doesn't exist but when everyone but Janice has it happen to them, the concept gets a little old.

The bulk of the book was spent just trying to skim through to something interesting.The ghost scenes and the party in Venice were the highlights of the book to me. The rest of it dragged on like mud - clouded by too much supernatural "Love At First Sight" garbage.I would have preferred seeing the girl's come back to their Jewish heritage in ways OTHER than falling in love with prominent Jewish men and getting pregnant out of wedlock.

If this was a reach for the author, I urge her to go back to her roots.This one reached too far.

wonderful - educational, heart warming
This book, story, was not only a wonderful story, but an educational one as well. Very well done! However, I enjoyed her book The Covenant more.

Review-Ghost of Hannah Mendes
I have loved every other book by Naomi Ragen. But this book was just
plain boring. What a total disappointment.Don't waste your time
purchasing this book. Purchase "The Covenant" or "Sotah" instead.
They are absolutely riveting stories.You will not be disappointed
with these novels.

Lots of promise but poor execution
I really wanted to like this book.This book had a lot of potential - it was about a family trying to understand the actions of a heroic anscestor (Gracia Mendes) at the time of the Spanish and Portuguese inquisitions.Naomi Ragen could hardly have found a better backdrop for this novel. Gracia Mendes was a fascinating person and the sixteenth century was a terrfying time to be Jewish. However, the author bungled what could have been an interesting novel.

Problem #1: The characters were flat, trite, and annoying.Catherine da Costa, the matriarch, was extremely flat.Somehow, she failed to instill Jewish values in her grandchildren and she sends her grandchildren on a quest to find out about their ancestor Gracia Mendes and their Jewish heritage when she finds out she is dying.Her daughter Janice is a cliched Reform Jewish American Princess from New York.The granddaughters - Suzanne and Francesca - are essentially parodies of Reform Jewish women in their twenties.

Problem #2: The writing is stilted.I dreaded the portions about the contemporary characters because I didn't care about them.I really wanted to know more about Gracia Mendes and crypto-Judaism.Unfortunately, I ended up getting about as much information about Gracia Mendes as I did reading her wikipedia entry.Likewise I learned as much about the Spanish Inquisition as I could get from a wikipedia search.The history is very elementary and the author never fully develops the Gracia Mendes portions.

Problem #3:Gracia Mendes' ghost supposedly visits Catherine, Francesca, and Suzanne and eventually Francesca and Suzanne visit with her. The ghost story was really poorly done.I did not think it added to the story at all.

Problem #4:The book is VERY preachy.The author is an orthodox Jew who clearly looks down on Reform and possibly even Conservative Judaism.She went on and on and on about the need to only marry Jews.I found myself skipping those parts.

Overall, I cannot recommend this book.

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. ... Read more

Product 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 (12)

Chains Around the Grass
I absolutely would NOT recommend this story, listed as a novel but actually an abominably written memoir. Talk about heavy-handed. Naomi Ragen has written with this with a SLEDGE-HAMMER! Nothing is remotely subtle or nuanced, as it should be in any reflection on one's past. She also drives home too many points to begin with, does so with maddening repetition, and employs excruciating melodrama. The story also lacks a consistent voice, weakening it even more. Ragen jumps blindingly from herself as a frightened little girl, to her mother as a completely overwhelmed homemaker, to her father as either a risk-taking marvel or a pitiful, fool-hardy madman, to her own (badly drawn, totally cliche-ridden) spiritual awakening, and finally, to the painfully forced-sounding "wisdom" she's supposedly gained when she's around 50 and writes the book. And that's just a sampling of the cacophony of voices that hurt the book to no end.

As a fellow Jew, I was also truly offended by her blithe, flippant, unflattering descriptions of both profoundly religious Jews and/or recent immigrants on one hand, and secular Jews (painted as oner-dimensional monsters) on the other. I recognize that part of Ragen's own decision to move to Israel stemmed from the love and peace she eventually found in a synagogue, but that fact, ironically, is lost in all the offensive, over-the-top descriptions. I shiver to think what a non-Jewish person who was reading such a book for the first time would come away thinking!

I was drawn to her precious cover photo and decided to stick with this book, however more dreadful the writing became, because at the root did lie a compelling tale. But my perseverance did not pay off. Perhaps my disappointment was heightened by having just finished Jhumpa Lahiri's BRILLIANT collection of short stories, "Unaccustomed Earth," whose characters experience similar pathos, disconnect, fears and longing as those in "Chains Around the Grass." However, the difference in quality was so startling I felt compelled to write my first review (and a negative one at that) after finally completing Ragen's book. She had fascinating material to work with; what a shame the end result was embarrassingly poor.

very depressing story
I really like Naomi Regan's books, but this one is an exception.The story is told of a family that goes from lower middle class to extreme poverty.The book seems to focus on just how horrible life is without money. The only bright note in the entire story is when it focuses on the middle child who is bright, articulate and looks to religion and education as a way out of the depths her family has sunk into. Not worth the time it took to read it or the money spent on it.

"Chained up"
I stumbled upon this book while browsing and had it not been for my own personal experiences growing up likewise in a Queens Housing Project, I never would have purchased the book. After reading the first few intense pages of "Chains aound the grass" that's when it had a grip on me and I was then sold.

Still, one need not have been raised poor and living in the projects to experience the fright and sheer terror little Sara felt while venturing out in a new neighborhood filled with bullies, perverts and strange boys. One of the most powerful chapters written by Naomi Regan that will have you in tears. You will surely absorb the emotional impact of one diaster after the other of ones family life encounters. A story of a family's uphill struggle for the American dream followed by a downward trend of personal tragedies and defeats. No doubt that your heart will go out to the characters in the story. An exciting read for enthusiasts of nostalgia and of past times with a hint of spiritualism.

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.

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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

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Chapters: Leah Goldberg, Naomi Ragen, Netiva Ben-Yehuda, Shira Gorshman, Zelda, Ida Fink, Tamar Geller, Shifra Horn, Amalia Kahana-Carmon, Shulamith Hareven, Yocheved Bat-Miriam, Yehudit Kafri, Meche Marchand. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 39. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: Naomi Ragen is an American-Israeli author, playwright and womens rights activist. Ragen (née Terlinsky) was born in New York City on July 10, 1949 and received an Orthodox Jewish education before completing a degree in literature at Brooklyn College (1971), the same year she moved to Israel with her husband. In 1978 she received a masters degree in literature from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Ragens first three novels, which described the lives of ultra-Orthodox Jewish women in Israel and the United States, dealt with themes that had not previously been addressed in that society's literature: wife-abuse (Jephtes Daughter: 1989), adultery (Sotah: 1992) and rape (The Sacrifice of Tamar: 1995). Reaction to these novels in the Orthodox and ultra-Orthodox communities was mixed. Some hailed her as a pioneer who for the first time exposed and opened to public discussion problems which the communities had preferred to pretend did not exist, while others criticized her for hanging out the dirty laundry for everyone to see, thus embarrassing the rabbis who were believed by many to be effectively dealing with these problems behind the scenes and also putting ammunition in the hands of the anti-Semites. Her next novel (The Ghost of Hannah Mendes: 1998) told the story of a Sephardic family brought back from the abyss of assimilation by the spirit of their ancestor Gracia Mendes (a true historical figure), a 16th century Portuguese crypto-Jew who risked her life and her considerable fortune to practice her relig...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=15584360 ... Read more