Jul

15 2020

Read & Rendezvous Book Club – Unorthodox

3:00PM - 4:00PM  

Zoom

Contact Ruby Vargeson
rvargeson@sbjf.org

Book for July: Unorthodox: The Scandalous Rejection of My Hasidic Roots by Deborah Feldman

Read the book that inspired the popular Netflix series. Synopsis: As a member of the strictly religious Satmar sect of Hasidic Judaism, Deborah Feldman grew up under a code of relentlessly enforced customs governing everything from what she could wear and to whom she could speak to what she was allowed to read. Yet in spite of her repressive upbringing, Deborah grew into an independent-minded young woman whose stolen moments reading about the empowered literary characters of Jane Austen and Louisa May Alcott helped her to imagine an alternative way of life among the skyscrapers of Manhattan. Trapped as a teenager in a sexually and emotionally dysfunctional marriage to a man she barely knew, the tension between Deborah’s desires and her responsibilities as a good Satmar girl grew more explosive until she gave birth at nineteen and realized that, regardless of the obstacles, she would have to forge a path—for herself and her son—to happiness and freedom.

The book is available for purchase at Chaucer's Books or Amazon.

We will convene on Wednesday, July 15 at 3:00 pm on Zoom to discuss the book. Link and password will be provided to those who request to join. Let’s get reading!

Please contact Ruby Vargeson at rvargeson@sbjf.org to sign up.