My Name Is Asher Lev Paperback – March 11, 2003

I have read this book many times over the last 35 years. It is a gripping narrative, beautifully told. It always rewards me with deep insights into the nature of art, religion, adolescence, and finding one’s way. Regardless of where I am in my life, the book meets me there and helps me see what might be next. A great book.

I so thoroughly enjoyed this book, which surprised me. The story is excellent and clever. The writing is beautiful — simple, elegant, and easy to read. The book kept my attention and I am about to read the sequel that came out many years later.

Not sure I understand all of the art but the dilemma Asher faced was a real one. I wonder what will become of him.

Asher Lev, like his creator Chaim Potok, is more interested in portraying what is true in the world than in portraying something nice, or beautiful. Of course, this wins him acclaim from strangers and scorn from those who know him.My name is Asher Lev is a painfully real look at the development of a great artist, one who is also an observant Hasidic Jew, belonging to a prominent family. There are no huge events here, no tragedies or shocking revelations; there is simply the real and sometimes dark portrayal of a development, a battle between two worlds. His talent, perhaps even his need, to draw, to paint, to portray -- conflicts on a deep and serious level with his heritage, and his father's expectations.This is not another "rebel without a cause" book. Asher does his best not to rebel -- and when he does, if he does, it is compelling, complex, and painful to him most of all.Potok writes calmly and seriously with no sense of high drama. His ability to keep the events realistic and still let them speak with their own peculiar power is an excellent, is slightly unsettling, talent. His ability to simply paint complex characters is brilliant. This book is quietly disturbing, calmly passionate. Definitely worth reading.A page from the novel:"Inside my room, I lay on my bed with my eyes closed and thought about the man from Russia. I saw his face clearly: the nervous eyes, the beaked nose, the pinched features. That face had lived eleven yars in a land of ice and darkness. I could not imagine what it was like to live in ice and darkness. I put my hands over my eyes. There was his face, very clearly; not truly his face, but the way I felt about his face. I drew his face inside my head. I went to my desk and on a piece of blank white paper drew how I felt about his face. I drew the kaskett. I did not use any colors. The face stared up at me from the paper. I went back to the bed and lay on it with my eyes closed. Now there was ice and darkness inside me. I could feel the cold darkness moving slowly inside me. I could feel our darkness. It seemed to me then that we were brothers, he and I, that we both knew lands of ice and darkness. His had been in the past; mine was in the present. His had been outside himself; mine was within me. Yes, we were brothers, he and I, and I felt closer to him at that moment than to any other human being in all the world."If you'd like to discuss this book with me, e-mail me at williekrischke@hotmail.com. but be nice.

MY NAME IS ASHER LEV by Chaim PotokA story about a young man's struggle between the secular world of an artist, and life as a Ladover Hasidic Jew, Chaim Potok's masterpiece MY NAME IS ASHER LEV is truly a classic.Asher Lev is born to parents who are devoted to the life of the Ladover Hasidic Jew. As his mother supports and stands by the work Asher's father does, Aryeh Lev devotes his life to the causes closest to his people. Most of his life is dedicated to preserving the culture of this Jewish sect, and also to helping those who are being persecuted in other countries. He travels often, sometimes to countries as far away as The Soviet Union to help out his fellow Jew. He's rarely home, and young Asher is often angry and upset, wishing his father had more time for him.From a very young age, Asher has a deep sense of art, and learns to express his innermost feelings through his creativity. As with any artistic genius, creating art is in Asher's blood and it soon gets in the way of his schooling and his religion and culture. His parents are not happy with the way things are going with Asher, but they tolerate his strange obsession, thinking this is just a passing phase. He will grow out of it, they think. His mother in particular does not dissuade Asher from drawing, if only to keep him happy, hoping that he would reward her with better grades in school. And with the help of local storeowner Yudel Krinsky, Asher obtains the necessary pencils and other art equipment to continue his fascination with drawing.However, his obsession with art does not die, as his parents had hoped. The older he becomes, the more his passion with art drives a wedge between himself and his parents. He becomes more independent in the way he thinks, and soon his parents find they cannot control him. The life of a Ladover Hasidic Jew is one of structure and daily prayer and obedience to one's elders, to one's Rebbe, and to one's God. Asher lives in direct conflict with all this, although he tries to keep his daily prayers in his routines, and is often dwelling on things that pertain to his religious background.Torn between his great desire to express himself as an artist and the need to please his parents and in particular his father, Asher's life is full of torment and guilt. But he is happiest when he is painting, or drawing, or walking amongst the masterpieces at a museum. When Asher takes up with a fallen Jew who also happens to be one of the greatest living artists in the country, Asher's artistic life goes into full swing. He lives and breathes his art, as Jacob Kahn teaches young Asher all he knows. Jacob convinces him that in order to become a true artist, he needs to live in the secular world. Again, Asher questions whether he is doing the right thing by following his passions and his God-given gift, or should he turn his back on art and follow the route of an obedient Hasidic Jew?What more can I say about a book that has become a modern classic? Chaim Potok wrote a truly powerful story in which a person is torn between two worlds. A rare view into the world of a small Jewish sect, the reader senses the world of alienation and loneliness that comes to someone born into this society but living amongst the "goyim" that surrounds him. The author also makes the reader question whether it is better to be true to oneself, or to deny oneself the destiny that a higher being may have intended. There is no doubt that this book cannot be rated anything lower than 5 stars. Highly recommended.