Short note about Unorthodox

It is not the first time when I promise myself to control my temptation to purchase immediately any book which is too much discussed in the media. I did the same with the 'famous' Unorthodox and purchased it shortly after the release. I have finished the book in two days and since then I am still wondering why this book is so popular.

I saw recently a TV show dedicated to the book and I realised that, besides the good PR of the edition house, it is the topic of intimate relationships that attracts so much the non-Jewish media. Indirectly, Feldman advertises a lot the Satmars, as not few media reports are tempted to identify this sect with Hasidism, which is not true and with core Judaism, which is even less true. But, apparently, the truth is not the strong point of this book introduced as a memoir, where some lectures - as Romance Reader by Pearl Abraham - were a  more powerful source of inspiration than the daily reality, or the account of a possible hidden crime in 21st century America was introduced as a sure fact. Many would say that she has a lot of imagination, maybe too much for pretending to write a memoir.

According to many of her media appearances, the author promises to come back with new literary works and I really hope that the next will be real good writing pieces. Unorthodox failed to be one, in my opinion, and when I saw a lady at a TV show moved to tears about the exceptional qualities of the book I thought something could be wrong with the reading standards in this world. I am not a snobbish reader and I do not displace the topic. But, compared with the good writing from Hush, for example, this book is centuries behind.

As for the story in itself, it could be an interesting story, but is not presented as a personal account. The lack of measure and balance gives the impression that all Jewish families are hard with their children (''All my aunts and uncles are hard on their children, it seems to me. They berate them, embarass them, and yell at them". p. 37) or many Jewish children are left because their mothers discover that they want to stop being married to a man with psychological problems and discover their love for the same sex (the special case of Deborah Feldman's family). In comparison with most Satmar children, the rest of the Jewish children do not lear distorted stories about Zionism and the state of Israel and many girls and women are able to study and read books. We do have mothers and fathers that love us and we do not meet our shidduch in a supermarket. Sometimes I felt that Deborah Feldmans' book is in fact an example of a Satmar way of thinking, trying to suggest to the reader - not always very much informed - that it is no other true that what she is telling us. Obviously, wrong. Another example is given by the account of her first marital problems, including the practice of the mikveh, when clearly she was the victim of the lack of proper guidance. I am sure she did not have a hard life and the guidance of a rabbi and a healthy family environment was lacking, but this is only the problem, not the solution. 

Hopefully, the Jewish world is more diverse than viewed through the lenses of an ex-Satmar.