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The Quest
When her adoptive grandmother, on her deathbed, reveals the identity of Aliza Hollander's birth mother, Aliza instantly develops a single, burning to track down her elusive mother, and confront her with the agonizing question of why she'd walked away from her newborn child some twenty years earlier. Meanwhile, Yossi Arlen is on a quest of his own. He is looking for the perfect wife. The problem is, the girl he seeks seems to have vanished into thin air. Judge Daniel Newman and budding lawyer Jake Meisler, whom we first met in The Judge, have their own parts to play in this riveting sequel. They and their wives become embroiled in the adventures of both these young people, even as they struggle to cope with the roller-coaster twists and turns of their own personal lives. And all along, Aliza's true mother - gallant and suffering - is going about her business, unaware that she is about to become the target of forces, both good and evil, that are slowly converging upon her. Best-selling author Libby Lazewnik, has touched our hearts and kept us riveted to our seats with her many suspenseful and inspiring novels. With this extraordinary tale of devotion, betrayal and hope, she has done it again.
434 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2003
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
June 15, 2008
There are many people out there who love this book -- who love the genre of which it is typical. I am not one of them.
Some background, for those who don't know: There is a significant subsection of the Jewish Orthodox community that will not read any "secular" books. No Shakespeare, no Dickens, and heaven forfend any Grisham, Steele, or Brown! (Ok, they have a point about those last three. ;) ) For those who read Hebrew fluently, there has long been a decent-sized pool of alternatives. But for those who prefer to read in English, there is a dearth of Jewish fiction and stories available.
So about 20 years ago, several publishers stepped in to fill the gap. The books from the ill-fated CIS Publishing were by and large fairly good. Unfortunately, those published by the various other publishers range from not-terrible to truly-awful. Every so often, one is published that is actually pretty good.
This is not one of those. It does not lack a plot -- it has several too many! Unbelievable characters and situations, never-resolved plot twists, plot holes a fleet of Mack trucks could sashay through. And those are the good parts.
I read it because several friends insisted that I wasn't giving JO fiction a fair chance. I think it's actually that JO fiction doesn't give readers a fair chance!
And it's really a shame, given the captive audience, and the fact that the frequently high quality of the non-fiction from many of the same publishers shows that they do know how to get it right.
Some background, for those who don't know: There is a significant subsection of the Jewish Orthodox community that will not read any "secular" books. No Shakespeare, no Dickens, and heaven forfend any Grisham, Steele, or Brown! (Ok, they have a point about those last three. ;) ) For those who read Hebrew fluently, there has long been a decent-sized pool of alternatives. But for those who prefer to read in English, there is a dearth of Jewish fiction and stories available.
So about 20 years ago, several publishers stepped in to fill the gap. The books from the ill-fated CIS Publishing were by and large fairly good. Unfortunately, those published by the various other publishers range from not-terrible to truly-awful. Every so often, one is published that is actually pretty good.
This is not one of those. It does not lack a plot -- it has several too many! Unbelievable characters and situations, never-resolved plot twists, plot holes a fleet of Mack trucks could sashay through. And those are the good parts.
I read it because several friends insisted that I wasn't giving JO fiction a fair chance. I think it's actually that JO fiction doesn't give readers a fair chance!
And it's really a shame, given the captive audience, and the fact that the frequently high quality of the non-fiction from many of the same publishers shows that they do know how to get it right.
Displaying 1 of 1 review