TV Show - Unorthodox

Just finished watching Season 1
Premiered:  Today!!! March 26, 2020
Seasons:  This is brand new, and may only be this one season
Number of Episodes: 4 long episodes, watched in one sittinga
Length of Episode:  about an hour?
IMBd:  7.9/10
RT Critic's Consensus:  none yet
RT Audience Score:  note yet
cag:  5

Characters:  Esty, 19 year-old protagonist; Yanky, her hustband; Moishe, Yanky's cousin, who leads the twosome to Berlin to bring Esty home.
    NOTE:  Israeli actor Amit Rahav is someone to watch!

My comments:  I loved every minute of this series.  I LOVE the way it seamlessly goes from the present in Berlin and back to the roots of the story in Brooklyn a year or so previously.  The actors were superb and believable, you're rooting for all of them all the way.  Apparently the Brooklyn part is based on Deborah Feldman's memoir, but the Berlin part was totally rewritten.

Netflix Official Site
NY Times Review and summary

  

Storyline from IMBd:  Story of a young ultra-Orthodox Jewish woman who flees her arranged marriage and religious community to start a new life abroad.

12. Run You Down by Julia Dahl

#2 Rebekah Roberts
read on my iPhone
2015 Minotaur Books
287 pgs.
Adult Murder Mystery
Finished 1/26/19
Goodreads rating: 3.76 - 1344 ratings
My rating: 4.5
Setting: Contemporary NYC and Roseville, NY, just north of NYC

First line/s: "Florida was not what I imagined.  There was no ocean where your father lived, that was the first thing."

My comments: (I wonder why, of all the possible titles this could be given, they decided on this?)  I don't remember much of the nitty-gritty of what happened in Invisible City, but I remember I liked it a lot.  Therefore, I read this book almost as a standalone.  There were a number of things that bothered me, but they didn't bother me enough to lower my rating.  The close connection - and I do mean close - between reporter Rebekah and the people of her news story was soooo impossible, but I didn't care.  I didn't mind switching back-and-forth between Rebekah and the mother who had abandoned her 20 years before, other than in a couple of places that information was revealed by Aviva and I attributed that information to Rebekah having known those details, so that was a little confusing until I figured it out.  It was an interesting story, perhaps unbelievable in spots but for some reason I didn't care.  I really enjoyed it, and the peaks into the strict Orthodox Jewish community,

Goodreads synopsis:  Aviva Kagan was a just a teenager when she left her Hasidic Jewish life in Brooklyn for a fling with a smiling college boy from Florida-and then disappeared. Twenty-three years later, the child she walked away from is a NYC tabloid reporter named Rebekah Roberts. And Rebekah isn't sure she wants her mother back in her life.
          But when a man from the ultra-Orthodox enclave of Roseville, N.Y. contacts Rebekah about his young wife's mysterious death, she is drawn back into Aviva's world. Pessie Goldin's body was found in her bathtub, and while her parents want to believe it was an accident, her husband is certain she was murdered.
          Once she starts poking around, Rebekah encounters a whole society of people who have wandered "off the path" of ultra-Orthodox Judaism-just like her mother. But some went with dark secrets, and rage at the insular community they left behind.
          In the sequel to her Edgar Award finalist Invisible City, Julia Dahl has created a taut mystery that is both a window into a secretive culture and an exploration of the demons we inherit.

MOVIE - Disobedience

R (1:54)

Limited release 4/27/2018

Viewed Thursday, June 21, 2018 at Majestic in Gettysburg
IMBd:  6.8/10

T Critic:  84  Audience: 80
Critic's Consensus:  Disobedience explores a variety of thought-provoking themes, bolstered by gripping work from leads Rachel Weisz, Rachel McAdams, and Alessandro Nivola.

Cag: 5 It was really wonderful

Directed by Sebastian Lelio

Bleecker Street

Rachel Weisz, Rachel McAdams, Alessandro Nivola

My comments:  Another powerful movie with exceptional performances.  Whoa, being gay in an Orthodox Jewish community!  Totally impossible, "Disobedience" showed a depth of humanity and love in the Orthodox Jewish community which, as much as I'd love to believe might happen, truly can't imagine that it would.  For most of the movie you get "typical" reactions from people.  Yes, my heart broke for a young woman of faith who was definitely not heterosexual, choosing to follow the beliefs she was raised with and marry a man she did care about but was not attracted to.  My heart broke even more for her husband, who ended up being an incredibly honest, loving, spiritual man.  The kind of spiritual leader that I could definitely believe in myself, and would help to heal our world.  Oh yes, I shed some tears, and I walked out of the theater thinking, "what could possible be the next step in a story like this one?"  Well done, well done.

RT/ IMDb Summary:  From Sebastián Lelio, the director of the Academy Award-winning A Fantastic Woman, the film follows a woman as she returns to the community that shunned her decades earlier for an attraction to a childhood friend. Once back, their passions reignite as they explore the boundaries of faith and sexuality. Written by Lelio and Rebecca Lenkiewicz and based on Naomi Alderman's book, the film stars Rachel Weisz, Rachel McAdams and Alessandro Nivola.

49. A Brief Chapter in My Impossible Life - Dana Reinhardt

Listened to in the car back & forth from the first days of school
Audio read by Mandy Siegfried - and she was great
5 unabridged cds (5:30)
2006 Listening Library/ Wendy Lamb Books
240 pgs.
YA CRF (there's a bit of s-e-x)
Finished 8/8/2014
Goodreads rating: 3.76
My rating:    (4.5) I really loved it
TPPL
contemporary suburban Boston

My comments:  I found this to be a wonderful story. I loved it. The protagonist, Simone, seems genuine and real; a "typical" (whatever that is) American teenager. Her doubts, her questions about life, her constant questioning about her own feelings, her jumping to conclusions about the way boys feel about her....Reinhardt seems spot on. I love the information that was included about Judaism - which would probably be boring for an already-Jew, but would be fascinating for any non-Jew interested in learning about other cultures. My only (tiny) problem with the story is that Simone's parents allow her, a 16-year old, to drive into the city of Boston all by herself from the suburbs. I, as a past-resident of the Boston suburbs - and a parent - know this would be something that most parents I've ever encountered would never allow. Ever. And driving all the way to the Cape.....alone??? Ah, well.....Super story nonetheless.

Goodreads book summary:  Simone’s starting her junior year in high school. Her mom’s a lawyer for the ACLU, her dad’s a political cartoonist, so she’s grown up standing outside the organic food coop asking people to sign petitions for worthy causes. She’s got a terrific younger brother and amazing friends. And she’s got a secret crush on a really smart and funny guy–who spends all of his time with another girl.
          Then her birth mother contacts her. Simone’s always known she was adopted, but she never wanted to know anything about it. She’s happy with her family just as it is, thank you. 
          She learns who her birth mother was–a 16-year-old girl named Rivka. Who is Rivka? Why has she contacted Simone? Why now? The answers lead Simone to deeper feelings of anguish and love than she has ever known, and to question everything she once took for granted about faith, life, the afterlife, and what it means to be a daughter.

MOVIE - Fading Gigolo

R (1:38)

Limited release 4/182014 - but this was Opening Day in Tucson

Viewed at ElCon Friday, 5/9/2014

RT Critic: 57 Audience: 50

Cag: 3.5 - Liked it, a fun movie

Directed by John Turturro (he wrote it, too)

Millennium Entertainment

Actors:  Woody Allen, John Turturro, Liev Shreiber, Sofia Vergara, Sharon Stone

My comments:  This was a perfect Friday-after-a-long-day movie.  It was quite fun, nothing earth-shattering, but enjoyable.  I had no idea what it was about, and I always enjoy it when there's a Judaic element - part of the movie was about a very devout Orthodox woman in Brooklyn.... (I'll go to any movie as soon as I see the name "Woody Allen" in it.

Reviews:  Fioravante decides to become a professional Don Juan as a way of making money to help his cash-strapped friend, Murray. With Murray acting as his "manager", the duo quickly finds themselves caught up in the crosscurrents of love and money.

3. Hereville - Barry Deutsch

How Mirka Got Her Sword
A graphic novel
Amulet Books, 2010
HC $15.95
For: Middle Grades
142 pgs.
Rating: 5

Now here’s a winner. The first graphic novel I’ve really enjoyed…enjoyed enough to finish, too! Hereville is a fairy tale, set solidly in an Orthodox Jewish community somewhere in contemporary America. However, it could have been set just about anywhere. It is isolated and totally Orthodox. Residents speak Yiddish and Hebrew, words are sprinkled thorough the story. The translations are thoughtfully stuck onto the bottom of the page, but most of the text is in English.

Clever. Funny. Fun. And even educational, when it comes to learning about Orthodox Judaism. I can’t even begin to go into the plot, which is multi-layered. The protagonist, Mirka, is one of nine children in a blended family. She respects and cares about her stepmother, Fruma, who is wise and my favorite character in the book. Mirka has studied monsters, she keeps a hidden book about them under her mattress. It his her great desire to become a dragon slayer. She has a younger brother, Zindel, who spends much time with her, and a stepsister, Rochel, who seems wise beyond her years.

The characters, including a huge talking pig, a witch that lives in a nearby house just discovered, and a knitting troll are wonderful. Fresh, believable, fun, and funny. Adventurous, animated, well-illustrated, clear…a wonderful book!

Barry Deutsch has a Hereville BLOG that he writes almost every day. It’s fun.

Stephen Frug has a blog that reviews Hereville beautifully and thoroughly. So does the Bob Hayes Online blog. So I'd suggest reading one (or both) of those for more in-depth information about the plot.