O's 2012 Summer Reading List
No matter your mood, there's a great book to suit it. Don't forget to
print the full list here!
41 of 47
I Am Forbidden
By Anouk Markovits
329 pages;
Hogarth
Author
Anouk Markovits and her 14 brothers and sisters were raised in the most insular
and fundamentalist sect of Hasidic Jews, the Satmar. Markovits left home when
she was 19 to avoid an arranged marriage and to pursue an education. And yet now
she's written a novel about Mila, a fictional woman who embraces her faith. In
introspective but fast-moving prose, the story provides an up-close look at
life in an intensely orthodox culture. Strict rules about everything, from
clothing to relationships, dominate (no collarbones exposed, not even by half
an inch). Life in Paris, where much of the book is set, is at once beautiful yet
confining, so much so that when the children clamber up the stairs, cheeks
flushed from playing, their father reprimands them: "Why so much joy in
the wilderness?" At age 17, Mila's arranged marriage to Josef seems
promising, and the two immigrate to Williamsburg, Brooklyn. But when Mila has
difficulty conceiving, she begins to examine her faith and takes a dramatic
step that she tries to justify by explaining that "sometimes the only way
to bring more holiness into the world is to shroud an act in sin." Mila
keeps the secret behind her pregnancy from everyone until her older estranged sister,
Atara, comes for a visit, at which point the novel changes from what might seem
like a narrowly focused tale about an ultraconservative world into a story that
will resonate with anyone who's ever bucked family expectations to find their
own way of life.
— Lynn Andriani
Published 06/20/2012