I can't imagine how such this book ever got within even being mentioned in the same sentence as the Booker Prize, unless it was as some kind of tokenism as a bone thrown to, or on the other hand, a massive rebuke of, the Ultra-Orthodox Jewish community of London.
That community is more or less the same as the Ultra-Orthodox neighborhoods I lived in close proximity to in Brooklyn for over 15 years. I had plenty of opportunities to interact with and observe the women and children (no contact with the men, of course, other than occasionally on public transportation) on errands and while shopping – I often frequented stores on some of the main Jewish shopping streets (though I also went to the Italian specialty shops). For a time, I volunteered as an English conversation group leader at the Boro Park (a very observant neighborhood) branch of the Brooklyn Public Library where I was at times viewed rather suspiciously by some of the women who gathered there.
Chani Kaufman is nineteen, and one of the middle daughters of a very large family of all girls. Her mother seems to be perpetually pregnant and exhausted and has no time for her questions as she prepares for her wedding, which was arranged in the traditional way, by a marriage broker. Chani takes instruction in how to be a good Haredi (ultra-Orthodox) wife from Rivka (originally Rebecca), the Rebbetzin (rabbi's wife).
Rivka is struggling in her marriage, and has recently experienced, at forty-four, a massive miscarriage. Though she is tasked in her Rebbetzin role with counseling the girls on their Torah-defined (as their sect views it) responsibilities to their prospective husbands, families, and the community, she is questioning her own life choices and faith.
While Chani is described as a little unconventional compared to her friends and classmates, as she is more willful and high-spirited, she is essentially a typically innocent and obedient Haredi girl. She is ignorant and fearful of sex and what she wants to learn from Rivka is the "how's" of intercourse. Rivka will only take her answers so far, and defers to Chani's mother, who has no time or energy to explain anything, so Chani becomes ever more anxious about what she will face on her wedding night.
Unknown to Chani, her fiancé, Baruch, at twenty, is as ignorant and fearful as she is, but of course in their tradition, there is no discussion of such things between them, and in fact, as is typical, they have met only a few times for chaste coffee "dates" before he proposes, so they hardly know each other. Baruch is also somewhat under the thumb of his very overbearing and judgmental mother, who deems Chani, whose family is very modest and undistinguished, as wrong for him. Baruch's family is far more materially successful and his mother has her eye on a very different girl. His mother connives to stop the marriage but Chani will not be deterred, and neither will Baruch, to his credit.
All of this swirls through the book, which starts as Chani awaits the wedding ceremony to begin, and is told in rapid flashbacks, alternating Chani's story with Rivka's, and interjections for Baruch and his best friend, Avromi, who is also Rivka's son. Avromi has his own story of rebellion that strongly influences Rivka's choices, though there is much more under the surface with her.
The book abruptly concludes after Chani and Baruch's wedding night, and Rivka's surreptitious attendance of the wedding and her departure from the ceremony.
I was really astounded by the ending. It felt as though there was another entire book to follow, or at least a few more chapters. Rivka especially seemed left adrift.
The author, a secular Jewish woman living in London, has said she was inspired to write this book by teaching English for one year in a Haredi girls' school, where she was able to observe the customs and rituals of the community. She seems both highly critical and but also admiring of the Haredi beliefs and lifestyle. Many of the characters, but particularly Chani's and Baruch's mothers, the matchmaker, and Rivka's husband, Chaim, felt very clichéd and stereotypical. Clearly the author has many unanswered questions of her own but it doesn't feel like she dealt with them by writing this book. Disappointing.
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