Comments on: Review: Hush

By: There’s Dark Things In Them There Books! « A Chair, A Fireplace & A Tea Cozy

Sun, 05 Jun 2011 13:04:55 +0000

[...] this true? Take a look at Hush by Eishes Chayil, which shows just what happens when a community embraces such a doctrine. Obviously, I’m of [...]

By: 2011 Sydney Taylor Book Awards « A Chair, A Fireplace & A Tea Cozy

2011 Sydney Taylor Book Awards « A Chair, A Fireplace & A Tea Cozy — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 13:32:16 +0000

[...] Winners are: Hush by Eishes Chayil, Walker & Company, a division of Bloomsbury Publishing (my review), Once by Morris Gleitzman (Henry Holt and Company), and Life, After by Sarah Darer Littman, [...]

By: Liz B

Liz B — Thu, 30 Dec 2010 15:51:38 +0000

Litvak, thanks for providing more information about the diveristy of experience and education. One of the many things that impressed me about HUSH was how easily it could have been a bitter diatribe but it wasn’t.

HUSH belongs in the hands of many readers; I hope it gets to the people who need it. Since it was only just published in September, there is time for it to get out there and for people to find it.

By: Litvak

Litvak — Thu, 30 Dec 2010 03:42:37 +0000

There is a great range in Orthodox Jewish education. On the more liberal end they will study the stories of rape, in the middle they will gloss through them quickly, never using the word “rape”, and on the extreme end, it is very likely they would skip them altogether. The author is careful to point out that her story is relevant only to the Chassidish community. Even within the chassidish community there would be variation. Not every boy would be unaware of breasts, but the ones who knew probably wouldn’t be set up with the protagonist, as they’d be considered bums.

All this is totally beside the point. As an Orthodox Jew, I approached the story warily, afraid this was going to be a bitter diatribe. It was not.

Some complain about lack of response in the orthodox community: we’re working to publicize it. It’s going to be slow, but we’ll get it out there. And people will read it, even if they won’t admit to reading it. Usually public excoriation is enough to make a book an orthodox bestseller. Hush just hasn’t had enough time yet.

By: William C. Morris YA Debut Award « A Chair, A Fireplace & A Tea Cozy

William C. Morris YA Debut Award « A Chair, A Fireplace & A Tea Cozy — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 13:02:53 +0000

[...] my review: “Hush is a fascinating and brutally honest examination of what happens to a family and [...]

By: Liz B

Liz B — Sun, 05 Dec 2010 00:50:39 +0000

E. Fink: Yes, you are right, and I did not mean to be unclear in the review or my responses in the comments. Thank you for taking the time to make sure readers of the blog realize that there is a difference.

By: E. Fink

E. Fink — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 03:16:13 +0000

Thanks for linking my review and I enjoyed reading your review.

Liz B. – surely you realize the difference between an Orthodox education and a Chassidish education. I have confirmed as Former Chassid has corroborated that the system is just the way the book describes it.

As FC suggested, read the book and ask some Chassidic Jews if they agree with its portrayal of their community.

By: Liz B

Liz B — Wed, 24 Nov 2010 22:55:22 +0000

FC and Julie, thank you for your contributions to this discussion. I really appreciate it!

By: Former Chassid

Former Chassid — Tue, 23 Nov 2010 18:48:56 +0000

Julie, this is not an arguement or a debate. It’s simply a fact. This is the way we learn things. I know the bible is filled iwht references- it’s all a matter of interpretation, the way it is given over. This is not a matter of your agreeeing or not. It’s simply away of life, the way of the very chassidish live and teach thier children, the way i grew up. I udnerstand this embarreses and perhaps appalls Jews who feel they must get defensive but it still remains true: That i did not know women had breasts until an embarressingly late age, and that sexuality is suppressed basically out of existance.

To say the book is salacious is appalling. Hush is heartbreaking, loving, haunting, sad, tragic and funny. It is not salacious. I suggest you read Hush before giving a very hurtful and ignorant opinion. As someone who has witnessed the abuse in the community- i feel this book is too important to be judged this way, by someone who hasn’t read a word of it. It is a story that should have been pubilshed a long time ago.

Please refrain from responnding until you have read the book.

By: Julie

Julie — Tue, 23 Nov 2010 01:59:59 +0000

Sorry, FC, I still don’t agree with all you are saying. I went to an Orthodox day school for girls and, yes, the stories you mentioned were not explicitly explained in third or fourth grade (which I *do* think is age appropriate). By high school, though, or even middle school, these same stories are learned in greater detail with all the accompanying commentaries. And, btw, the commentaries DO question the reason/motivation for Biblical figures’ actions and do sometimes conclude that they acted wrongly and the lessons one can therefore learn from those mistakes. I can think of several examples. Even the Patriarchs. Even King David.

There are certainly references to female anatomy in the Bible, also….

I admit I did not grow up in a chassidic community, and I can appreciate that it would be too insular for some people (I know I would be one of those people) and of course, it has failings (like any other society) but, on the whole, I don’t accept that it is so repressed to the state of it being unhealthy. To me, it smacks of an Eric Segal book I remember reading years ago where the author put in a lot of salacious, sexual details about the Orthodox world that simply aren’t true or are extremely twisted out of context.

Not to get off-topic though (though I am defensive about so-called true to life Jewish novels): I still haven’t read Hush but do plan to do so when I locate a copy.