A charming and well-crafted tale of family, compassion, and acceptance.
A pastor and a young mother connect over their love for a child with autism in this novel.
Hana is a parent trying to start a new life. But for the moment, she has ended up in the basement at her sister Kara’s house in a small town in Oklahoma. “Kara’s was a prettily packaged life, the kind with ribbons and a bow,” Kaufman (The Story People, 2016) writes of the two sisters. “Hana’s was a banged and dented UPS box left on the wrong doorstep.” Indeed, Kara has a seemingly perfect spouse and children while Hana has had to flee Cincinnati to escape her abusive ex-husband, Zeke, and struggles with her autistic son, Isaac. His behavior ranges from adorable (insisting on bringing his turtle, Rocky, everywhere) to disturbing (hitting himself or pulling out his own hair). After being humiliated during a service at Hope Church by one of Isaac’s tantrums, Hana thinks she’s at her breaking point. But suddenly, the small community lives up to its church’s name. Kara’s pastor, Matt Schofield, gladly lets Isaac examine his beard and tell him all about turtles. For Matt, Isaac is the chance to break out of his routine and make up for something terrible that happened to a similar little boy long ago, before autism was commonly understood. And for Hana, Matt might mean the chance for a normal life. Throughout this sweet story, Kaufman does an excellent job of portraying Hana’s frustrations and unrelenting love for Isaac. Her twinges of irritation when people try to explain away Isaac’s problem, even in helpful and loving ways, perfectly capture this mother’s efforts to treat her son like any other while also dealing with the realities of autism. These well-constructed tensions make it all the more satisfying when Matt finally arrives and connects with Isaac on his terms. The book stumbles a bit toward its conclusion, bringing Zeke back as an unnecessary—and far too creepy—last-minute villain, but readers should ultimately find the journey of Hana and her very special Isaac delightful.
A charming and well-crafted tale of family, compassion, and acceptance.Pub Date: Jan. 16, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-7586-5789-3
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Concordia Publishing House
Review Posted Online: Jan. 24, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
These letters from some important executive Down Below, to one of the junior devils here on earth, whose job is to corrupt mortals, are witty and written in a breezy style seldom found in religious literature. The author quotes Luther, who said: "The best way to drive out the devil, if he will not yield to texts of Scripture, is to jeer and flout him, for he cannot bear scorn." This the author does most successfully, for by presenting some of our modern and not-so-modern beliefs as emanating from the devil's headquarters, he succeeds in making his reader feel like an ass for ever having believed in such ideas. This kind of presentation gives the author a tremendous advantage over the reader, however, for the more timid reader may feel a sense of guilt after putting down this book. It is a clever book, and for the clever reader, rather than the too-earnest soul.
Pub Date: Jan. 1, 1942
ISBN: 0060652934
Page Count: 53
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 17, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1943
This first novel, ostensibly about the friendship between two boys, Reuven and Danny, from the time when they are fourteen on opposing yeshiva ball clubs, is actually a gently didactic differentiation between two aspects of the Jewish faith, the Hasidic and the Orthodox. Primarily the Hasidic, the little known mystics with their beards, earlocks and stringently reclusive way of life. According to Reuven's father who is a Zionist, an activist, they are fanatics; according to Danny's, other Jews are apostates and Zionists "goyim." The schisms here are reflected through discussions, between fathers and sons, and through the separation imposed on the two boys for two years which still does not affect their lasting friendship or enduring hopes: Danny goes on to become a psychiatrist refusing his inherited position of "tzaddik"; Reuven a rabbi.... The explanation, in fact exegesis, of Jewish culture and learning, of the special dedication of the Hasidic with its emphasis on mind and soul, is done in sufficiently facile form to engage one's interest and sentiment. The publishers however see a much wider audience for The Chosen. If they "rub their tzitzis for good luck,"—perhaps—although we doubt it.
Pub Date: April 28, 1967
ISBN: 0449911543
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: April 6, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1967
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