Wednesday, July 8, 2020

The Marrying of Chani Kaufman

To say this is a book about Chani Kaufman's wedding is to miss the mark entirely. Yes, the ultra orthodox wedding of Chani to Baruch Levi is the central element around which the story flows, but The Marrying of Chani Kaufman is about the wedding the same way a person is "about" their skeleton. No essence, in other words.

No, The Marrying of Chani Kaufman is about listening to the inner self, sometimes even after a pause of many years. It is about the ability to forge new identities, even when our life circumstances challenge that notion. It is about the idea of love taking many forms, and the centrality of our core values to who each of us truly is. It is about new beginnings, but also about not being afraid to write a new ending.

It is about the moment "she remembered what she had given up and what she had become." And, yes, there is a wedding.

Four stars.

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