29 September 2007

The Saturday Wife

The Saturday Wife is yet another great novel by Namoi Ragen. She writes about Orthodox Jews, usually in Israel or the US. This book is a satire about the rabbi's wife. It is well written and entertaining, but it is a little like watching a train-wreck in slow motion.

Delilah Levi spent her young life dreaming of the perfect match. She would marry a brilliant, gorgeous Orthodox Jew and have the perfect life. But during college, she meets Chaim. He is a rabbinical student who is neither brilliant nor overly bright. In fact, he agreed to get a rabbinic ordination because if he did his grandfather would pay for college.

When her husband is hired by an affluent synagogue in a wealth suburb in Connecticut, she thinks everything will turn out alright. But she will ever be the social climber who is not happy with what she has if she sees someone with more. Partly because of this and partly because she is Delilah, she will set in motion a social disaster that threatens to destroy the entire community.

Ragen, Naomi. (2007). The Saturday Wife. New York: St. Martin's Press.

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