The Sisters Weiss: A Novel Paperback – October 7, 2014

The strength of Naomi Ragen's books is their focus on the importance of freedom and choice in a woman's life. In weaving her creative stories, Ragen opens our eyes and minds to women born into ultra-orthodox families who remain in their communities (some happily, others not so happily), and the women who dare to exercise their God-given right of free will and leave their restrictive communities. Some of the latter also leave their faith behind, while others maintain their love and observance of Jewish traditions - but prefer to choose their own husbands, pursue a college education, and live in a secular world.In Jephte's Daughter, Sotah, and the Sacrifice of Tamar, we anguished - and sometimes cried over the over the choices made by Batsheva, Dina, and Tamar. In Chains Around the Grass, our hearts melted with care and concern for Ruth and young Sara, as they struggled with the choices made to survive. We sympathized, empathized, and cared for the futures of these complex characters as they struggled to survive in their equally complex worlds. I think that was the goal of Naomi Ragen, and she succeeded.But I felt just the opposite emotions while reading The Saturday Wife, and The Sister's Weiss. In The Saturday Wife, Delilah is a crafty, calculating, and jealous woman who cares little for virtually everyone around her. In The Sister's Weiss, while it was easy to sympathize with the early lives of Rose, Pearl, and Rivka (Pearl's daughter) - we also learned them to be mostly self-absorbed with their own lives. In carefully constructing each character, Ragen presents us with the hard truths of making choices. Every choice has a consequence - some of the consequences bring happiness and success, as well as a share of sadness, pain, and loss. Other choices bring only tragedy and/or the pain of more difficult choices ahead.In my opinion, Ragen rates high in giving us literature that is both enjoyable and enlightening - while also opening up our minds to consider the consequences of ultra-orthodox religion. Ultra-orthodoxy not only greatly restricts and stifles the lives of women; it also fosters a lack of respect for other less restrictive forms of religion (modern orthodox, conservative, reform). Men also suffer as Ultra-orthodoxy restricts their secular education, as well as their emotional maturity. Books in this genre include  The Chosen , My Name Is Asher Lev  and  The Gift of Asher Lev  by Chaim Potok;  Unorthodox: The Scandalous Rejection of My Hasidic Roots  by Deborah Feldman;  Shoshana's Song  by Jerry Marcus; and  Hush  by Eishes Chayil and Judy Brown.

I generally enjoy Naomi Ragen's work, and _The Sisters Weiss_ is no exception. I bought it on my kindle and obviously was hooked, finishing it now two days later. :)The book starts in the ultra-Orthodox Jewish (chareidi) world, where sisters are growing up and trying to figure out who they are. The story follows several generations of compliance and rebellion, faith and questioning, with Ragen's typical knack for creating memorable and interesting characters.The book does a good job of visiting each generation, and Ragen depicts the women in ways that make them seem likeable if not perfect.The start of the book is gripping, with its sharp insights and compelling plot points. The middle of the book is also interesting, bringing several disparate personalities together in believable ways.The weak point of this book is its ending, which is on the one hand a bit "pat" and on the other, not extensive enough. I would have liked to read more about what happens when or if there is a larger family reunion, and how various relationships get resolved. One flaw of a book like this is, that without such an ending, the reader is left kind of sorry for having been so invested in the characters.I think it is hard for Ragen to end this sort of novel, which I remember also being a problem in "Sotah" and maybe one or two others. (Other readers may also object to untrained people becoming world-renowned professionals in this book, as one did in a previous book, though I thought there was enough training/college in the explanation here.)I do feel for Ragen's plight, because there's no good "end" for what happens when an essentially good woman tries to question her culture without losing her cultural identity.There was also one content error: Orthodox Zevulun at one point blesses tea before pastries, at the same meal, and he would have known better. ;)At any rate, Ragen does a really great job at character development and leaving the reader hopeful and invested. I will continue to buy and read her books!

Very good read

Honestly just dull characters with nothing to help draw you in. Jumping 40 years was more than a stretch as there was no reason to jump that far in the first place. Strange. I slogged through it but that's about as far as I'll go with it.

I picked this rating because of how well this book is written. I learned a lot about the ultra orthdox Jewish religion. Keep up your excellent writing.

I've read all of Naomi Ragen's books over the years andI think this is one of her best. Her writing has grown enormously, the early ones were very much Jewish 'beach books' - entertaining but you couldn't accuse them of being thought provoking. This one was much deeper and the characters were real. So I'd recommend if you enjoy this genre.

Not quite finished it yet, but I am loving it