Bread Givers
Synopsis:
Sara Smolinsky, the youngest daughter of an Orthodox rabbi, watches as her father marries off her sisters to men they don’t love. “It says in the Torah, only through a man has a woman an existence,” he proclaims. but Sara rejects this conception of Jewish womanhood. She want to live for herself and marry for love. “My will is as strong as yours,” she replies. “Nobody can stop me. I’m not from the old country. I’m American!” Sara takes a job as an ironer and rents a room with a door. “This door was life…the bottom starting point of becoming a person.”
Set during the 1920’s on New York’s Lower East Side, the story of Sara’s struggle toward independence and self-fulfillment–through education, work, and love–is universal and resonates with a passionate intensity that all can share.
Review:
When I read the synopsis, I honestly thought it was a bit canned and hokey. But after closer examination, I realized that this book was first published in 1925. 1925!! If you read it in the context that this book was a bit radical for its time, it really is very good. It’s easy to read, but paints an intersting picture of life for women at during the 1920’s.
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