Deborah Feldman grew up in the Satmar Hasidic community in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, raised by her grandparents after her mother left. She describes a world of strict rules about dress, women's roles and study, in which she was married at seventeen through an arranged match. Intimacy was difficult, she was pressured to have a child, and she started secretly reading banned books. She details how she took her baby son and left the community, gradually building an independent life.
A frank memoir for readers curious about ultra-Orthodox life and about leaving a closed religious community. It offers insight into questions of freedom, identity and belonging, told from the inside, and may interest anyone who has questioned their upbringing.
Inward-looking and clear-cut; an easy read.
Best for readers like The Empathetic Explorer. Which reader are you?
- Published
- 2017
- Publisher
- btb Verlag
- ISBN
- 9783442715343
- Language
- DE
