Welcome to BOOKED! a new feature here at Suvudu where authors share their favorite books with our readers. Our first contributor is Gail Z. Martin, author of The Sworn, which will be released on January 25 from Orbit Books.
One of the many books that had a significant influence on my life actually doesn’t happen to be SFF. It’s My Name is Asher Lev by Chaim Potok. In the book, a young man who has the talent and drive to become an artist is forced to choose between the art that gives him purpose in life and his own highly traditional Orthodox Jewish culture. In essence, he is forced to choose between his life and his soul. I grew up in a different kind of orthodoxy that put me in a similar dilemma. The social and religious cultures in which I grew up had a very defined path for a woman, and that path didn’t include asking bothersome questions, challenging authority, thinking outside the box, pointing out logical fallacies or wanting a career that provided both intellectual and economic freedom. Like Asher Lev, I went through a period of deep turmoil, and finally decided that I could not stay, that satisfying the expectations of the culture in which I grew up would kill me. When I read this book, it was a turning point for me. I was comforted to discover that I wasn’t the only one making this journey or dealing with the cost of my choices. I was heartened to believe that if the author could write this story, then perhaps he had made a similar journey himself to get where he was (and where I hoped to someday be). When I was in grad school, I had the opportunity to meet Chaim Potok in a small group setting. All I managed to say was “thank you” .
