My name is Asher Lev - Chaim Potok

On the frontispiece of this book is a quotation from Picasso, “Art is a lie which makes us realize the truth.” The same can be said of fiction. Asher Lev is a great painter and this novel tells his story, and the trials, tribulations and heartbreak on the way. Through the memories of a four year old Asher we are introduced to the very private world of a Jewish Hasidic community in Brooklyn in the 1950’s. It is quite a culture shock and certainly a different kind of world, Yiddish words and phrases are used without explanation and a certain knowledge of Jewish traditions and festivals is ... more