Before the recent explosion off the derech "memoirs" there was Naomi Ragen. She began writing her realistic controversial fictional accounts of charedi life in 1989. Everyone seemed to grumble about her feminist anti charedi stance but at least she was a good writer. Since she was writing fiction her words were a little more palatable. At least in my humble opinion. This past week I have been reading Naomi Ragen's most recent installment THE SISTER'S WEISS . What I have realized is that I would prefer to read her books than the exaggerated and not very well written "memoirs" that are available as of late.I would also prefer to read Belva Plain's book EVERGREEN or any book by Chaim Potok for that matter.They say that truth is stranger than fiction but in this case fiction is way better written. I am sure that I will continue to read the "memoirs" of the up and coming amateurs but when I really want a good read I will stick with the professionals.
3 comments:
Naomi Ragen has no personal axe to grind and she admits she's writing ficiton.
OTD's writing memoirs are bitter and want to get that across.
Have a great Pesach, kid.
Thanks, you too
Post a Comment