Davita's Harp: A Novel

This is a fabulous novel. The story is a bit long to summarize and I would refer you to the other reviews on this page. I wanted to add a brief thought or two. Davita's parents are of mixed heretage: her mother an orthodox jew from Poland and father a Mayflower decendent. Both have experienced deep personal trauma that has affected their lives and how they decide to deal with the problems of the world around them. Davita's mother survived genoside and rape in a pogrom and her father witnessed a murder during a logging strike in Washington State. Both abandon their backgrounds and look to socialism as the answer to their personal hurts and the world's injustices. Stragely, Davita as a young girl embraces her orthodox background and finds dep solice in it after her father is killed covering the Spanish revolution. She doggedly and unconventionally says Kaddish daily for her father.Davita's faith ultimately saves her mother as the latter becomes isolated and dissolutioned with the socialism of Stalin. Davita becomes a star student at the Yesheva where she enrolls (and meets Reuben Malter the protagonist of the CHosen and The Promise). Davita seeks from orthodoxy what the men are granted and is denied equal standing both intellectually and religiously. She has blossomed so much that she outgrows the confines of the tradition she loves.The novel ends with Davita on the margins, entering her teens and facing an important decision of what path this pios and brilliant loving child will take.We are left wondering about Davita's future that is taken up in a later novel "Old Men at Midnight" where she appears in three stories at different times in her adult life as a foil against which three other main characters are developed. We learn later that she embrasses acadamia.Upton Sinclair ends his famous novel "The Jungle" (written in the early 1900's) with a cry that socialism is the answer. We see in Davita's harp what Sinclair will ultimately descover for himself decades later that socialism is a dead end and barren as far as meeting basic human spiritual needs.Potok's powerful novels and his fictional Brooklyn society are the conflicts between the old world traditions and a rapidly changing America. He is a master story teller, writes beautiful prose, writes with sufficient patience and depth that the cultural material is understandable and accessable to all who read his works. His themes are timeless and universal. One day he will be looked upon as an underappreciated great American novelist. Don't miss a single piece of his writing.

A beautiful story about a jewish girl coming of age, and finding herself. However, a lot of reviews say they would recommend it to high school girls...i'm fence line on that. Do not get me wrong, there is nothing obscene or inappropriate. How do I put this...As a Jewish woman, I am constantly looking for books with Jewish characters that I can relate to. I know growing up, i was so thrilled to find this type of book that i could relate to, and i would for sure allow my daughters to read it (of course my eldest is 5, so we will have to wait)...HOWEVER, as a therapist i work with many young people. The vast majority of them would not be able to handle this book. The maturity and level of understanding just isn't there yet and they may find the story to be long and boring...which is such a shame!!! Most of the teens i work with are on the level of twilight...I look back to my teenage years. As a jew, i would have been intrigued...as a teenager, i would have been lost. I think although the main character (davita) is a young girl...this is more a college level book. Or maybe something high schoolers can read as a class and discuss. I'm just saying parents, before you rush out and buy this for your teenager, read it yourself and you be the judge of if they will comprehend it. I did give this book a 4 though, because I did think it was a deep book. Great for book clubs. I thought Potok had a lot of insight and left me thinking. Some say this is not their favorite book by Potok...this is the only book i've read by him, but because of this book I ordered 3 more by him.

I’m 40 and I’m crying my eyes out because everything Chaim Potok writes is so, so tender. This book isn’t perfect but the gentleness and INTELLIGENCE of the protagonist just before and during puberty, among war and fascism and parents fighting for righteousness while maybe kinda neglecting her.. but she chases beauty.. it’s just beautiful. I love all his books though.

Given the beauty and grace of Potak's writing, I shouldn't be so surprised that he managed to be so successful in capturing the internal world of a young girl, and yet, I was. Like all of his books, I am so struck by the utter beauty of his prose that it feels like there is little to say -- like seeing a Money in person, a Potak novel is something that must experienced, and is indescribable once it has been. Authors create characters but occasionally we are graced with some who give birth to people who haunt us long after the last page has been turned and the book is back on its shelf.

So the story is actually kind of nothing, as in there is not much resolution or arch of events but rather there are many events that could be expected in a young girl's life during WW2 in New York. I loved the characters and ideas in the writing which is what distinguishes Chaim Potok's style. I highly recommend! Plus there are some awesome stuff in the book for fans of Chaim Potok's most famous book.

Rabbi Potok once again displays his way with words and realistic portrayal of Jewish youths and their struggles. (Spoiler alert) I love the way that Reuven Malter from The Chosen was incorporated into the plot. This novel received four stars out of five because no book could ever surpass his debut novel, The Chosen. Being Catholic, I was very keen on learning more about the faith from which mine originated. Buy this book, but only after reading The Chosen and My Name Is Asher Lev first.

It is not often I read aloud from a book, but I did this time. It resonated on so many levels- the unfairness of life, of being a woman, the way we form a sense of community and a sense of purpose. I loved the way learning was intertwined with the story and was sad to see the story end. Look forward to reading more from this author.

As with all of Rabbi Potok's books of fiction, I was mesmerized by this story. As much as I loved The Chosen, The Promise, My Name is Asher Lev, The Gift of Asher Lev, and In the Beginning - all superb - Davita's Harp is by far my favorite.

(written by Cat, not Phil)'Davita's Harp' is another compelling novel from Chaim Potok. I don't know how I'd missed this one, having read all his other novels long ago; but what a treat! To be able to lose yourself in a book, and feel dismayed to reach the end is a rare thing; yet something I've come to expect from Potok's books. A truly skilled author, offering us a glimpse into Jewish culture, in this instance, through the eyes of a young girl seeking her place in the world.Highly recommended - but make sure you've time to read it from cover to cover!

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this novel. The book takes you into a different world to my own. A bright girl with a lapsed Jewish mother and a lapsed Christian father. Both parents have met because they are committed to social justice and attracted to Left-wing solutions looking to Russia as an answer to the growing Fascism of the 30's. In the midst of this Davita struggles to find her own way and identity as she meets observant Jews both children and adult. To follow her on a fascinating pilgrimage is to appreciate and understand different worldviews and why people come to the conclusions that they do.

This book is yet another treasure from Mr Potok, that I have read and re read many times since I first came upon it many years ago. I have lent it to many friends, all whom have had only good things to say about it .

What does a middle-aged Jew have to tell us about adolescent girls? I wanted to say 'Nothing'', but he does, despite the fact that 'The Gift of Asher Levi' appalled me.

The story seems to lose its way in the middle and gets boring. Overall not a bad tale. Why are all Potok's heros so clever?