As a German it was worth reading this book. Mostly for a change in perspective. Having said that, it feels like it could have been 200-300pages shorter. Feldmann writes a lot about her feelings in a lot of detail and sometimes it just feels like a bit too much.

I received an ARC from Penguin. I found her first book interesting, but I was not able to finish this. It seemed like a disjointed diary where she was real-time processing everything that happened to her and she published it because she could.

Her first book was so good, this follow up was disappointing.

This book made me think

A book that makes you think is the best kind of book. Feldman's books are an obsession. I don't want to stop reading. I understand more about Jewish folks and the world. As Sally J. Freedman would say, "Thanks, I understand better now."

Both extremely Jewish and extremely relatable. It was incredible how Feldman’s search for meaning, belonging, and love in the United States and across Europe could mirror that of so many women her age (myself included) when she grew up in such an insulated world different from the average secular reader.

How do you rate a book that is a heavy not fun one but that was poignant and introspective about a very harsh reality? It was a good book. It's not at all a light or cozy read.

I didn't care for it. All she is doing in this one is dating around and searching out being jewish in many other countries around Europe. Felt too much like she was trying to justify still being jewish because of her birth community and being a modern woman because she is no longer part of her birth community.
Meh

A follow up memoir to her first, Unorthodox, I expected a lot more. I thought it would be more about adjusting to the secular world after a very closed off Satmar Jewish life in Brooklyn but mostly it was about her gallivanting around Europe and dudes she had relationships with. Instead of examining why she was fearful of being harassed or attacked for being Jewish she really honestly thought that people were waiting around the corner everywhere. She seemed very judgmental/assuming of people instead of examining her own anxiety and trying to heal.

I expected to read about adjusting to a secular life, dealing with raising a child and having to communicate with family members when dealing with her ex-husband over parenting issues. I wanted to know what it was like working or navigating the world when you left everything behind. Must be nice to leave everything behind and become a jet-setting traveler who apparently doesn't have to worry much in the way of money or child care. I suppose I expected a tale more of struggle than navel gazing.

Not a favourite at all. Not because it wasn’t well written but because there were so many things missing. While some things were covered at length such as her her sex life and time spent traveling, she hardly mentions her son or being a mother. I kept asking myself if she only had him every other weekend? This book is closer to the self indulgent “Eat, Pray, Love” than the wonderful “Educated”.