Unorthodox: The Scandalous Rejection of My Hasidic Roots - Hardcover

"A remarkable tale."--"Kirkus Reviews"

One of "O" magazine's "10 Titles to Pick Up Now"

""Unorthodoz" is painfully good. . . .Unlike so many other authors who have left Orthodoxy and written about it, [Feldman's] heart is not hardened by hatred, and her spirit is wounded but intact. . . . She is a sensitive and talented writer."--JewishJournal.com

"Compulsively readable, "Unorthodox" relates a unique coming-of-age story that manages to speak personally to anyone who has ever felt like an outsider in her own life. Feldman bravely lays her soul bare, unflinchingly sharing intimate thoughts and ideas unthinkable within the deeply religious existence of the Satmars. . . . Teens will devour this candid, detailed memoir of an insular way of life so unlike that of the surrounding society.""--School Library Journal"

"Riveting . . . extraordinary.""--Marie Claire"

[Feldmans] matter-of-fact style masks some penetrating insights."The New York Times "

Riveting . . . extraordinary."Marie Claire"

[Feldmans] no-holds-barred memoir bookstores on February 14th. And its not exactly a Valentine to the insular world of shtreimels, sheitels and shtiebels. Instead, ["Unorthodox"] describes an oppressive community in which secular education is minimal, outsiders are feared and disdained, English-language books are forbidden, mental illness is left untreated, abuse and other crimes go unreported . . . a surprisingly moving, well-written and vivid coming-of-age tale."The Jewish Week"

Unorthodox is a fascinating book . . . Feldmans voice resonates throughout."The Jewish Daily Forward"

A remarkable tale."Kirkus Reviews"

The instant New York Times bestselling memoir of a young Jewish woman’s escape from a religious sect, in the tradition of Ayaan Hirsi Ali’s Infidel and Carolyn Jessop’s Escape.

The Satmar sect of Hasidic Judaism is as mysterious as it is intriguing to outsiders. In this arresting memoir, Deborah Feldman reveals what life is like trapped within a religious tradition that values silence and suffering over individual freedoms.

Deborah grew up under a code of relentlessly enforced customs governing everything from what she could wear and to whom she could speak to what she was allowed to read. It was stolen moments spent with the empowered literary characters of Jane Austen and Louisa May Alcott that helped her to imagine an alternative way of life. Trapped as a teenager in a sexually and emotionally dysfunctional marriage to a man she barely knew, the tension between Deborah’s desires and her responsibilities as a good Satmar girl grew more explosive until she gave birth at nineteen and realized that, for the sake of herself and her son, she had to escape.