Customer Reviews
My Name is Asher Lev 
2008-09-23
I have never been one to read a book more than once, but after reading it for a course in college, I decided to read it again for pleasure. Absolutely phenomenal book. My heart breaks for Asher Lev and how he must live as an outsider in his world because of his artistic abilities from the Other Side.
Alexander's Class Review 
2008-05-21
Following are two reviews written collectively by the students of my High School Junior Literature class, Spring 2008. The class gave the novel 3 stars, and this is how they expressed their thoughts:
1. "My name is Asher Lev" allows readers to imagine what life is like being a Hasidic Jew that has a fascination with art. Asher Lev turns out to be a very complex character. He goes against Hasidic tradition, his community, and his own father and does what he decides is best. Other conflicts are very interesting to get into; it's not only the usual conflict with one another, but also with religion, one self, a whole community, and even a mentor. As the novel progresses, you see art the way Asher sees it; something beautiful and amazing. In the end, who will he choose? Will he choose his community, family, and religion? Or will he decide to stick with what he knows best, being a painter?
2. Asher Lev is a book that teaches the beauty of life, love, art, and religion. It's about a boy named Asher Lev who has an incredible artistic gift but cannot express it because of his religion. What lies ahead of him are many challenges that will test himself as a religious person and an artist. The main character Asher Lev is very complex and will continue to develop throughout the story. Even though the book is about a Hasidic Jew trying to be an artist, it's also about finding oneself and others finding themselves through you. In this novel you will learn about how the Hasidic Jews live and what their way of life is like. Although Asher is trying to discover himself, he also has to watch out what he does because something drastic could happen to him or the community. You will find many intriguing experiences in this novel, whether they be good or bad. Watch as the story unfolds and this brave character develops into the person that he is. Once you're done reading this book, it will leave you wanting to know more.
An Artist and an Hasidic Jew 2008-04-30
Chaim Potok knows how to portray complex relationships. Asher's artistic gift is seemingly at odd with his Hasidic Jewish faith and definately at odds with his father who does not understand this gift. The sacrifices Asher makes for his gift and the artistic processes are so accurately portrayed that you have an insight into a tortured soul. This is a beautiful novel.
Layered and Beautiful 2008-02-08
Asher Lev is a Ladover Hasid, a Jewish boy growing up in the mid-twentieth century. He is quiet, intense, and sensitive. And in him there trembles the beginnings of a great and terrible gift - the gift of art, the gift of painting. Asher Lev the Jew becomes Asher Lev the painter. And that transition is the most defining, fulfilling, and emptying experience of his life.
This is a layered story, filled with the rare genius of one who can write simply, yet with vivid beauty. As easy as it is to read, I could spend months poring over these pages, teasing out their symbolism and inferences and truths. The literary beauty is striking. The back cover of the book describes the novel as "a luminous portrait of the artist, by turns heartbreaking and exultant, a modern classic." This is a perfect summary of this deeply meaningful book.
A beautiful story 2008-01-17
Asher Lev introduces himself in the opening lines of his story. He is an observant Jew, he is the talk of the town following the exhibiting of his painting Brooklyn Crucifixion - not only do observant Jews not paint crucifixions, they do not paint at all - he is viewed as a traitor.
The still very young Asher Lev then begins to recount his life that lead to this predicament. He starts from when he was about four years old, an ordinary Brooklyn lad the only son born to a scholarly Hasidic family. But it is soon evident that he has a remarkable talent fro drawing. The story follows the difficult realisation of the talent which leads him to great critical acclaim, but ostracism from is family and home.
Having truly enjoyed Chaim Potok's The Chosen and its sequel The Promise I immediately sought out more of his writing. I was not disappointed; this is a beautiful story, Asher is a fine boy who loves his family and respects his elders, but he cannot deny what is inside him, his need to create. The characters in the story are sincere and caring, even if they do want different things for Asher Lev. The writing is excellent, Chaim Potok has a very appealing style, and I especially like the manner in which Asher relates his conversations. There is sequel which having enjoyed this so much this I am compelled to read.
Save Yourself 
2008-01-08
Asher Lev is a Ladover Hasid who keeps kosher, prays three times a day and believes in the Ribbono Shel Olom, the Master of the Universe. Asher Lev is an artist who is compulsively driven to render the world he sees and feels even when it leads him to blasphemy.In this stirring and often visionary novel, Chaim Potok traces Asher’s passage between these two identities, the one consecrated to God, the other subject only to the imagination.
Asher Lev grows up in a cloistered Hasidic community in postwar Brooklyn, a world suffused by ritual and revolving around a charismatic Rebbe. But in time his gift threatens to estrange him from that world and the parents he adores. As it follows his struggle,
My Name Is Asher Lev becomes a luminous portrait of the artist, by turns heartbreaking and exultant, a modern classic.
challenging and evocative 
2007-10-17
Though written from the perspective of a Hasidic Jew, this book challenges all of our religious perceptions of beauty. We must recognize (whatever our theological persuasion) that God does indeed wish to make all things holy - including the arts. For those of you who have seen many church bulletin covers you know that religion has certainly been robbed of the beauty which God intends to be a part of our lives.
"Become a great artist" 2007-08-04
"Do not try to understand. Become a great artist. That is the only way to justify what you are doing to everyone's life."
From what I've heard about Chaim Potok's novels and from what I know from the only other one of his that I've had the privilege of reading (The Chosen), they are all centered on the lives of Jewish boys in New York and their fathers; and My Name is Asher Lev is no different. This, however, does not stop it from being a damn good book. Potok explores the seeming impossibility of being both a person of faith and an artist a the same time--a dilemma to which Potok, an ordained rabbi and a novelist, can undoubtedly relate. Although the situations the protagonist, Asher Lev, faces are distinctly Jewish, the basic struggle to reconcile one's religious convictions with one's natural passion in life is widely inclusive.
I was glad that the book self-consciously acknowledged that Asher's final paintings invited "Freudian evaluations regarding [his] relationship with [his] parents." Indeed, the entire novel seems to beg psychoanalytical investigation: Asher is haunted by recurring nightmares of a mythic ancestor, dreams which become more or less intrusive depending on how confident and comfortable he is in his role as an artist and in his relationship with his people; his relationship with Jacob Kahn is flecked with homoeroticism; and Asher's protective infatuation with his mother and coolly competitive relationship with his father could all too easily be tagged as an Oedipal complex. But just as the lurid psychoanalyzing news stories in the novel were overshadowed by "the technical analyses of the paintings [which] were well done and very favorable," so My Name is Asher Lev triumphs on the grounds that it's just a really great, beautifully written story. Potok's descriptions of the act of drawing and painting are lovely, and Asher's effort to justify the pain he causes to those he loves by "becoming a great painter" is meaningful and relevant.
Simple, but wonderful 2007-01-19
The opening is wonderful. I was hooked from the first paragraph. The book slows for the next hundred pages while the reader sees Asher's development as a boy coming of age in Brooklyn. As the conflict of the story (and the conflict of the artist) begins to surface, the book becomes addicting.
Chaim Potok is a brilliant writer. Every word is thought out. Every sentence delightfully leads the reader smoothly to the next. He uses repetitiveness in terms and dialogue to draw parallels and show progression in thought. His subtlety is amazing. Many points that seem nearly pointless continually resurface as significant later in the story.
Anyone wanting to understand art should read this book. Anybody want to better their own talents should read this book. Anybody simply looking for a simple, beautifully written book should pick up and read, My Name is Asher Lev.
An undeniable classic 2007-01-12
"My Name is Asher Lev" is the story of a young man becoming an artist, learning to see as an artist sees, and learning that his art may end up costing him his relationships with both his family and his faith.
In this book, Potok expertly depicts what it must be like for a genius to begin truly seeing the world, and the passages in which he does so are a marvel.
Every artist, every painter, every writer should read this book to further understand the sacrifices required by art, the WORK required by art, and the relationship between a person's character and a person's creations.
And every literate person should read this, to better understand the world around him or her, and to better see the world's true sadness and beauty and joy.
The book's sequel, "The Gift of Asher Lev," is good but not as good. You'll probably want to read it after reading this one, but I don't recommend it as it kind of ruins the story.
