What do You think about Kaaterskill Falls (1999)?
Allegra Goodman invites the reader into a self-contained Orthodox summer community in the Adirondacks. This is a quiet novel that involves you in a special sect devoted to its ancient Rabbi and literal interpretations of the Torah. I learned a great deal about Jewish ritual and esoteric holidays. However, the heart of the novel is found within the individual characters and their different adaptations to the community and its ideals. I liked the author's respect for her characters and her appreciation of the strength of their commitment even as she explores some underlying stresses.
—Carla
I am really struggling with this book. I grew up in an east coast Orthodox community (which I left many years ago) and this is not ringing true to me at all. Many of the names are jarringly inaccurate, as though I were reading a book set in the 1700s with characters called Cassidy and Brayden. The inaccurate description of so many little details like that just take me out of the whole setting. I'm going to edit this review if I can make it further into the book, but thus far I'm pretty disappointed for such a well-regarded novel.
—Marzipan
i'm astounded that this is a first novel. i'm astounded that, while writing a first novel, allegra goodman didn't feel any pressure to thicken the plot and jack up the sentimentality. i'm astounded that she chose as the topic of her first novel a strict orthodox community in which nothing much happens except the tiny movements that make up life for most of us most days. and i'm astounded that so many people read and loved this novel.this seems such a non-commercial novel. there is no glossary at the end, so if your knowledge of hebrew or yiddish or whatever is as pathetic as mine, well, tough. and really, nothing happens, except, as i said, life. the little things that make us happy and make us miserable. being fourteen and losing your best friend. being thirty and wanting more without knowing what more is. being an old man whose children have irreparably disappointed you, in spite of the fact that they are solid, good people. losing worlds with the change of the seasons. finding new worlds in a serendipitous and unmomentous encounter. experimenting with life. dying. being born. fashioning happiness out of food, walks, and other people. above all, spending a whole lot of time and energy retooling your relationship with your spouse, children, parents, friends; fine-tuning the infinitely complex knowing that you'll never really get it; giving it your best shot; taking failure and mediocrity with grace.i don't know how you do it, allegra goodman, but seriously: you are my hero.
—jo
