The Promised Land

By Ruhama Veltfort

Book Overview

Ruhama Veltfort's exhilerating debut novel delves into the nature of will and of faith, telling the story of a modern exodus that echoes the American quest for spiritual fulfillment. What begins as a... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1477431349
• ISBN13: 9781477431344
• Release Date: May 2012
• Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
• Length: 312 Pages
• Weight: 0.72 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.3" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

Excellent, tight, well-written, engaging!

I loved this novel! The telling of the story from alternating points of view is engaging and well-done. I especially enjoyed the characters arriving in the US at New Orleans & going to St. Louis (during 1840s)-- a change from immigrant stories beginning in New York.

This book was absolutely amazing.

Ruhama Veltfort's The Promised Land should be added to the list of Great American Literauture of the 20th Century. As an African-American woman I was expecting (a friend recommended the book to me) to read a "good" novel about a group of people I know little about. I started the novel with an open mind and trust in my friends' choice in literature and finished the novel with a deeper understanding of myself. The depection of the Polish experience and the Jewish culture was sincere, exciting and riveting. I was able to recommend the book to several Jewish acqaintences who validated its authenticity. The development of the characters was powerful and Veltfort's insight into the human mind taught me more about how people can react to situations in fiction as well as in "real" life. I was glued to the book and read it in one sitting. I cannot say enough about Veltfort's mastery of her art.

Beautiful combo of earthiness and spirituality

This is a most beautiful and original book. I have never read one quite like it, but would greatly like to. The narrative line is strong, the characters very real, the places come alive in all their smells and sights, and it is a fine piece of storytelling. One has to say this up front, because this is a book about mysticism, about the experiences and ecstatic knowledge that lie beneath the forms and rules of a religion, and about how a creative spirituality can arise in individuals that leads them to break out of the boundaries of their inherited culture. In other words it is an intellectually serious book. It steers clear of sentimental spiritual claptrap. In the story, terrible things happen to people we have grown to love. But it is neither an `intellectual' book (i.e. inaccessible, hard work to read) nor a grim one. The narrative is strong because we care about these people and they are on a great quest, but also because the earthy details of their lives are as important to the author as their mystical experiences. One of the joys of the book is to look at a familiar scene - the American South and the frontier West - through unfamiliar eyes. E.g. Chana, the leading female character, only slowly understands that the black women with whom she does the chores in a rich Jew's house in St. Louis are slaves. The most terrible thing for these believers is not perhaps the pogroms or the starvation or the Indians, but the dangers inherent in the freedom and prosperity of the new land. "How am I to raise my sons here...?" asks one father. "Here there is no difference between Jews and Gentiles, and all are gone to the devil in their crazy pursuit of riches." And the elder son himself says, "I ain't a Jew! ... I don't have to be nothin' I don't want to be. What else are we going West for?" If I have any criticism of the book it is that the ending, which brought tears to my eyes, nonetheless seemed to half-sidestep some of the issues raised about prosperity and keeping the faith. The beautiful spareness of the language of the book, without a wasted word, was too spare for me at the end. But perhaps, then what I really want is the sequel, about the survivors and their granmdchildren, and how they preserve the unity of body and spirit in the dangerously prosperous times in which we live.

An exciting page-turner that leaves you feeling full!

From the first sentence, I was hooked. Without warning, Veltfort deftly drops the reader into a tiny village in 19th Century Poland. This strange landscape, as alien as Dune, is made comfortable by its warm, vibrant characters with their universally human fears, aspirations, and ideals. It was empathy for these odd people, a reluctant Rabbi, his wife, and a few followers, that made it a pleasure to learn their language and religion, and a delight to behold the world through their eyes. There's lots of excitement as this often not-so-merry but always entertaining band struggles to survive the hazardous journey from war-torn Eastern Europe to the still untamed American West. With so much action and adventure to stimulate the imagination, and so much drama to tug the heart, it's easy to forget that how well the book re-awakens your spiritual core with every page. Although this is a story about Orthodox Judaism, with overtones of Jewish mysticism, its messages are transcendent, non-denominational, and full of understanding and love for God. Extremely well written, I literally couldn't put it down while I was reading it, and can't get it out of my head now that I'm done. My only disappointment is that this is a first novel-I can't rush out and get more by the same author.