BOOKS: Haredi lust, unhappy triplets, best of Dylan, Leonard Cohen’s early fiction

AVIVA LOWY faces up to ultra-Orthodox libido, meets Jewish siblings who like to fight, savours seven of Dylan’s best songs and surrenders to Leonard Cohen’s lyricism.

Shmutz - Felicia Berliner (Allen & Unwin)

You’ll find it hard to resist picking up Shmutz, the debut novel by American writer Felicia Berliner, because of its provocative cover. Three white lines on a flesh-coloured background meet at a hamantaschen. It’s clearly a very simple and clever rendition of a woman’s body which succinctly sums up the two intertwined themes of the book: sexual and Jewish identity.

Shmutz tells the story of Raizl, a young ultra-Orthodox woman living in Brooklyn. She’s a bright student who, by virtue of her studies in accountancy, is allowed to have a computer at home - something which would otherwise be forbidden by her Hasidic family. And it’s through the computer that Raizl’s dilemma arises when she stumbles onto porn. How does she manage her curiosity about sex and her filial duty?

As Raizl is drawn compulsively into secretly watching more and more porn, her studies suffer and so do her chances of making an arranged marriage - something she desperately wants.

In interviews, Berliner claims that women’s sexual exploration is not shameful, and that her book is a feminist protest against the requirement for a woman to choose one part of herself (Judaism) over another (sexuality). But can Raizl have her cake and eat it too? Or are there compromises that must be made?

Named as one of the Best Jewish Books of 5782 (2022) by the hip online magazine Hey Alma, Shmutz includes a glossary of Hebrew and Yiddish words. Helpful for the uninitiated reader, yes, but also highlighting the importance of language to our protagonist who has to create a whole new vocabulary for what has never been spelled out for her. 

Last Resort - Andrew Lipstein (Weidenfeld & Nicolson)