Amazon displays links, editorial descriptions and user reviews for the actual mass market paperback on the web page for the Bloom's Guide. Basically, the Amazon web page for the Bloom's Guide is selling Harold Bloom's in-depth, college level analysis of the book, not the book itself.

Yet, the identical information shown on this product page is displayed on the mass market Chaim Potok book pages - there is no distinction that these are two different books.

This was very misleading to my 15 year old high school student who needed the actual book for a school assignment and we purchased the Bloom version by accident. Bloom's analysis is of no use to her as it is over her head and won't help her achieve what her assignment entails.

Very disappointed in Amazon - I hope they fix this.

I really liked the historical aspect of the book. Though a work of fiction, it helped me to understand many ideas among the Jewish followers. A little too slow at times for my tastes (particularly the Talmud discussions). A certain amount was necessary to comprehend the background and situation but it went a bit overboard for me.

Overall I thought this was worth the time invested in reading it and I feel like a gained new insight into the Jewish faith and relationships in general.

The chronological lives of Danny Saunders (Hasidic) and Dave Melter (Orthodox) as they graduate high school and then college in Brooklyn. We meet the boys' passionate families, watch their ardent study of Talmud, and perceive the clash between their beliefs and expectations as their steadfast friendship supports them through the late teen years. A peephole into the state of world affairs around 1945 that helps to explain the history of the conflict between Israel and Palestine today.

in reading "The Chosen" i was very pleased with the book. The plot was very touching as we saw the boys (Danny and Reuven) grow from the grounds of a baseball field to the advanced college campus. Their friendship was very strong and was normally able to overcome most obstacles...except for the silence that Danny and Reb Saunders had between them. Mr. Malter brought Rueven up in talking, so Rueven began to hate the silence simply because he couldn't understand it. i believe that that applies to much of life. If we don't understand something completely, we tend to write it off as bad, hard, or tend to hate it. i would highly recommend this book for anyone looking for a good book for any occasion.

"The Chosen", by Chaim Potok, is a narrative about two Jewish boys, Reuven Malter and Danny Saunders, who are from different Jewish sects. The novel is all about their friendship and about them growing up together and the troubles they face due to their different religious interpretation. The boys are raised in different styles Reuven is raised in a regular manner, while Danny's father raises him in silence. Silence is a recurring, mysterious theme of the novel and the way they are raised greatly affects what they become in life. Silence is Danny's father Reb's way of raising Danny so that he will become a good rabbi by learning the ability to figure things out independently. Unfortunately, silence also separates Reuven and Danny when Reuven's father stresses the need to form a Jewish state. He supports "Zionism" while Danny's father does not and this causes Reb to forcibly separate the two boys.

In the novel Potok uses silence as a literary device that gives the text depth and mystery. The style of Potok's writing is sometimes very mysterious and, for me at least, confusing. The steady moving story shows the ways friendship can mature and change through different uncontrollable factors. It also gives insight into the different beliefs about raising children. I would recommend this book for someone who is prepared to think on a deeper level about the things of life, about differences, and about what can unite us.

The Chosen is a capturing story of two boys as they grow and mature throughout their friendship and into adulthood. Reuven Malter is a secular Jew while Danny Saunders is a Hasid. The two are naturally opposed by their religion and unleash their anger toward each other in what is no ordinary baseball game. When Reuven is hit in the eye by a powerful ball hit by Danny, Reuven is rushed to the emergency room. It is while Reuven is recovering from the accident in the hospital that he and Danny official meet and begin their interwoven journey.
Danny and Reuven soon realize that they are opposites from one another. Reuven wishes to become a rabbi after graduating from college, while his father hopes for him to become a mathematician. Contrastingly, Danny dreams of being a psychologist even though he is the rightful heir to becoming a Hasidic rabbi. They are also raised by fathers who have contrasting methods of bringing up their sons. Still, it is through these family difficulties, the devastating tolls of the Holocaust, conflicting religion, and Danny's own secret from his father, that create the powerful and unique bond between the two boys. Join them as they teach each other lessons they could not have learned anywhere else and grow into the young adults they strived to be.

I like the guy's voice, but he reads slowly, and my students preferred to read aloud so they could "get done."

I first read this book as a teenager, and have re-read it numerous times since. I'm now in my mid-40's. As a teen, it opened my eyes to a world most of us never encounter - Jewish Brooklyn, the sphere of the Hasids, Talmudic study. As I've aged my enjoyment of the book has matured. These days, it's particularly interesting in light of Mid East politics and the controversy surrounding the founding of the State of Israel. Through all these years, though, the relationships between the boys and their fathers remains as touching, as profound as they were upon first reading. I cried the first few times I read this book. I still re-read certain passages just for the emotional "oomph".

A tremendous, powerful book that bears up well for a lifetime's enjoyment.

I remember having to read this in High School for a 6 weeks book report. I loved it so much I read it at least 4 times cover to cover, but I think it was actually 6 times. I can't wait to get hold of it now, almost 20 years later and read it again.

I have heard for years how good this book is. It never looked particularly interesting to me personally, so I put it off and put it off. I finally got around to picking up a copy, and was pleasantly surprised for the first 75 pages or so. It did engage me. And then...what I expected: the author began to describe the tedious nuances of the slightly-different faiths in excruciating detail. I just didn't care. I found myself skipping whole paragraphs hoping to get back to the storyline. Eventually, I just threw in the towel. Judging from all the positive reviews here on Amazon, and from friends and coworkers, I trust that there is something worthwhile here. Unfortunately, I couldn't find it. So, take the advice that makes sense for you. You know yourself better than most, right? I should have trusted my own instincts. But, sometimes we're wrong, right? Might be worth picking up at the library first. If you can make it to the end, more power to you...

"The Chosen" is deceptively plain. At times, it reads like a novel for young adults; its descriptions are explicatory (but not patronizing), its language is simple (but not simplistic). Potok takes an archetypal story of two boys growing up and presents the Brooklyn Hasidic community and its history in terms that even "goyim" can understand. Occasionally Potok's prose style is a little too edifying--several sections have the feel of a primer cast as conversation ("What a lecture it has been!" exclaims one of characters at the end of a chapter)--but the payoff is worth the book's didactic tone.

Even its exciting opening scene, which features a high school baseball game as a metaphor of holy war, is told in the unadorned style one would expect from a "boy's novel." Reuven, son of an Orthodox Jewish scholar confronts Danny Saunders, a Hasidic rabbi's son who has a fearsome reputation as a "murderer" in baseball. Danny lives up to his reputation, sending a line drive straight at Reuven's eyeglasses; the two boys become uneasy yet steadfast friends while Reuven recovers in the hospital.

After this inauspicious encounter, the two boys are initiated into each other's world--and we are introduced to theirs. Reuven shows off his own Talmudic training at a Hasidim Shabbat service, while Danny, with his new friend's help, secretively fills his thirst for the "forbidden" (to him) literature in the public library--especially the works of Freud (in the original German, no less). Although Danny, a brilliant student as well as a formidable athlete, wants to be a psychologist, his father, Reb Saunders, is grooming him as the next dynastic tzaddik ("righteous one") to head a community in which "secular literature was forbidden, and the Hasidim lived shut off from the rest of the world."

The struggle between Reb Saunders and his rebel son is supplemented by several digressions into the arcanae of Talmudic study, which in Potok's hands become bizarrely stimulating. And an important subplot pits the two boys (and their fathers) against each other because the Hasidim virulently oppose, for religious reasons, the founding of the nation of Israel.

The novel is set in the post-War era in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Williamsburg (where I now live), and it's fascinating to see, through the prism of fiction, how much--and how little--has changed in the Hasidic community. (Readers interested in a more recent work might check out "Teacha!" by Gerry Albarelli, who taught in a Brooklyn yeshiva for Hasidic students.) While it's an undeniably facile sketch of a complex society, "The Chosen" benefits from its true-to-life portrayals and from a compelling story of friendship.

I listened to this book in the audio download edition and my comments pertain specifically to that edition.

The Chosen is a classic that I've meant to read for years. I finally took the plunge with the audio edition. I'm not sure if it was the slow-moving story or the reader, but it took me a long time to get through the book.

The story is understandably a classic of both coming of age literature and Jewish literature. It tells the story of the friendship between Reuven, an Orthodox Jewish teenager, and Danny, a Hassidic teen and brilliant Torah scholar who is heir to the rabbinate of his sect. Although the Hassids and other Jews do not usually interact, Danny and Reuven become friends after an accident playing baseball on rival teams, and remain close through several years of high school and college. Both boys struggle with issues of growing up, what they want to be versus their fathers' wishes for them (Danny more so than Reuven) and in this way the story is a universal one. However it is also of a very specific time and place, one of the American Jewish experience as World War II came to an end, the true horrors of the HOlocaust came to light, and the drama of Israel's founding was played out. The story offered a new insight to me on that time and I enjoyed that aspect.

However, I was underwhelmed by the narrator Jonathan Davis' performance. It was a bit too monotonal for my tastes and had a hard time holding my attention. However the book itself is quiet and moves at a stately pace so I don't know how much of it is the pacing of the book or the choices of the narrator. I never abandoned the book entirely but found myself taking breaks to listen to more exciting books or podcasts, and then returning.

Still it was a book well worth reading and I am glad I finally did so. I may tackle more of Potok's work, however, I'll probably opt for the print version over the audio.

"The Chosen" is deceptively plain. At times, it reads like a novel for young adults; its descriptions are explicatory (but not patronizing), its language is simple (but not simplistic). Potok takes an archetypal story of two boys growing up and presents the Brooklyn Hasidic community and its history in terms that even goyim can understand. Occasionally Potok's prose style is a little too edifying--several sections have the feel of a primer cast as conversation ("What a lecture it has been!" exclaims one of characters at the end of a chapter)--but the payoff is worth the book's didactic tone.

Even its exciting opening scene, which features a high school baseball game as a metaphor of holy war, is told in the unadorned style one would expect from a "boy's novel." Reuven, son of an Orthodox Jewish scholar confronts Danny Saunders, a Hasidic rabbi's son who has a fearsome reputation as a "murderer" in baseball. Danny lives up to his reputation, sending a line drive straight at Reuven's eyeglasses; the two boys become uneasy yet steadfast friends while Reuven recovers in the hospital.

After this inauspicious encounter, the two boys are initiated into each other's world--and we are introduced to theirs. Reuven shows off his own Talmudic training at a Hasidim Shabbat service, while Danny, with his new friend's help, secretively fills his thirst for the "forbidden" (to him) literature in the public library--especially the works of Freud (in the original German, no less). Although Danny, a brilliant student as well as a formidable athlete, wants to be a psychologist, his father, Reb Saunders, is grooming him as the next dynastic tzaddik ("righteous one") to head a community in which "secular literature was forbidden, and the Hasidim lived shut off from the rest of the world."

The struggle between Reb Saunders and his rebel son is supplemented by several digressions into the arcanae of Talmudic study, which in Potok's hands become bizarrely stimulating. And an important subplot pits the two boys (and their fathers) against each other because the Hasidim virulently oppose, for religious reasons, the founding of the nation of Israel.

The novel is set in the post-War era in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Williamsburg (where I now live), and it's fascinating to see, through the prism of fiction, how much--and how little--has changed in the Hasidic community. (Readers interested in a more recent work might check out "Teacha!" by Gerry Albarelli, who taught in a Brooklyn yeshiva for Hasidic students.) While it's an undeniably facile sketch of a complex society, "The Chosen" benefits from its true-to-life portrayals and from a compelling story of friendship.

I listened to this book in the audio download edition and my comments pertain specifically to that edition.

The Chosen is a classic that I've meant to read for years. I finally took the plunge with the audio edition. I'm not sure if it was the slow-moving story or the reader, but it took me a long time to get through the book.

The story is understandably a classic of both coming of age literature and Jewish literature. It tells the story of the friendship between Reuven, an Orthodox Jewish teenager, and Danny, a Hassidic teen and brilliant Torah scholar who is heir to the rabbinate of his sect. Although the Hassids and other Jews do not usually interact, Danny and Reuven become friends after an accident playing baseball on rival teams, and remain close through several years of high school and college. Both boys struggle with issues of growing up, what they want to be versus their fathers' wishes for them (Danny more so than Reuven) and in this way the story is a universal one. However it is also of a very specific time and place, one of the American Jewish experience as World War II came to an end, the true horrors of the HOlocaust came to light, and the drama of Israel's founding was played out. The story offered a new insight to me on that time and I enjoyed that aspect.

However, I was underwhelmed by the narrator Jonathan Davis' performance. It was a bit too monotonal for my tastes and had a hard time holding my attention. However the book itself is quiet and moves at a stately pace so I don't know how much of it is the pacing of the book or the choices of the narrator. I never abandoned the book entirely but found myself taking breaks to listen to more exciting books or podcasts, and then returning.

Still it was a book well worth reading and I am glad I finally did so. I may tackle more of Potok's work, however, I'll probably opt for the print version over the audio.

This would qualify as a very critical read. It doesn't necessarily mean it's one of my most favorite, moving pieces of literature, however I would recommend it. It is easy to read, very engaging, and important.

I love history, culture, how cultures came to be, and how they interact. This book is full of that. The author has a very comfortable writing style and the book made me feel like I had visited these people in their homes. He writes in beautiful detail so the pictures are complete. I later bought the movie which was very good, but the book was even better. That's why I went on to purchase several other books by Chaim Potok.

These CDs were very helpful to my class who have a hard time reading.

This story was impressive because of the myriad of themes it covers in such a short, comprehensive read: the voyage of boyhood to manhood, friendship, compassion, faith, family ties, the pursuit of knowledge, loyalty, respect, etc. Although the story involves the lives and beliefs of two Jewish families, it is easy enough to understand for those not of the Jewish faith. The theme best covered is the nature of parental love and it made the book a worthwhile read.

Many readers of this book have commented on how the theme of friendship is treated by the author in this novel. I was, however, more deeply moved by an element of the book which is so much present throughout the story as to appear like one more character, even though it is not a person: the Talmud, to which we are introduced almost from the first page. The Talmud is a distilation of wisdom, the core of knowledge that jewish sages have collected and handed down from generation to generation for centuries.
What better thing can a father do than to try to teach his youn son such words of wisdom?

This is really for me the essence of the novel -the different ways Daniel's and Reuven's fathers have of transmitting this knowledge....and the differetn ways the two young protagonists have of learning and applying what they have learnt. Learning and knowledge are so much the focus of the novel -a novel that is, in my opinion, deceptively simple and charming- that the author places the climax at the point when the university professor asks Reuven about a particularly difficult passage of the Talmud.....and this is done in such a masterful way that you find yourself sitting at the edge of your seat with expectation.

The way the conflict is solved (or explained) and the final conversation with Daniel's father made me cry like no book has for ages ! Chaim Potok's is a quiet, simple, totally unpretentious wisdom.

I am not under 13, in fact I'm 22. Wasn't in the mood to go through all the "what is your email address" stuff.
Read the book in grade 11 at the high school. Guys you WON'T regret reading it. Absolutely amazing. Cannot remember the details though, but I'll try to summerize the book in like 4 lines.
It is the story of a clever dude who was living in a strict jewish family. In a baseball match, his ball hit an opponent and hurt him. They took him to a hospital and after a while, the two boys became good friends. The book is concentrated on the friendship of the two and the challanges that they face living through life.
As a said, You'll enjoy reading it.

I have read hundreds of literature and classic titles and have loved many. But, this is my favorite book. God wrote it, not Chaim Potok like the cover states.

I loved this book. When I received it there was no damage done to it.

I first read The Chosen several years ago, and I'm glad I picked it up again. On the surface, the novel is about 2 teenage Jewish boys who become close friends, their relationships with their fathers, and the decisions they make in life.

Looking past the surface, the book explores the process of friendship and what makes a good friend. What draws Danny and Reuven together? How do such different people become so close?

The novel also explores family traditions and patriarchal expectancies. Danny is expected to take over the rabbi position from his father, but Danny is literally a genius and is interested in psychology. His father is also raising him in silence, which Reuven questions throughout the book and which is explained only at the end. Reuven's father is a scholar and wants his son to be a mathematician, but Reuvan wants to be a rabbi.

Finally, the book is a reminder that not all people within a certain group are the same. Both Danny and Reuven are orthodox Jews, but Danny is Hasidic and Reuven is not. There is some prejudice between Hasidic and non-Hasidic Jews, and different groups of Jews have different stances on the establishment of Israel.

Chaim Potok has written a beautiful story that is as relevant today as it was when it was first written. It is a novel that, I think, trandscends age, gender, race, and religion, and I recommend it to everyone.

I'm not Jewish but my co-worker who is Jewish recommended this book to me. I found it to be very engaging from beginning to end. This is a coming of age story of two teen-age boys who form an unlikely friendship set against the backdrop of the end of WW II.
The reviewers who called it boring apparently don't understand that good storytelling doesn't have to be all about slam-bang action. It's lamentable that popular culture has become so action-oriented that so many cannot appreciate a quiet, well-told story such as this one.
This book reminded me of "A Separate Peace", another novel that is often assigned for school reading. If you like the one, you will probably like the other and sadly, if your taste runs only to action and adventure you may not "get" either one.

Although i read this book for a class, I thoroughly enjoyed it. The book hooks in the reader by opening out with a tension-filled baseball game. Needless to say, this book is a real page-turner. Furthermore, the book was a very enriching read. The often overlooked customs, history and varying religions of the Jewish religion is covered in a way that doens't put the reader to sleep. The tale itself is also very well-developed, as it shows the clashing between two Jewish realms.

The only downfall of the book in my mind, were the unrealistic qualities of a few of the characters. It seemed as though they were too smart for being just teenagers at time, and many of their discussions seemed unrealistic.

This however, didn't detract too much from the read, and I'd recommend this to any adult-level reader. Once again; it's a page turner (took me only about 3 days) and well worht the read.

A classic story of an unlikely friendship between two boys divided by a common culture. Orthodox and Conservative Judaism clash in the lives of two boys coming of age at the close of WWII.

This compelling story transcends the culture it is set in--but those interested in Judaism will find many enlightening insights into the culture and religion.

Reading this story made me realize the awesome responsibility that passed to American Jewry when they realized the acknowledged keepers of their culture, European Jewry, had but all been wiped out of existence. The mantle was now upon them to preserve their forefathers' traditions, culture, and worship.

Wow. I can see why this book was a finalist for Book of the Year. Mr. Potok brought me right into the soul of the characters in this book, and even though I know very little about Hasidic culture, I was certainly not at a loss to the plot. This is great writing, and a great story. I have read hundreds of great books in my lifetime (including classics), and I enjoyed this one more than any so far. I would recommend this book to anyone and everyone.

I confess that, unable to have a fresh Harry Potter for a long plane trip, I was just looking for a book to pass the time. I saw "The Chosen" in an audiobook listing and decided to go for it. I liked the movie, especially Rod Steiger's portrayal of Reb Saunders. I was anticipating a fuller story, as books are usually chopped up for the screen play.

I was pleasantly surprised. The narrator spoke well and the story had much detail. I found myself being drawn into the story and back in time. There were many historical portions of the story that gave me insight into my parents' backgrounds growing up in the US.

I was annoyed that several scenes in the movie were not from the book (e.g., the Hasidic wedding and the party where Reuven's dad has his stroke (heart attack in the book)). I felt that the book's story line more than satisfactorily brought out the plot points.

You probably do not have to be Jewish to appreciate this story, but I think that it helps. It is a good story about two fathers and two sons. My non-Jewish wife liked both the movie and the book, so I guess that you can never tell.

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"The Chosen" should be required reading for anyone with children. Chaim Potok's eloquence in conveying teenage angst through two Jews of different affiliations is truely a magnificent feat. The story is set to the historically busy decade of the 1950s - World War II, the discovery of concentration camps, the movement for a Jewish homeland in Palestine. The atmosphere established by Potok is absolutely sublime and filled with raw unforgetable characters.

Reuven Malter and Danny Saunders are so sharply drawn because of the nuances that are so carefully drawn by the author. Deciding what college to go to, arguing internally about parental expecations and trying to live up to them, pursuing what is expected over personal desire, and the list goes on. I feel more in touch with father/son relationships than I ever have before after turning the last page of this book.

Five stars.

I read The Chosen for pleasure about a year ago, and I get to read it again for an English class later this year. I'M SOOOOO EXCITED ABOUT READING IT AGAIN!!!!!! People who think that it's melodramatic and it's all about the same thing over and over and over... No offense, but get real! It's about an intense struggle of a boy who's becoming a man and his friend who is struggling to help him despite confusion. And it's BEAUTIFULLY written - it's absolutely beautiful. However, only read this book if you have an appreciation for the finer things in life. If you waste your life on video games and trashy TV, than you'll probably consider it boring because you can't recognize the true beauty of a novel.

This fine novel is set in ultra-Jewish Brooklyn, during the 1940's. Two teenaged boys from different backgrounds---though both are Jewish, one is Chasidic and the other 'merely' strictly Orthodox---meet during a baseball game in which the brilliant son of a powerful Chasidic rebbe injures the Orthodox young man. An unlikely friendship develops between these two and from there we are introduced to those divergent cultures within Judaism that dwell close together within a community, but are separated by belief and custom almost to the point of mutual exclusion. The rebbe's son is a Talmudic scholar of rare giftedness, slated to succeed his dogmatic father at some future time. The other boy, who acts as our narrator, learns of his friend's wishes to become a Freudian psychologist and that his secret wish is to shun the leadership role for which he was born. This friendship survives great external hardships, clashes of belief (especially over the nascent state of Israel) and in the process of taking us on a carefully detailed tour of American Judaism circa 1948, it concludes with a positive ending that more or less justifies the trials at the heart of the story and also sets up for a welcome sequel.

What a find! Not sure how I stumbled upon this, but I'm glad it came my way. I am not Jewish, really not even religoius at all, but you don't need to be Jewish to appreciate the humanity in this story. The writing is masterful. The characters and their world come so alive when reading this. Eaxacly what happens to them is not even as important as just being able, through the author's magic, to inhabit their special world for a short time. A very moving story that should not be missed. Also, the sequel, The Promise, is at the same level. I read them in reverse order because I did not know about The Chosen until after I read The Promise, but even in this order nothing was lost.

Even though this book is steeped in the culture of religion, when I read it in high school the religiosity barely registered. This is a great story about two boys in the midst of growing up. Potok paints a realistic and touching portait of Danny and Reuven, who abandon many of their childish views by the time the last page comes around. The particulars of what is, to me two alien cultures was also interesting, but the real beat of the story is in the human relationships that it unveils. The characters are 100% believable, 100% sympathetic, and 100% compelling. That authenticity drives the story in a way that no over-the-top action stunts ever could.

I highly recommend this book to a young reader who has only found light-hearted fare interesting so far. This is a book to start broadening your tastes.

What a great book. Set in the time period of World War II, two Jewish boys from radically different homes become great friends. Great themes - friendship, loyalty, tradition, life in general. It's a quick read - Potok really has a way of keeping the story moving swiftly. I learned a lot about Judaism and thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. Highly recommended to all readers.

NOTE: For part of the book, I listened to the audio version on CD - it was okay, but I felt the reader was a little too dramatic in some interpretations. The story was good enough that I didn't want to wait to listen to it, so I got the book and finished it.

I run into "The Chosen" by browsing the "Summer Reading" desk on a local bookstore, and what a marvelous find. The book tackles universal and controversial topics. Growing up, religion, becoming an adult, tolerance, but overall it is about the relationship between fathers and sons. If you are a parent you should definitely read this, if you are not you should too, it will make you reflect in your past, present and future choices in life.

Spend sometime with Danny and Reuven, they will enrich your life.

Danny Saunders and Reuven Malter are both different people, living in different communities, following different beliefs. Danny Saunders is a Hasidic Jew, while Reuven Malter doesn't follow those beliefs. Before them the Hasidic Jews never really communicated with the other Jews around them.
When they were playing baseball, something happens that will forever more change the relationship between the two types of Jews.
After that incident Reuven has to learn how to "get through" Danny's father. This is particularly hard because Reb. Saunders (Danny's Dad) is the head of his whole Hasidic community, and abides by the rules of the Hasidic Jews.
Danny and Reuven have to go through tough times to uphold their wonderful friendship. They go through lies, truth, and the discrimination of Jews during World War II.
My Mom and I both read this book at the same time, and both enjoyed it thoroughly. I highly recommend this book for ages 13 and up. It shows true compassion and friendship and I know I will remember it always. I mostly recommend it for people like me, who love to learn about the past, yet like a little bit of fiction. This is the best book I have read all year!