Journal Entry 1 by ghir from Honolulu, Hawaii USA on Thursday, October 20, 2005

I am glad Potok-fan's wishlist led me to this book. Simply written, it tells the tales of three people who have suppressed memories of the war.

To Potok-fan, 10/25/05. 

Journal Entry 2 by potok-fan from Turku, Varsinais-Suomi Finland on Thursday, January 05, 2006

THANK YOU GHIR! This book was mailed surface mail on Oct 25 from Honolulu, and arrived in my mailbox in Turku on January 5. What a great surprise to come home to.

This is a collection of novellas or short stories by Chaim Potok, the author who inspired my BC user-name. It looks as though at least one features a character from an earlier novel by Potok, Davita's Harp, so I will probably re-read that novel before reading these stories.

Ghir posted on the forum just a few days ago, asking for prayer for her job search. So, ghir, this was a timely reminder to pray for you again: May G-d grant you peace and confidence as you look for work, and a fulfilling job soon. 

Journal Entry 3 by potok-fan from Turku, Varsinais-Suomi Finland on Wednesday, November 22, 2006

I have been down and off work for just over a week with a virus. Just a cold, really, but it makes me so tired, and easily discouraged.

Last night, having exhausted all the tv shows I had videotaped and finished another paperback thriller, I decided the time had come for a book given by a friend. And I pulled down Potok from the shelf. I told myself I would just read the first novella.

A sharp disappointment.

I was looking for comfort and didn’t find any at all. I quickly skimmed across the second story, increasingly unsettled. Like Lolita in Tehran, it was an account of oppression, leaving me with a hazy vision of the changing whims of politics and war seeming always to engender more cruelty in the name of vengeance, tyrrany in the name of security, along with an embarrassment at not being more confident about the names and dates of history and current events – whether in Russia or Iran.

By the third novella I was skittering about, flipping pages to and fro – “What will be this man’s story? Ignore his present for now.” And suddenly there I was somehow back in the Potok I had expected. Not unproblematic, not without sorrow, even anguish, but also strangely comforting. Perhaps it was the ram in the bush.

I’ve now re-read it three times – or rather, re-read some paragraphs, read others for the first time, still skipping around. I think I’ve yet to read every word straight through. This will surely be of interest to postmodern literary theorists: funny to “discover” in bits and pieces a story which is precisely about re-discovering (and yet also, discovering for the very first time) a story.

I’ve also skimmed through the interview at the back of the book. Interesting to see that this third novella was the one written first, that the others are said to be a prequel. Someday I will go back and read the prequel, and perhaps be ready for it/them then. But for now, thank you to ghir for sending this book as a gift.