Unorthodox

Excellent read! Beautifully written

So well written.

Just wow. Inspirational, dramatic, truthful, and shocking. Worth reading again and again.

It was a wonderful extraordinary story that I found myself not wanting to put it down. I had to keep reading and when there were words and traditions I didn’t know, I found myself looking it up in my dictionary or on google search.

Truth about a woman’s search for herself, an escape from a repressive culture - and her refusal to blindly accept illogical rules cloaked in the guise of “religion”. Excellent book.

I watched the short series on Netflix and fell in love with it, so i decided to read the book and I’m so glad i did. Such a telling story and really showed more than the show did

I watched the Netflix series by the same name and enjoyed that, so I decided to read the book. This book was boring and dragged in many places. The author seemed very self righteous and arrogant. I felt like she had a very discriminatory attitude to those outside her culture.

For my AP Lang and Comp class, we were asked to choose a non-fiction book to read and eventually write a synthesis essay on. I had originally picked another book but I then decided to read this one after I discovered that Netflix’s “Unorthodox” was based off this lovely memoir. I was always planning on watching the mini-series but I decided to read the book that started it all first. Best decision ever!

This book was written in the most beautiful way where I really captured every emotion and sensation that Deborah felt! It was as if I was there! This memoir kept me intrigued as it was the complete opposite of boring! I have never been that familiar with Jewish culture, let alone Hadistic Jewish culture, but this book truly opened my eyes. I got emotional near the end because I didn’t want the book to finish!

If you’re looking for a story with humor, strife, sadness, relief, and sheer joy, then this is the book for you!

I watched the first 10 minutes of the Netflix series of the same name and knew immediately I wanted to read the book. I bought it instantly on iTunes and started reading it the moment I finished the series.

The book is completely different. The series says “based on” this book, and that is a very, very loose statement. None of the characters in the series are in the book, and those that bear any similarities aren’t given the same roles they have in the series.

While the book is definitely a memoir of a girl escaping her religious upbringing, if you’re expecting a more in-depth version of the events shown in the Netflix series, it is not that. I bought this memoir expecting exactly that, and was disappointed to find it was a description of her life in the community and her thoughts growing up rather than the tale of escape the series makes it out to be.

Only the last chapter is dedicated to her actually leaving the community, as it is far less dramatic than the show makes it out to be. There’s no evil stalker or other men coming after her, or anyone threatening her in any way. There’s no drama whatsoever in this book, no narrow escape to a foreign city, no dream of musical excellence, no homelessness - none of the struggles the series is supposedly “based on” are there. Even her mother is only mentioned once or twice, and never by name.

It’s decently written, but had I known it bears virtually no similarity to the series of the same name, I wouldn’t have bought it.

Thank you for shining the light into such a closed and secluded community. By understanding more I now feel compelled to accept them and respect their way of life. The only thing missing in such a community is gender equality.

A wonderful tale.
Mario Gamez