LONGLISTED FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD!
A WILLIAM C. MORRIS AWARD WINNER!
The Chosen meets Adam Silvera in this irreverent and timely story of worlds colliding in friendship, betrayal, and the hatred that divides us.
Hoodie Rosen's life isn't that bad. Sure, his entire Orthodox Jewish community has just picked up and moved to the quiet, mostly non-Jewish town of Tregaron, but Hoodie's world hasn't changed that much. He's got basketball to play, studies to avoid, and a supermarket full of delicious kosher snacks to eat. The people of Tregaron aren't happy that so many Orthodox Jews are moving in at once, but that's not Hoodie's problem.
That is, until he meets and falls for Anna-Marie Diaz-O'Leary-who happens to be the daughter of the obstinate mayor trying to keep Hoodie's community out of the town. And things only get more complicated when Tregaron is struck by a series of antisemitic crimes that quickly escalate to deadly violence.
As his community turns on him for siding with the enemy, Hoodie finds himself caught between his first love and the only world he's ever known.
Isaac Blum delivers a wry, witty debut novel about a deeply important and timely subject, in a story of hatred and betrayal-and the friendships we find in the most unexpected places.
Praise for The Life and Crimes of Hoodie Rosen:
"A deeply authentic story about the terror and glory of encountering the outside world without sacrificing who you are-and who you want to be. It's touching, tragic, and as Jewish as your Bubbe's cholent." -Gavriel Savit, New York Times bestselling author of Anna and the Swallow Man
"Blum gives the common but often-dismissed spiritual journey of many teens the respect it deserves in this witty, profound look at cross-cultural friendship, courageous honesty, and how a willingness to truly see and love our neighbors can change an entire community." -Vesper Stamper, National Book Award-nominated author of What the Night Sings
"A refreshingly human look at the day-to-day nuances of Orthodox Judaism and the terror of modern antisemitism. I laughed, I gasped, I craved kosher Starburst. Two thumbs up from this nice Jewish girl!" -Tyler Feder, Sydney Taylor Award-winning author of Dancing at the Pity Party
"Bold, brave, and brutally honest, it holds a permanent piece of my heart." -Dahlia Adler, author of Cool for the Summer
"Isaac Blum has the rare talent of telling searing, visceral truths in a witty, funny, punchy way . . . The Life and Crimes of Hoodie Rosen is a vital voice in Jewish YA canon." -Katherine Locke, Sydney Taylor Honor author of The Girl with the Red Balloon
Autorentext
Isaac Blum (he/him) holds an MFA in creative writing from Rutgers University, Camden. His stories and essays have appeared in The New York Times, The Iowa Review, and One Teen Story, among other publications. He's taught writing at several colleges and universities, and English language arts at Orthodox Jewish and public high schools, and he served as the emerging-writer-in-residence at Penn State, Altoona. He currently lives with his wife outside of Philadelphia, where he watches Philadelphia sports and reads books that make him laugh while showing him something true about the world. The Life and Crimes of Hoodie Rosen is his debut novel. You can visit Isaac online at isaacblumauthor.com and follow him on Twitter and Instagram @isaacblum_.
Klappentext
The Chosen meets Darius the Great in this irreverent and timely story of worlds colliding in friendship, betrayal, and hatred.
Hoodie Rosen has recently moved to the town of Tregaron, where members of his Orthodox Jewish community are looking to build a new home. But the town's mayor and many of the people who live there aren't all that thrilled about it, and are in fact blocking them at every turn. Hoodie isn't so bothered, though--he's leaving the worrying to the adults who spend their days thusly engaged. He's got studies at the yeshiva to avoid, basketball to play, and a supermarket full of delicious imported British kosher Starbursts to eat.
But when he meets--and falls for--Anna-Marie Diaz-O'Leary, he discovers a couple of minor problems. First, as a good yeshiva boy, he's not really supposed to talk to girls, especially girls who aren't Jewish. And second, Anna-Marie's mother just so happens to be Tregaron's mayor and the leader of the effort to stop Hoodie's community from living in the town.
Hoodie's family, friends, and rabbis all see his friendship with Anna-Marie as a betrayal of their traditions--he's siding with the enemy, they say, the people who are against them. And with the weight of centuries of Jewish oppression on their shoulders, that's not something they take lightly. But Hoodie doesn't understand why everyone can't just get along. After all, isn't befriending Anna-Marie a great way to bring the sides together?
When a string of antisemitic crimes comes to Tregaron, though, Hoodie finds himself caught between two worlds. And when those crimes escalate to deadly violence--the kind with hate-filled manifestos, carefully picked targets, and fully loaded guns--the town and its factions must all face the truth, Hoodie included.
In this ripped-from-the-headlines story, debut author Isaac Blum delivers a perfect blend of wry, witty writing and a deeply important topic that will resonate well beyond the community it describes.