Not Worth Reading (In My Humble Opinion)

Over spring break I read Naomi Ragen's most recent book, The Covenant, and was superbly unimpressed. Now, unlike some of her other books, I actually wholeheartedly agree with her opinion in this one; terrorism is bad. However, when an author relies on stereotypes instead of character development, she hurts her point. Ragen's point is valid, but instead of arguing with the facts, she uses one-dimensional stereotypes and a fantastical setting so that even someone who agreed with her going in came out skeptical.

I think it's really easy for us to rely on what we know is true, but you can't convince people of those beliefs without real info. It's really hard, though, when you grow up believing something is true to have a good grasp of the facts. I would argue that many of us (myself included) could not argue the facts well in the case of Israel, terrorism, Zionism, etc. because it's always a granted in the frum community that Israel is right and they're all out to get us. So Ragen had an excellent oppurtunity in this book to educate not only her secular readers, but even the frum readers.

However, I'm not really sure a novel is the best place to prove a point anyway. I used to be a big Ayn Rand fan and couldn't understand why every English teacher I knew despised the author. I've figured out that it's because she writes propaganda, not novels. I would argue that Ragen does the same thing in The Covenant - and less skillfully.