What do you think of the new AMI serials?

Alef Bais

Sat, Jan 21 2012, 8:32 pm

I was in such suspense after this week's A Family Like Ours. I can't wait to find out what happens next. Also, the Israeli secret agent story is intriguing, even if I do find it kinda farfetched. Lockdown in Ami finally had the poisoning occur this week and now I really want to know how poison wound up in the salad. I love these intriguing serials!!!

faigyl

Sat, Jan 21 2012, 8:37 pm

I cant stand the serial "A family like ours"... it literally drives me crazy every week...
The other ones are good.

TranquilityAndPeace

Sat, Jan 21 2012, 9:01 pm

Anyone else think that "A family like ours" is just not written well? Do you have any feelings towards Gitty, do you understand what kind of person she is, do you like her? She seems so flat. The story reads like a teenager's diary more than a magazine's story; I only read it because it's there - the lack of personality makes it very boring.

Alef Bais

Sat, Jan 21 2012, 9:17 pm

T&P, it IS supposed to be a diary. The fact that it's a true life story makes it interesting enough for me, even if it's not written all that amazingly.

faigyl

Sat, Jan 21 2012, 9:24 pm

I still dont get why she married the guy? They have nothing in common- she's always admitting he's too strict for her and the girls are right... a man who gets married 3 weeks after his first wife dies is looking for a babysitter and cleaning lady. The whole thing just gets me nervous. She buys new clothes and changes EVERYTHING for this man who she couldn't explain why she married.

TranquilityAndPeace

Sat, Jan 21 2012, 9:52 pm

Alef Bais wrote:

T&P, it IS supposed to be a diary. The fact that it's a true life story makes it interesting enough for me, even if it's not written all that amazingly.

I know. But the lack of personality is not drawing me into the storyline. I suppose I'm used to the Mishpacha serials by Riva Pomerantz, where I really feel that I can get to know the characters.

TranquilityAndPeace

Sat, Jan 21 2012, 10:44 pm

faigyl wrote:

ITA! and if they got married 3 weeks after the first wife died, assuming he didn't date during shiva, they dated for a maximum of 2 weeks? For a 2nd marriage???

yksraya

Sat, Jan 21 2012, 11:01 pm

I do like the story. It is funny that she married so quickly and took someone much frummer then her. but, I still like reading how the she tries to blend both families and help the orphans. blended families are very common and I'm always interested how the amazing woman keep both sets of kids like one big family although kids are in many cases not accepting of the "new mom". as to the story total immersion: I love fiction so I like reading it, but, it does look a bit too fictitious.

TranquilityAndPeace

Sat, Jan 21 2012, 11:11 pm

bnm wrote:

mine got stolen or thrown out... can anyone scan the serials for me?

If you live in Baltimore, you can have mine. Otherwise I can scan it for you tomorrow, pm me then.

G'nite:)

tweek

Sun, Jan 22 2012, 8:55 am

The one about the secret agen is so OFF! I have never written to an editor before, but I am seriously considering it. I don't care if in the end he becomes a real baal teshuva and saves all of chareidi jewry (pretty easy to figure out the basic point!), but it is sooooooo inappropiate to say that he married her on a pretense. We all know that there is more to a marriage than is written in a story and it is almost as if some clueless teen wrote it. How could a married adult write such a ridiculous thing? To me it is an undermining of the whole idea of what kedusha and tehara in a marriage are all about. You don't play around with such things just for an entertaining story. It makes me want to throw up every time I read it.

das

Sun, Jan 22 2012, 10:13 am

Whether its appropriate for a frum mag is another story (I have no problem with it, but I'm liberal 'bout these things) , but marriage to maintain cover is a known espionage tool.

Lockdown is great. Ruthie Pearlman is awesome.

Fly by Night is boring.

Girl on a Diet is GREAT. I was wondering how much could be written about a diet weekly but I do feel emotionally involved in her struggle and other issues.

A Family Like Ours is a very entertaining read but the author/protagonist needs serious pychological help. She appears to have married him so she could be a hero after an embarrassing divorce. They seem to have no relationship at all. And hitting her 18 year old stepdaughter who was crying over her mother's death when Sheloshim was barely over? SHE SHOULD BE LOCKED UP!

EmesOrNT

Sun, Jan 22 2012, 11:51 am

Have I been missing a part of my ami? What is fly by night?

The secret agent thing is stupid. Agents don't just get married to their marks nephew. Besides the fact that this is written by a jewish woman. Every time I read it, I wonder how leah will feel, being duped, and raped by some agent. Awful.

The other story is interesting, but doesn't feel real to me. That could be because I have never been in such a situation, but I dunno. I would assume that older children would want their father to be happy.

Again, what is fly by night and lockdown??

September June

Sun, Jan 22 2012, 1:19 pm

IMO the best serial in the Ami is Lockdown. I also like Girl On A Diet but I am a couple of issues behind so I haven't really gotten into it yet.

Total Immersion has not been interesting, so far it sounds like a Mafia/Mossad/FBI frum style story.
I skim Fly by Night and do not like it at all.

I don't understand why Gitty and Nachum got married; they don't seem to have anything in common. Nachum does not seem to try to understand Gitty and we hardly see him sticking up for her. Her stepchildren were not ready for a stepmother at all. It is not well written either.

Sigh. I was hoping Ami Living would get better serials.

TranquilityAndPeace

Sun, Jan 22 2012, 1:31 pm

emesornt wrote:

wait, grownups read the kiddie section?

I was just wondering that!

Aim is a major treat for my kids after they've showered, dressed for Shabbos, and brushed their teeth on Friday afternoons! (Even though I buy it on Wednesdays, I hide it!) I never thought of reading it myself!

tweek

Sun, Jan 22 2012, 1:46 pm

das wrote:

Whether its appropriate for a frum mag is another story (I have no problem with it, but I'm liberal 'bout these things) , but marriage to maintain cover is a known espionage tool.
!

I am very liberal about those things. I do not believe in censorship at all. I am talking about a quality issue, not a "frumkeit" issue. It is as if a little baby who does not know what marriage is all about wrote it. I just feel like it is in bad taste, nothing to do with frumkeit.