"Mystics, Mavericks, and Merrymakers"

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chen

Tue, Nov 15 2005, 8:30 am

Mystics, Mavericks, and Merrymakers: An Intimate Journey Among Hasidic Girls (Hardcover)
by Stephanie Wellen Levine

Horrible book but an eye-opener, esp. the part about girls going off the derech. I felt the writer was something of a spy, betraying the people who opened their homes to her. (No real names used, but still...) Not that she portrayed evryone in a bad way-- she was quite admiring of many. I was totally shocked by some of the things she described, though. (that was before I found the website frumteens.com and read what teens were writing themselves).

lucky

Tue, Nov 15 2005, 11:23 am

chen wrote:

Mystics, Mavericks, and Merrymakers: An Intimate Journey Among Hasidic Girls (Hardcover)
by Stephanie Wellen Levine .

I read the book. I was also very shocked about some of the things she wrote. shock

(I also felt she was not right about badmouthing the people who opened there hearts and homes to her.)

stem

Tue, Nov 15 2005, 11:33 am

I read it too. It sounded like she got everyone's permission to publish what she wrote about them. I wasn't shocked by the book, there was nothing in it that I didn't know happens.

tzivi

Tue, Nov 15 2005, 12:19 pm

Was/is she frum?

happymom

Tue, Nov 15 2005, 12:58 pm

no she wasnt frum and isnt frum now either.

BrachaVHatzlocha

Tue, Nov 15 2005, 5:05 pm

the book you mentioned - it's about a girl who isn't frum and wasn't ever frum? how does this fit in? ppl were trying to be b'karov her?

chen

Tue, Nov 15 2005, 5:22 pm

brachad wrote:

the book you mentioned - it's about a girl who isn't frum and wasn't ever frum? how does this fit in? ppl were trying to be b'karov her?

IIRC, this young woman was doing a research project for grad schooll. she lived in bklyn (crown heights?) for about a year or so, and in that time visited several diff. schools and got to know the girls and interviewed and observed them and their families. she was there for her research project and not to bcme frum. I have no doubt that some of her hosts tried to be mekarev her but that's not why she was there and evidently she was not interested.

she had certain hypotheses abt very religious girls and the project was a study to see if her hypotheses were correct.

stem

Tue, Nov 15 2005, 5:23 pm

She went to live among the community for the specific reason that she wanted to write a book about them. She wasn't ever frum, nor did she claim to be.

IndyMom

Tue, Nov 15 2005, 7:38 pm

you have all piqued my interest, I just put the book on hold at my library.

hardwrknmom

Tue, Nov 15 2005, 7:43 pm

I read her book- it was pathetic. She deliberetly badmouthed lubv girls.

stem

Tue, Nov 15 2005, 7:48 pm

Actually, I found her tone to be mostly admiring of the lubavitch families which she interviewed. She frequently mentioned how the system of separating the boys from the girls created an atmosphere where the girls have a good self-esteem, and strong friendships, have leadership roles in their community, which is not the case in most secular (public) schools where the girls are constantly harrassed and made to believe that they're body is who they are.

I guess it's a matter of perspective.

BrachaVHatzlocha

Tue, Nov 15 2005, 9:05 pm

so it's a "kosher" book?

chen

Tue, Nov 15 2005, 9:22 pm

brachad wrote:

so it's a "kosher" book?

depends on what you mean by kosher. if you mean does it have bad language or pictures--it has no pix, and I don't think it has any bad language. (I will not swear that she doesn't quote some off-the-derech girl whose speech is not the nicest--I read the book a while ago and really don't remember.)

if you can't stand any criticism, direct or implied, of the chassidish community, then this book is not for you. (some parts are very admiring, others are not.) the chapter about girls off the derech was very distressing to me--not because it was in the book, but because it was happening. (what can I tell you, I had no idea how off the derech "off the derech" can be.)

this is a sociological study of a particular subsection of a particular community. it is not a PR work for chassidus. you want that, read "The Rebbe's Army : Inside the World of Chabad-Lubavitch" by Sue Fishkoff.

stem

Tue, Nov 15 2005, 9:23 pm

What do you mean by Kosher? It's a secular book, but it happens to be about frum people.

ASinger

Tue, Nov 15 2005, 10:05 pm

There is nothing in her book that was surprising or new.... neither did she 'make up' these things... perhaps changed names and places- but the facts remain - this does go on..
I did not like the book- the way it was written... I wanted to read it to know about it... curiouisity you could call it..;-)
Basically, my take on it, is that she herslef was on the level of these modern girls... she stooped ot their level...partying with them on the same level as them - the works with them... to me its weird that she was on their level and at a biased view point -if u know what I mean.. she also portrayed VERY extreme people in her book- not your 'typical' maibnstream girl... just my opinion.

miriam

Thu, Nov 17 2005, 6:28 pm

I checked it out from the library today. I will tell you what I think when I finish it. From the cover it looks good and very interesting.

IndyMom

Thu, Nov 17 2005, 9:18 pm

I also checked it out today - but it will have to wait for shabbos reading. We should start a "book club" thread! Smile

stem

Thu, Nov 17 2005, 9:25 pm

That's a great idea!

Mandy

Thu, Nov 17 2005, 9:38 pm

Quote:

Basically, my take on it, is that she herslef was on the level of these modern girls... she stooped ot their level...partying with them on the same level as them - the works with them... to me its weird that she was on their level and at a biased view point -if u know what I mean.. she also portrayed VERY extreme people in her book- not your 'typical' maibnstream girl... just my opinion

This is called qualitative research. You try to learn as much about the perspectives of various community pple while developing your own ideas and theories. Standard protocol in anthropological studies.

daisy

Thu, Nov 17 2005, 10:06 pm

would love a book club thread!
read mystics...found it quite interesting. complaints I heard suggested that it did not represent a true cross section of lubavitch girls, but focused on extremes (did someone say that here?). I think she did an ok job of documenting her observations in her discussion, and chose to focus on some more extreme cases for her specific case studies (read the book over a year ago, so can't remember all the details). maybe someone should start a separate post on this book and/or another I recently read titled "unchosen", which is about chasidic rebels. there's a lot to say on that book. I actually planning on starting a thread, but didn't get around to it. maybe still will.

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