Searching for a beta reader

amother

Thu, Aug 25 2022, 4:57 pm

amother Zinnia wrote:

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(I didn't read the whole thread carefully, so I don't know if there was thought behind the name Shevy, but that's not too Sephardi sounding.)

Hi, the reason I chose this name is because of the main character in the original. Elizabeth Bennet is often called Lizzie. The Hebrew equivalent of Elizabeth is Elisheva, which is what her parents call her exclusively. Friends and her sisters call her Shevi.

amother

Thu, Aug 25 2022, 5:03 pm

amother Yellow wrote:

It's true that the average secular reader wouldn't know the differences between different frum groups. But I don't think that means those differences couldn't interest a secular reader, or that a novel couldn't present them in an engaging way.

Without endorsing the views or haskofos conveyed by this novel, I think it's worth mentioning
Chaim Potok's The Chosen, which IIRC has MO and Charedi main characters. It was a NYT bestseller and I think is still quite popular. Another novel that has done well with secular audiences is Allegra Goodman's Kaaterskill Falls. That particular book is full of frum terms, concepts, and situations that the author didn't feel the need to explain. She relied on the intelligence of her mostly secular and/or non-Jewish audience.

I don't think these authors' degree of personal frumkeit or the specific views they convey (and with which I don't necessarily concur) is relevant here; the point is that they succeeded in making "esoteric" nuances of the frum world interesting to non-frum/non-Jewish readers. I believe (or at least hope) that a quality frum novel could do the same.

B'kitzur - you don't have to dumb things down.

Right, I don't explain most of the terms, except for some Hebrew word play. However I do believe that a glossary can really teach readers. For example, my husband and I didn't grow up with Yiddish, most non Ashkenazi Jews don't, and baaley tshuva also just get stumped by those words. For example I legitimately had to ask an Ashkenazi friend whatever a pushka is supposed to be lol. We call it kupat tzdaka in Hebrew.

amother

Thu, Aug 25 2022, 5:07 pm

Okay so to update in case this got lost. I found and hired a sensitivity reader who I hope won't hate it. I love that there's so much interest here, and many of your questions will be answered when you'll read the book, bezrat Hashem in the near future. I'm touching on a lot of points in this novel and hopefully it makes sense and can entertain and educate. Thank you!