I am starting to wonder why I am assigned this for summer reading for tenth grade when I could have gotten this from the fourth-grade bookshelf. I guess it is a classic because of its being a true story, but the characters are all sort of one-dimensional and while the historical detail is very accurate, this book is just hard to get through largely because of the characters.Ahem. Meaning the father. It's clearly not just tradition that makes him into such a jerk. It's like he enjoys making people's lives difficult. Just...why. Why does he even bother opening his mouth?

This book, about a Jewish girl raised in the tenements on the lower east side of Manhattan in the 20's, was written by a woman who had herself been raised in the tenements and was published in 1925. I loved the feeling that this was not a well-researched book, it was written as the author had lived it. And while it may suffer from the embellishment and sentimentality of literature from it's time, I think that only adds to it's authenticity. I really loved it.

Sara Smolinsky, lives a hard life. No one in their family, can find a good-paying job in the family. With a household of 5, and having a small amount of wages being used for the family, Sara strives to make some money for her family. Her father however, is studying the "Torah" and is not looking for work at all. Every single day, he sits at home in his own private room reading the bible. Having to live in a poor family and a father that doesn't work due to his "learning", she decides to live her life and rebel against her father.

In the beginning of the book, Sara tried not to rebel her father at all, and be a good daughter. However, she was sick of her father's nonstop preaching, so she packed her bags and left. As her life goes on, she never gave up at all. With a dusty and a small room to live in, working in the morning, and studying to be a teacher at night, life is exhausting. With no food to eat, not much money to pay for rent and school fee's, Sara still tries to make progress with the life she has. She never gave up despite all the troubles that were being tossed in her journey of discovering herself.

From this book, I learned to never give up, even if everything else in your life is crashing down. Sara never gave up and still tried to make the best of her life without her father always nagging her.

Do I give this book 2 stars because I was so frustrated with the characters? (So far, yes.)
Or is my reaction a sign of a good book that can make me so frustrated with the characters?

Spilling Tea discussion tomorrow morning! I reserve the right to up my stars ;-)