The Chosen, By Chaim Potok

The Chosen by Chaim Potok focuses on the journey of two Jewish boys from childhood to manhood. Its main character, Reuven Malter struggles to recover from a baseball hit to the eye and discovers the importance of friendship as well as experiencing firsthand the struggles of understanding others. The Chosen is one of the best books this year because it demonstrates the importance of friendship, religion, and loyalty. To begin, friendship makes The Chosen one of the best books this year. Friendships are a necessary part of life without friendship people experience loneliness and exclusion. As Reuvens’ father mentions to Reuven, Danny is very lonely and needs a friend. (Ch. 3) Because Danny does not have any good friends he often gets lonely. Nothing could become more vital to living a good life than having a good friend.
Religion acts like a brace for society. Without it no one would know what to believe and the bible would become another random book. But as demonstrated in The Chosen a lot hangs on a person’s religion it helps to explain why certain people think the way they do. “You did a foolish thing, Reuven,” he told me sternly. “You remember what the Talmud says. If a person comes to apologize for having hurt you, you must listen and forgive him.”, (The Chosen p. 63) His father because of his Jewish religion tells his son to forgive because that is what the Talmud says to do. His Jewish background governs a majority of his actions however small the problem may