In the Neighborhood of True
| Modern Age |
|---|
 In the Neighborhood of True
|
American History > Modern Age > Jewish History
A powerful story of love, identity, and the price of fitting in or speaking out.
“The story may be set in the past, but it couldn’t be a more timely reminder that true courage comes not from fitting in, but from purposefully standing out . . . and that to find out who you really are, you have to first figure out what you’re not.” —Jodi Picoult, New York Times bestselling author of A Spark of Light and Small Great Things
After her father’s death, Ruth Robb and her family transplant themselves in the summer of 1958 from New York City to Atlanta—the land of debutantes, sweet tea, and the Ku Klux Klan. In her new hometown, Ruth quickly figures out she can be Jewish or she can be popular, but she can’t be both. Eager to fit in with the blond girls in the “pastel posse,” Ruth decides to hide her religion. Before she knows it, she is falling for the handsome and charming Davis and sipping Cokes with him and his friends at the all-white, all-Christian Club.
Does it matter that Ruth’s mother makes her attend services at the local synagogue every week? Not as long as nobody outside her family knows the truth. At temple Ruth meets Max, who is serious and intense about the fight for social justice, and now she is caught between two worlds, two religions, and two boys. But when a violent hate crime brings the different parts of Ruth’s life into sharp conflict, she will have to choose between all she’s come to love about her new life and standing up for what she believes.
Emily's Review
I really enjoyed this story. Ruth and her mother and sister move from NYC to Atlanta in the 1950s. Her father has recently died and her mother is returning home to her parents. Ruth's father was Jewish and her mother converted, but Ruth wants to have the whole debutante experience like her mother did as a teen, so she keeps that information to herself. The story is about how Ruth learns to be true to herself and her convictions.
What I appreciated about the story was the honesty. I was a Jew in the south, and I remember quite clearly wishing that I could just be like everyone else. But having grown up in the same place my entire childhood, it wasn't something I could hide. But honestly, would I have really wanted to hide it? Probably not. So I appreciated seeing her struggle with that in an honest way.
I also really appreciated how relevant the story felt. It is based around a real bombing of a synagogue in Atlanta in the 50s, and the story felt very current day, despite taking place in 1958. Unfortunately, antisemitism hasn't really gone away.
Other Similar Books
Other suggestions on the subject of the Jewish History.
- Stone Angel (by: Yolen, Jane, Holocaust, France, LE)
- Hidden Hope (by: Boxer, Elisa, Holocaust, Jewish Resistance, France, LE, MG)
- Dear Mr. Dickens (by: Churnin, Nancy, Charles Dickens, antisemitism, Great Britain, LE, MG)
- Gittel's Journey: An Ellis Island Story (by: Newman, Lesléa, Jewish Immigration, Ellis Island, United States, LE, MG)
- Stars of the Night: The Courageous Children of the Czech Kindertransport (by: Stelson, Caren, Holocaust, Kindertransport, Czechoslovakia, LE, MG)
- A Sky Full of Song (by: Meyer, Susan Lynn, Jewish Immigration, Westward Expansion, United States, MG, UMG)
- Number the Stars (by: Lowry, Lois, WWII, Denmark, MG)
- A Ceiling Made of Eggshells (by: Carson Levine, Gail, Spanish Inquisition, Jewish Persecution, Spain, UMG, MG)
- Once (by: Gleitzman, Morris, Holocaust, Poland, MG, UMG)
- All-of-a-Kind Family (by: Taylor, Syndey, Jewish Life, United States, MG)
- Letters From Rifka (by: Hesse, Karen, Jewish Immigration, United States, MG, UMG)
- Then (by: Gleitzman, Morris, Holocaust, Poland, MG, UMG)
- The Girl Who Sang (by: Nadel, Estelle, Savos, Sammy, Strout, Bethany, Holocaust, Nazi Occupation, Poland, MG, UMG)
- Just a Girl: A True Story of World War II (by: Levi, Lia, WWII, Jews in Hiding, Nazi Occupation, Italy, MG)
- Now (by: Gleitzman, Morris, Holocaust, Post WWII, Australia, MG, UMG)
- I Will Protect You: A True Story of Twins Who Survived Auschwitz (by: Kor, Eva Mozes, Holocaust, Nazi Occupation, Auschwitz, Romania, MG)
- Hidden: A Child's Story of the Holocaust (by: Dauvillier, Loïc, Holocaust, France, MG, UMG)
- Twenty and Ten (by: Bishop, Claire Hutchet, WWII, Jews in Hiding, Nazi Occupation, France, MG)
- Out of Hiding (by: Gruener, Ruth, Holocaust, Immigration, Jewish Refugees, Poland, United States, MG)
- Esfir is Alive (by: Simon, Andrea, Holocaust, Poland, UMG, YA)
- Flesh and Blood So Cheap: The Triangle Fire and Its Legacy (by: Marrin, Albert, Triangle Shirtwaist Factory, Fires, Labor Reform, United States, UMG, YA)
- The Devil's Arithmetic (by: Yolen, Jane, Holocaust, Poland, UMG, YA)
- Catherine's War (by: Billet, Julia, WWII, Jews in Hiding, Nazi Occupation, France, UMG)
- The Blackbird Girls (by: Blankman, Anne, Chernobyl, Communism, Soviet Union, Ukraine, Russia, Uzbekistan, UMG)
- A Bend in the Stars (by: Barenbaum, Rachel, Russian Revolution, Women in Science, Russia, YA, A)
- Upon the Head of the Goat (by: Siegal, Aranka, Holocaust, Hungary, Hungary, UMG)
- No Pretty Pictures: A Child of War (by: Lobel, Anita, Holocaust, Poland, UMG, YA)
- Audacity (by: Crowder, Melanie, Gilded Age, Activism, United States, UMG, YA)
- When the World Was Ours (by: Kessler, Liz, WWII, Holocaust, Austria, UMG, YA)
- Four Perfect Pebbles (by: Blumenthal Lazan, Marion, Holocaust, Germany, Holland, UMG)
- Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl (by: Frank, Anne, Holocaust, Netherlands, UMG, YA)
- Across So Many Seas (by: Behar, Ruth, Spanish Inquisition, Sephardic Jews, Diaspora, Spain, Cuba, United States, UMG, YA)
- Beyond Courage (by: Rappaport, Doreen, Holocaust, Germany, UMG, YA)
- Uprising (by: Haddix, Margaret Peterson, Triangle Shirtwaist Factory, Fires, Labor Reform, United States, UMG)
- Courage to Dream: Tales of Hope in the Holocaust (by: Shusterman, Neal, Holocaust, Jewish Resistance, various, UMG, YA)
- The Prince of Steel Pier (by: Nockowitz, Stacy, Jewish Life, Atlantic City, Mobsters, United States, UMG)
- Out of Many Waters (by: Greene, Jacqueline, Portuguese Inquisition, Sea Travel, Portugal, UMG)
- Mapping the Bones (by: Yolen, Jane, Holocaust, Poland, YA, A)
- Anya's War (by: Alban, Andrea, WWII, Jewish Immigration, China, YA)
- Briar Rose (by: Yolen, Jane, Holocaust, Poland, YA, A)
- The Redhead of Auschwitz: A True Story (by: Birnbaum, Nechama, Holocaust, Auschwitz, Romania, Germany, YA, A)
- We Were the Lucky Ones (by: Hunter, Georgia, WWII, Poland, YA, A)
- Margot (by: Cantor, Jillian, Jewish Life, Holocaust, Holocaust Survivors, United States, YA, A)
- They Went Left (by: Hesse, Monica, Holocaust, Poland, Germany, YA, A)
- The Blood Years (by: Arnold, Elana K., Holocaust, Romania, YA, A)
- This Rebel Heart (by: Locke, Katherine, Revolution, Hungarian Revolution, LGBTQ+, Hungary, YA, A)
- The Search (by: Heuvel, Eric, Holocaust, Netherlands, YA, A)
- People of the Book (by: Brooks, Geraldine, Sarajevo Haggadah, Bosnia and Herzegovina, YA, A)
- 28 Days: A Novel of Resistance in the Warsaw Ghetto (by: Safier, David, Holocaust, Auschwitz, Jewish Resistance, Poland, YA, A)
- Night (by: Wiesel, Elie, Holocaust, Auschwitz, Romania, YA, A)
- The Red Tent (by: Diamant, Anita, Mesopotamia, Biblical Patriarchy, Middle East, YA, A)
- Wrath Becomes Her (by: Polydoros, Aden, WWII, Jewish Resistance, Lithuania, YA, A)
- Names in a Jar (by: Gold, Jennifer, Holocaust, WWII, Poland, YA, A)
- Rebel Cinderella: From Rags to Riches to Radical, the Epic Journey of Rose Pastor Stokes (by: Hochschild, Adam, Jewish Immigration, Rose Pastor Stokes, United States, YA, A)
- My Name is Selma (by: van de Perre, Selma, Holocaust, Jewish Resistance, Netherlands, YA, A)
- Dawn (by: Wiesel, Elie, Holocaust, Post WWII, Palestine, YA, A)
- The Librarian of Auschwitz (by: Iturbe, Antonio, Holocaust, Auschwitz, Jewish Resistance, Poland, YA, A)
- The City Beautiful (by: Polydoros, Aden, Gilded Age, Jewish Immigration, Chicago World's Fair, United States, YA, A)
- Atomic Anna (by: Barenbaum, Rachel, Chernobyl, Communism, Soviet Union, Russia, United States, YA, A)
- In the Neighborhood of True (by: Kaplan Carlton, Susan, Jewish Life, United States, YA, A)
- Day (by: Wiesel, Elie, Holocaust, Post WWII, United States, YA, A)
- Not Our Kind (by: Zeldis, Kitty, Jewish Life, United States, A)
- The Last Rose of Shanghai: A Novel (by: Dai Randel, Weina, WWII, Jewish Immigration, China, A)
- The Postcard (by: Berest, Anne, WWII, Jewish Life, antisemitism, Holocaust Survivors, France, A)
- Incantation (by: Hoffman, Alice, Spanish Inquisition, Jewish Persecution, Spain, A)
- The Lost: A Search for Six of Six Million (by: Mendelsohn, Daniel, Holocaust, Ukraine, A)