Most young Americans are probably used to eating cheeseburgers and going to movies on Friday nights, but for people living in an Orthodox Jewish community, girls are practically old maids if still single at the age of 22, and it is customary for young men to study the Torah in Israel having completed high school.
\The Outside World,"" by Tova Mirvis, recounts a tale about Tzippy and Bryan, both raised in Orthodox Judaism families, but in varying degrees of strictness. The novel makes it clear that, in an increasingly modern world, complexities of how to apply ancient religious laws arise. While some in the community may adapt and live in both the spiritual and material worlds, others cling to the traditions they remember or choose to forget everything.
Although Bryan's family acknowledges the Sabbath and eats kosher foods, he is viewed as rebellious when he desires to remain a student in Israel an extra year rather than begin university life at Columbia.??
Tzippy's 22 years of life have been constructed around planning her wedding day; her mother is deliriously occupied each day in seeing to it that Tzippy gets married before she turns the dreadful age of 23.
This novel explicitly and carefully weaves a history and future of all the characters using the wedding and marriage of Tzippy and Bryan as an awakening. The personal emotions, dreams and pasts of the parents, siblings and couples are meticulously divulged through dialogue and inner thoughts. Tova Mirvis explains in detail the purposes for and the meanings of all of the Orthodox Jewish traditions, so that even readers who may not have any knowledge of these customs can still sympathize with the characters in their struggles and achievements.
""The Outside World"" does not isolate those of the Orthodox Jewish religion, but instead, while reading about the inner desires, uncertainties and doubts of the young married couple, one may discover that so much of Tzippy and Bryan's emotions may relate to what a reader may be thinking and feeling.
This novel is not only highly enlightening, it tells an enjoyable, well-written story.