This book wasn't amazing, and would be inapropriate for any child below 13. However, I thought the dynamics between Jacob and his father were very intersesting. His father is a complex and twisted character, full of self pride and self doubt. He has an inability to admit his own failures, so he compensates by expecting perfection in his children. Jacob grows up with a "learning disability" and his father never really forgives him for that. However, he has a natural ability at reading Hebrew so his father forces him to Hebrew school 9 hours a week. When his mother leaves his father, Jacobs older brother Asher rebels out and rarely see's his father. So the dad clings to Jacob. Prone to bursts of flairing anger that should really be called emocianal abuse, he attacks his children through harsh words and then expects them to love him. He retaliates this with bursts of hollow love that only confuse Jacob and causes his upset. In the end we leave him running along a sidewalk, presumably away from his father.
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