Moody, style-driven novel about a student living on a fellowship in Spain, writing poetry, doing drugs and negotiating relationships with women. It's told in the first person by Adam, the student, and covers his adventures and his thoughts about literature, politics and life. The 2004 Madrid bombings occur during his stay; he's a witness, though the events don't seem to shake him up very much. I enjoyed the book as the self-consciously literary prose poem it is but it's short on plot and is more a series of reflections and moods and less a narrative, although the character does narrate a certain period in his life. Lerner does a nice job capturing the experience of being an American living abroad, the sense of alienation, the sense of detachment and foreign-ness that comes with living on the periphery of a place and a group of people. Adam tries to ingratiate himself into the local literary scene, something that only happens by chance as he attaches himself to a group of strangers at a bar who turn out to be artists, writers and gallery people. Through it all he never loses his sense of separateness and it's this that's communicated so beautifully to the reader.
Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik's And From There You Shall Seek was originally published in Hebrew in 1978 and appears in English here for the first time. Soloveitchik uses The Song of Songs as the starting point for an extended argument on the necessity of following Jewish law, or halakah, in order to build a meaningful relationship with God. Soloveitchik was a seminal voice in the Modern Orthodox movement and his writings reflect many aspects of Modern Orthodox theology and worldview- the importance of education, of engagement with society at large and of combining studying and living halakah with the performance of good deeds and righteous acts.
Soloveitchik begins his treatise with an analysis of the Song of Songs as the longing of man for God- man constantly cleaves to God, constantly longs for God, but God is elusive and slips away just as man believes he will finally unite with Him. So how then to join with God? Soloveitchik argues that man joins with God through engagement with the world, studying Torah, living Torah through obedience to halakah and studying Torah through recitation and study of the works of other Torah scholars. He ends by suggesting that man stays close to God by being part of a larger community and identifying with the fate of the Jewish people.
Soloveitchik's purpose is not to explain or justify individual aspects of halakah but to present an argument which advocates for its adoption as a whole and connects halakah to a deeper relationship with God; this he does persuasively and passionately. His work here is intellectually rigorous and challenging but still accessible and it is highly recommended for academic collections of Judaica and for those seeking a greater understanding of Modern Orthodox theology and principles.
 - Hilary Mantel)
