David Hopan

Too much pontificating. Long drawn out chapters detailing the day to day lives of these rich, spoiled and entitled kids. First few chapters drew me in then it was just more of the same. Happy it was a freebie!

The Orchard by David Hopen had the potential of being a stunning debut novel. The coming age of a Jewish religious high school student feels unique. Hopen is an excellent technical writer. But the novel flips between preachy biblical sections and characters that fail to engage with the reader emotionally despite the horrific revelations and plot turns. And if you stick with the book, you will be rewarded with an implausible, farfetched and contrived ending.

Not going to lie, if this wasn’t just Jewish “The Secret History” it would be rated a lot lower… Luckily it was ❤️

_The Chosen_ meets _A Separate Peace_ meets _The Secret History._ Minus all the homoeroticism of those works.

The depictions of drunkenness and smoking weed are so unappealing that it makes one wonder what could lure a devout ultra-Orthodox boy into those pastimes. Also this book does not pass the Bechdel test. However, it entertained me and taught me new things. Which is all I could hope to get from a novel!