2008 book 27

Gish Jen's Mona in the Promised Land
The final book in the Jewish book discussion series, was, I think, a really poor choice for a conclusion. I should say that I've read it before and enjoyed reading it again--it's the story of a Chinese-American girl growing up in the late 60s and early 70s who decides to convert to Judaism--but it's a really bad mismatch to the other books (none of which really match each other either--the series wasn't cohesive at all and I think whoever chose the books was kind of a numbnuts). It was a nice change to read something more contemporary and that actually had a girl as the main character, but I'm really not sure how discussion will go. Of course I've worried about every discussion and it's always turned out well, but this novel is really a major departure.