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Peep Show (2010)

by Joshua Braff(Favorite Author)

3.07 of 5 Votes: 5

ISBN

1565125088 (ISBN13: 9781565125087)

languge

English

genre

Fiction

publisher

Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill

review 1: David is on the brink of adulthood and straddling his parents' worlds--his mother has recently converted to Orthodox Judaism and his dad owns and runs a burlesque theatre. The worlds are a little cartoonishly drawn--Mom is completely rigid and inflexible, not allowing David's sister to see their father and sweeping her into the orthodox world as well; Dad is unwilling to update his theater to include peep shows and porn-making that will keep the business profitable. Admirably, Dad's main motivation isn't for keeping the theater afloat but for regaining access to his daughter, whom he misses terribly. David, too, misses his sister and is deeply hurt by his mother's rejection of him (as he won't convert).Setting the book against a fledgling adult shop makes it easy to say "t... morehis person is an unfit parent" while highlighting that the porn shop owner is actually the more caring parent, but such a decision seems lazy. This could have been a stronger novel if Braff had focused on the family dynamic without using the shorthand of "EWWW PORN."
review 2: I really enjoyed reading this book. For me, it's always about the characters & you couldn't help but root for the characters in this one- two completely opposite worlds, Hasidism & the porn industry, pull apart one family. How they all react to these two extremes throughout the book is what grabs you & makes you keep reading. Both worlds are drawn with respect which makes it infinitely more interesting. A lesser writer would have made either or both into a caricature & Braff resists that throughout. A great read! less

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