Maybe Not Such a Good Girl: Reflections on Rupture and Return

Coming of age in an Orthodox Jewish family in New York, Susan Reimer-Torn yearned for independence and the opportunity to express her love of dancing and beauty. She fled her home and community for France, certain that the rupture with her family and faith would never heal. When an unexpected event drew her back to New York after more than two decades, a mystifying attraction to her neighborhood synagogue blossoms into a multi-textured, spiritual journey and fresh meaning in the complexities of Jewish heritage. “This is a lovely book about two powerful human instincts: breaking away and coming back. Susan Reimer-Torn writes about both in a smart, poignant and engaging way.” —Ari L. Goldman, The Search for God at Harvard “In this passionate memoir, Susan Reimer-Torn tells of a history of alienation — pain, rage, recoil — from her Jewish identity, and of the difficult epiphanies that provoke return. Intensely felt and eloquently written, her book reaches out to the reader with its sense of unfurling life and of the desire to write that life for a blessing to others.” —Avivah Zornberg, The Murmuring Deep: Reflections on the Biblical Unconscious