‘Holy Unexpected’ is almost wholly scatterbrained

If "religion is just a flavor — either you taste it or you don't," as one of Robin Chotzinoff's many mentors proclaims in her memoir, "Holy Unexpected," then her own view of Judaism evokes a spicy New Orleans jambalaya — full of ingredients.

"Holy Unexpected" details Chotzinoff's spiritual journey of understanding Judaism, starting as a child intrigued by the story of Jesus and confused by the concept of God, to a Tibetan Buddhist at Naropa University in Boulder, Colo., to an insightful bat mitzvah who realizes that Judaism and God are everywhere.

However, while the concept of Judaism can unite her diverse community members in worship, the theme is not enough to make the obscure events in "Holy Unexpected," connect in a polished way. Chotzinoff's creative analogies and stream-of-consciousness writing will hold readers' grasps only for so long, until the discombobulated storyline distracts them to oblivion.

By weaving in anecdotes about the people she meets along the way (like the woman at Naropa who hitchhiked from Montana wearing a tie-dyed shirt and cutoffs, and Rabbi Jamie Korngold, the "Adventure Rabbi" who leads prayer sessions at the base of the Grand Canyon), Chotzinoff allows readers to truly experience the memories with her. And the extensive background information on her grandfather, Samuel "Chotzie" Chotzinoff, a man who had "chosen music and art over his father's Orthodox Judaism," and his religious influence on her father offers insight into Robin Chotzinoff's confused outlook on organized religion.

The problems occur with the utter lack of transition between the anecdotes. Somewhat chronologically organized, the entire first section, "What I Believed in Before I Believed in God," attempts to combine too many memories without a purpose. The stories themselves are comical and well-written, but the reader is left with a sense of confusion as to the underlying theme.

Chotzinoff, author of several books and a newspaper columnist, finally presents the focus of "Holy Unexpected" about 115 pages into the book, as she decides to start preparing for her own bat mitzvah. The second half of the book lines up better than the first, but readers may give up before ever reaching this point.

In the end, the book often feels more like a bat mitzvah lesson itself than a fun read. In some places, Chotzinoff's stories seem as though they were thrown in because they fit the moral of the Torah reading she is interpreting. Chotzinoff leaves readers without a grasp of the Jewish texts, except in how they relate to her own life experiences.

Overall, the insights Chotzinoff shares from her mentors and influences in "Holy Unexpected" present a wide array of the spiritual directions that Jews can travel, but would be better fit for a magazine article or even a quote book.




"Holy Unexpected: My New Life as a Jew" by Robin Chotzinoff (288 pages, Public Affairs Books, $25).