Hush (review)

Abstract

Reviewed by: Hush Elizabeth Bush Eishes Chayil . Hush. Walker, 2010. [368p]. ISBN 978-0-8027-2088-7 $16.99 Reviewed from galleys R* Gr. 9-12. Best friends since forever in their tight-knit New York Chassidic community, Gittel and Devory are rambunctious girls fascinated by the forbidden life of neighboring gentiles, impishly pushing the limits of their ultra-Orthodox social boundaries, and running with ease among each other's large, welcoming families. In 2003, the year they turn ten, everything changes. Devory's older brother Shmuli, a devout and promising scholar, begins to sexually abuse his sister whenever he returns on a visit from school, and one night, when Gittel sleeps over, she witnesses the abuse but doesn't completely understand what she has seen. She does, however, fully understand why Devory begins acting out against her parents, withdrawing into books, and showing up on Gittel's doorstep in the middle of the night, and why, finally, she hangs herself in the bathroom of Gittel's home. The horror of her friend's death reverberates through to 2010, when Gittel, now married and sexually initiated, continues to be haunted by what she understands to be her failure to prevent the suicide, and she is determined to challenge her community's code of silence regarding sexual abuse. Writing under the pseudonym "Woman of Valor" translated into Hebrew, the author balances outrage at the routine cover-up of criminal acts with genuine understanding of the community's fear of assault on their traditions by censorious gentiles. Moreover, she delivers her central message in an engaging coming-of-age story in which tragedy is only one element in a gossipy milieu of school and career decisions and arranged marriages, designer shoes and tasteful cosmetics, and sneak peaks out from a world of restraint and devotion into the world of Oprah. Child predation sadly persists as a leading issue, and this title is a vivid reminder that no society is immune. [End Page 73] Copyright © 2010 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois