Forbidden Love Amidst Hasidic Rules

I read Like No Other by Una LaMarche. In this text, Devorah and Jaxon get trapped in an elevator on the night of a hurricane. Devorah, a Hasidic girl, has never questioned the rules of yichud. In the elevator, Devorah started to question the strict Hasidic laws she has to follow. When Devorah and Jaxon head their separate ways they were not expecting to see each other ever again. However, both of them couldn’t stop thinking about each other. One day Devorah even visited Jaxon at his job and arranged to go on a train together where no one will know who they are. Their relationship keeps on getting riskier as time passes by. It’s only when Devorah and Jaxon are about to sneak to Long Island together when Jacob, Devorah’s older sister’s husband, was on Shomrim patrol and spotted them together getting in a car on their way to Long Island.

Jacob and the other patrols dragged Jaxon and Devorah out of the car out and claimed that Jaxon was kidnapping Devorah, although Devorah willingly got in the car with Jaxon.

Not believing Jaxon, the Shomrim patrols beat him up until he was almost dead. As Devorah can only stand and watch, she screamed at Jacob to stop hurting Jaxon. Devorah told Jaxon to run, and reluctantly, he ran back to his house, leaving Devorah defenseless and having to deal with the rest of her family. This book is often compared to Romeo and Juliet because it is about forbidden love. The theme of this book is simply love. Devorah and Jaxon sacrificed so much to be together, knowing it was nearly impossible. However, when her family decides to ship her off to a Chabad residential center, she wonders if she will ever see Jaxon again, as she first

thought.

I noticed that the book was written using alternate perspectives of Devorah and Jaxon and had dates and times in the beginning of every chapter. By doing so, the reader gets to experience both sides of the story, according to the character’s thoughts and feelings and how long each event lasted. I also noticed that LaMarche added words from the Hasidic culture to explain how strict the Hasidic rules were and explain what they were. She also added them to let the reader know which ones Devorah was violating.

Reading this book made me wonder about how different someone’s lifestyle can be than the one we are used to. Jaxon and Devorah had complete opposite lifestyles. For example, Devorah didn’t have a phone and had not really imagined having one. Whereas Jaxon had one and secretly gave a phone to Devorah so they could keep in contact. Also, many kids from Old Tappan could barely imagine not having a phone. In addition, Devorah had to cover her skin at all times, even if it was sweltering hot. Most kids are able to wear shorts or a t-shirt whenever they want and have a choice of what they want to wear. Devorah did not have many choices, considering she had to wear all dark colors that covered most of her skin.Their different ways of life taught me to be grateful for what I have, even if it is not perfect.

I would give this book 3 stars because it dealt with an interesting topic, unlike the books I usually read. However, I personally like action packed book that will keep you interested all throughout the book. However, this book was kind of slow at times, but LaMarche used suspense to keep the book moving along. For example, she would cut off at an exciting part and switch over to the other person’s perspective. Therefore, to find out what happens, you would have to keep reading. Altogether, Like No Other was a good book worth reading.