Strange Relations by Sonia Levitin

Back Cover: A summer in paradise. That's all Marne wants. That's all she can think of when she asks her parents for permission to spend the summer in Hawaii with Aunt Carole and her family. But Marne quickly realizes her stay in Hawaii isn't going to be just about surfing and morning runs along the beach. For one thing, Aunt Carole isn't even Aunt Carole anymore- she's Aunt Chaya, married to a Chaisdic rabbi and deeply rooted in her religious community. Fitting into such a foreign culture presents challenges and joys Marne never even imagined. She can't help longing for her own friends and her own culture- not to mention the cute surfer boy she keeps running into. But as these two worlds collide against Oahu's lush backdrop, Marne begins to think about spirituality and identity in a way she never has before. This was def an interesting book, especially with all the Jewish terms and everything since I don't know anyone Jewish I don't recognize anything except for the Torah. And wow that household was crazy, but in most environments humans are able to adapt and Marne did just that. I can't imagine having that many people around, it'd drive me crazy at first I'm sure. But it was an inspiring story of how different Chaya and her family is compared to Marne's, but how she learns to go with the flow of everything. She even manages to save Chaya's life. It's the good books that have tragedies where the characters try to hold on to things and then they finally learn something from the past and grow up a little. It's realistic and shows deeper sides to things than just worrying about your hair or clothes or whatever, even though those books are good too. But it's nice to have a variety of things to read. Plus the cover is interesting. I like it. This was a educational book too since I learned some things about Jews, and it does seem pretty intense at times, but respecting others beliefs is important. And of course those boys and Marne with her friend Kim and her sisters were not behaving well haha. They are like the bad temptations, but she like ran all the way from there to her aunt's house, I def couldn't do that, suck at running! But oh well, it was a good book and I enjoyed reading it.