Rebecca Dana

I Received this book as an "advanced reader copy" unedited from a mixer at my now defunct local bookstore in 2014. Finally got to it, so much for advanced readers! Anyway, this is a true story of a young woman's coming of age in NYC moving there from Pittsburgh and her making her way. I was really impressed with her career as a journalist, moving to the big city she found love, than was blindsided when that fell apart, She moved out of Manhattan to Crown Heights renting a room with a disenfranchised young rabbi who was struggling with his religion as he was working on getting his green card. Their roommate situation developed into a deep friendship even as she was leaning into her Jewish roots and he was leaning out - It was an interesting story filled with bits of humor and told from the heart.… (mehr)

I picked this book up because of the title. I happen to be a godless blonde so it spoke to me. Both Rebecca - the godless blonde and Cosmo - the jujitsu rabbi are searching for something. Meeting, living with, getting to know the other person opened up worlds to each that they didn't know they were missing. Rebecca introduces Cosmo to War and Peace and hamburgers and Cosmo shows Rebecca religion, tradition and family. I liked how Rebecca showed me a world I never even knew existed and I got a picture of what she thought but I never felt that she was judging or preaching.
November 2013… (mehr)

This is easy to read fluff, and I don't think the author would disagree with this assessment. A young woman who grew up on "Sex and the City," a television show after which she modeled her life, Rebecca Dana writes an enjoyable memoir about enduring a life-altering breakup and her time afterwards rooming with a rabbi in a Jewish community in Brooklyn. Read it in a day, read it in a week: this book is a fun distraction, and you will learn a bit about Judaism along the way.

The reason I gave the book two stars instead of three is actually a reflection on the editing. There were some continuity errors and such that were confusing and took away from the flow of the writing.… (mehr)