This book is a wonderful exploration of identity, thinking through what it means to be Jewish as well as what it means to be a woman, both in times gone by and in the current world. It questions the power imbalances of the past.

While present power imbalances, represented in Anna’s ex-husband’s mistreatment, are a part of a curse, the author does describe the wider power imbalance that many women still struggle with. The author untangles gender-based discriminations, showing there perpetrators as weak rather than symbols of true strength. Its only limit is its lack of messiness, showing that women can excel while the men in their lives remain vindictive. Even in current society this is often hard to achieve.