Strange Relations, by Sonia Levitan
Levitan, Sonia (2007). Strange Relations. NY: Knopf. 298 pages.
When her parents have an opportunity to travel to Europe for business, fifteen-year-old Marne volunteers to spend the summer at her Aunt Carole's home in Hawaii in hopes that their time travelling alone will help heal the scars in her parents' relationship. A summer in Hawaii sounds, literally, like paradise, especially when Marne discovers that her best friend and her family will be visiting the same island for a few weeks that summer. When Marne gets to Hawaii, she discovers that her Aunt Carole is now known as Chaya and that her aunt's family's Hasidic Jewish ways are in sharp contrast to Marne's own family's distinctly less orthodox way of life.
Levitin is known for incorporating Jewish identity and history within her novels for young adults and this one is no exception. Not a proselytising text, the novel presents Hasidic life in a sympathetic way that avoids cultural tourism; Aunt Chaya's Hasidic family is not presented as a curiosity, instead, Marne becomes somewhat of a curiousity in this new environment. When Marne meets her friend who has come to the island on vacation, she realizes how her time with her family has changed her perspective and, in a scene that is a little more dramatic than it needs to be (drinking, drugs and sex--I wish I were invited to that party . . .), Marne realizes the impact Chaya and her faith has made on her life.