Hook

Haya Pomrenze's "Hook" conveys the complexities of the Jewish Modern Orthodox female experience. The narrator is an insider and an outsider, dependent and contemptuous, a follower and a free spirit. Like the child in "Straddle" hooking her feet into the stirrups of a carousel horse, the heroine labors to stand on solid ground while staking her claim in a world further complicated by the push and pull of the mother-daughter relationship, explored throughout the book and masterfully portrayed in the title poem. You'll struggle not to laugh and cry at the same time while reading this poetry debut.