3.5 rating

You are immediately sucked into Raizl’s religious world as she tries to find balance between lust for sex and being a perfect Jewish woman. When Raizl finally gets access to the internet via her own laptop for college, she decides to search for unspoken sexual words out of curiosity that leads her into the world internet pornography and her exploration of things that please her, whether it’s lesbian or straight porn, or even threesomes! In a shared bedroom with her sister, Raizl neglects her main reason for having the laptop (which is to do her college assignments) by watching porn and slowly everything she has worked for starts to unravel. The entire time you’re reading, you’re wondering if she will get caught, if her family will find out, and if she will rebel against everything she has grown to learn. Shmutz is a book to read if you’ve ever felt shame when it comes to sex because of your religious belief or family morals. I would also say that some parts were slow and felt like filler scenes, and I found the ending to be abrupt.

Shmutz is a pretty dark read. It is not subtle subject matter. But I thought it was surprisingly even-handed- this is not a polemic against the ultra-religious, nor is it a repudiation of the lifestyle. But it does show how conflicting worlds can be. I think our main character makes consistently poor choices, or at least choices I found confounding, but we all have our addictions. Insert whatever it is that keeps you from living your best authentic life, and we can all identify.

This novel blends so many genres, but is most effective when it is true to the spirit of its heroine and when we are deeply in her thoughts. Her speech evolves throughout the book, though the ending makes us wonder how much, exactly. Four stars for being thought-provoking and a bit wild.

I really wanted to like this book... I'm always here for some Jewish rep in literature ad Berliner hardcore delivered on that. I think the premise of this book was just a little rough for me. It felt punchy for the sake of being punchy and in your face and it didn't feel entirely necessary to me. I'm glad to see some of my fellow Jews eating this book up, though, and love seeing how different books resonate with different folks!

This book is inherently fascinating because it centers a demographic that doesn’t get much attention in mainstream fiction — Hasidic women. I’ve spent most of this year reading Jewish Own Voices novels and they’ve certainly covered a lot of ground but this really filled a gaping hole in my book list. I really liked how it didn’t sugarcoat anything. I liked how it depicted Raizl’s life at different degrees of separation from her home — how she had some separation at work and then a whole other level of separation at school. And I appreciated the risk taken in making Raizl ultimately not go the route I imagine most of the more-secular audience, myself included, was rooting for her to go.

Mixed feelings about this one - loved the title, cover and unique premise but the details of the porn for me were a little off-putting so ultimately not for me.

A funny, witty and unexpected novel
About the interaction of sexuality and conservative religion. Raizel is a fascinating character, dealing with a porn addiction in a household and community that strictly forbids it. I found it to be a fascinating look at a religion I don’t know much about from a great character perspective.

Very witty and funny. I do think the depiction of the orthodox and hasidic communities will be a bit of a point of contention for some. The cover art is amazing!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this eARC. This was a DNF for me. I tried several times to push through from where I left off and I could. not. I do not want to rate it low because I may not be the target audience.

I was originally intrigued by the premise of this book but ultimately it just wasn't for me. The writing was well done, although nothing particularly notable and the plot didn't grab me as much as I would have hoped. I'm sure that this book will do well with specific audiences but I just didn't enjoy it at all.

This one just wasn't for me. Thank you netgalley & the publisher for the ARC, in exchange for an honest review!

The cover for this book is quite provocative. The main character, Raizl is a Hasidic young woman finding her way in the world. One of the things she discovers is her sexuality and she does this through online pornography. She becomes obsessed with watching on a laptop she has for college work.

Taking into consideration the novel’s premise and cover, I thought the book would read like a steamy romance. Sometimes it felt more like reading a YA book. Since the main character is late teen/early twenties, I understand why the book feels that way. There were graphic descriptions of the online videos Raizl views that didn’t go with the YA feel of the book.

This book would make a good book club discussion selection. It will spark many conversations around family, traditions, religions and sexuality.

I received an advanced copy of the book from Atria Books via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

A pensive coming-of-age story about sex, marriage, and religion.

I was very interested to read this book based on the description, but unfortunately, it didn't live up to the hype for me, and I didn't really enjoy it. I appreciated some aspects of the book -- Raizl going to therapy, her determination to help her family and desire to remain faithful, her curiosity, both in general and regarding sex -- but I felt that the execution of the premise was lacking.

I expected there to be some awkwardness -- it IS a book about a strictly religious young adult addicted to porn, after all -- and I expected to be frustrated with Raizl's situation as someone who is not any denomination of Jewish. But what I most often felt was pity and confusion, and I didn't find it "hilarious and endearing" at all.

The biggest disappointment was the unresolved ending. After slogging through the book (though it did pick up towards the end) the end left much to be desired. The story doesn't really come together and we don't get to see any conclusive outcomes. I just have so many questions. (Not the least of which is just WHAT was going on with Raizl's boss, the Rebbetzin?!) I would have liked to see this book dive a little deeper into Raizl's relationship with her family, for Raizl to come to terms with her sexuality and make sense of what she's seeing in porn, and to know what happens next with Raizl with respect to marriage.

Raizl is Hasidic! That is all you need to know in reading this wonderful book! She daydreams of a life free of her drab long clothes that cover her from head to toe, a life free to discover life outside of her very Orthodox community, a life of wearing tight jeans, and hanging with Goths and going to College and using her laptop. All her parents want her to do is get married, cook, clean, be a "good" wife staying at home, having babies, lots of babies. Raizl wants life. She visits her psychologist, goes to her job in the diamond district of Manhattan, and is addicted to watching pornography on her laptop, from night to morning. Being born into a Hasidic family is a life away from the real world, living a constant and strict life of prayer, head coverings, and family. Raizl knows there is more. This is an incredible look into that life. Run to the nearest bookstore and get it, it is all consuming!! Thank you to Netgalley and Simon & Schuster, publishing. An additional joy in reading this book is all the yiddish used. I felt like I was back home in Brooklyn when I was a child listening to my Grandparents and parents speaking, especially when they didn't want us as children knowing what they were talking about.

Thank you to Net Galley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
The cover and title drew me in! Shmutz is a coming- of -age story of Raizl, a Hasidic Jewish woman with a secret porn addiction. Unlike most in her conservative community, Raizl is allowed to attend college and is given a laptop computer. These are usually verboten, but is necessary for Raizl to complete her schoolwork, so it is allowed.

Imagine living a very cloistered existence (only interacting with people within your community, young men and women chaperoned, not even allowed to accidentally brush hands). Then you find the whole world and answers to all of your questions literally at your fingertips. Raizl stumbles across pornographic videos and becomes quickly entranced and addicted.

The story is more than this woman's porn addiction. It is the coming- of -age story of a young woman struggling to come to terms with her sexuality in a community where this is frowned upon. It is enlightening to see how Raizl refines her identity and seeks to find balance with her religious beliefs and love of god.

Two topics I love to read about are sex and religion and I find the intersection of the two so interesting so 𝗦𝗛𝗠𝗨𝗧𝗭, which follows Raizl, a Hasidic college student who gets addicted to internet porn when she gets access to a computer for school, immediately made my must-read list.

Unfortunately, I found the book to be a bit of a 𝘴𝘤𝘩𝘭𝘦𝘱. I enjoyed aspects of Raizl's story and the plethora of Yiddish references (for the 𝘨𝘰𝘺𝘪𝘮, there's a glossary at the end of the book) but if I have to 𝘬𝘷𝘦𝘵𝘤𝘩, I found her addiction to be a bit of 𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘩𝘦𝘨𝘢𝘴 and not a lot happened plot-wise. I found I didn't care about Raizl and I still can't put my finger on why.

The book did make me crave a 𝘯𝘰𝘴𝘩, though, and that cover might be my favorite of the year even though I'll never look at a Hamantaschen cookie the same way again.

Schlep - a drag
Goyim - non-Jews
Kvetch - to complain
Mishegas - silliness or craziness
Nosh - a snack

Thanks to Atria Books for the copy to review.

What a hidden gem this book turned out to be. Raizl is intelligent and curious, and her choices and opportunities are extremely limited by her existence as a devout Chasidic woman. She is allowed to work part-time and seek a college education only because her wages help keep her extended family afloat, she is allowed to have a computer only because it's required for school, and she's secretly seeing a therapist only because her mother thinks it will help Raizl let go of her fears of marriage and find a husband. It's the access to a computer that first puts cracks in Raizl's extremely protected world -- suddenly she has a world of information at her literal fingertips, and she stumbles down an internet rabbit hole into the world of free online porn. Throughout the story that unfolds, Raizl's world begins to expand in ways that challenge her faith and force her to question the life she's been born into and the roles she and others are expected to inhabit. It is hilarious, heartbreaking, and thought provoking.

Thanks to NetGalley and Atria Books for the opportunity to read this book!

I could tell this book was really trying to do something - it just fell short in the execution for me. It had good pacing, good characterizations, great insight: all the working bits to make a good story. But something about the feeling at the end just made me feel like the story wasn't done? I'm not sure how to describe it, but I think this could have been great. I can't recommend this book to other readers simply because it left me feeling disappointed overall.

**Thank you NetGalley and Atria Books for the eARC**

Raizl is navigating her fear of being forever alone with her faith and porn addiction. Raizl is intelligent and curious and she pushes her family’s strict boundaries re: education / career trajectories for women.

As someone who was (and I’m sure still is) ignorant of Hasidic tradition, it was difficult to read and understand the weight of some of the family’s interactions. Another layer of difficulty was the amount of Yiddish used - it would have been better if the glossary was moved to the front of the book so the reader is aware that it’s available.

Overall, I I liked the /idea/ of the plot, but the execution wasn’t it for me. I ended up skimming through the middle of the book so I wouldn’t put it on my DNF list. Thank you to NetGalley for the Arc!

Would not have thought I would use words like “smutty,” and “salacious” to describe a novel with a Hasidic Jewish MC, but that’s exactly the paradox presented by Felina Berliner’s debut novel, Shmutz!

Raizl is caught between the traditions of her ultra-Orthodox family and pulls towards modern life. She’s balancing arranged marriage dates while attending college courses and working part time–breaking so many norms from her community. While her family is cautiously supportive of her educational pursuits, what they don’t know is that Raizl has been using her class supplied laptop to fall down a rabbit role of online porn. When she’s not hidden under the bedsheets watching, the images she sees in porn fill her waking hours and quickly become an obsession.

While Shmutz is filled with racy scenes, this novel is about so much more than porn. It’s about breaking free from convention, exploring sexual identity, and feeling pulled between a love of G-d and “selfish” desires.

Felina Berliner, thank you for giving us this filth!

If you’re going to pick this up, I would highly recommend getting a print version. There’s a glossary of Yiddish words used throughout the text that is really helpful to flip back and forth between! Also, that cover? Never going to look at hamantaschen the same way again 😅😅.

Shmutz was a very unique read that I really enjoyed. I liked the juxtaposition between her strict Orthodox Judaism and her obsession with internet pornography. It was funny at times, but also dealt with heavy issues. Overall, an enjoyable read.