Thank you @atriabooks & @netgalley for the eARC! Shmutz is out July 19th! 🔥

As soon as I saw the cover and read the blurb for this one, I knew with every fiber of my being that I would absolutely love it - and I DID!

Raizl, like most young women in her Hasidic neighborhood in Brooklyn, lives with her parents and siblings and is waiting for her marriage to be arranged. She goes to school and works in order to help support her family - and she’s addicted to porn.

This was laugh out loud funny, at times heartbreaking, and it provided an insightful look at a community that, though I lived only a handful of blocks away from, I knew next to nothing about. It’s about Raizl coming to terms with her sexuality, in a community where that is frowned upon, but also desperately trying to fulfill her familial and religious expectations as well.

Berliner writes of a Jewish woman who is smart and curious and questions her religion, but who also respects and loves it as well.

There is a wonderful cast of characters that Raizl interacts with, from her shrink to the Goths she befriends at her school.

Truly a refreshing read. LOVED.

Thank you @NetGalley and Astria Publishing for the ARC of Shmutz.

This is probably the most unique book I have read. From an objective standpoint, I loved it! The self-discovery, defining boundaries, the portrayal of religion and living religion was fascinating. The MC was beautiful in her vulnerability and honesty. Objectively, I rate this book a 4/5.

On a subjective level, I rate this a 3/5. The story just wasn't one of my favorites. That has nothing to do with how the author wrote this book. I simply prefer reading rom-coms.

I applaud the author's creativity and storytelling!

it came as no surprise to me that I had the absolute best time reading this book -- a young Chasidish woman who is addicted to porn?? just the concept alone, I was sold. the internal push and pull of the character and her shame and desire propelled this novel, and even though it briefly flagged for me about 3/4 in, I really couldn't wait to finish it. there is clear and compelling internal and external conflicts that do enough to assuage my big questions about god and gender roles by the end.

this is a book that I will be recommending to absolutely everyone I know. it is both full of cackling and serious faith questions. what more could I ask for!!!

thank you to netgalley and atria books for the arc, it was an absolute pleasure and a joy, and I can't wait to gift this book to everyone I know.

I was expecting something very witty and funny based on the description and cover, but this is actually a sad story in my eyes. Some lines made me wince from discomfort. I generally felt disconnected from the story, maybe because I am not religious and share absolutely nothing in common with the main character, and I was never able to get into it. I think that people who can relate to the main character’s struggles may get more out of this novel than I did. I also felt the ending was slightly abrupt, and I was surprised to find that there was not another chapter afterwards.

Great book about an unconventional Jewish woman, looking for love. A laugh out loud, yet believable story. Love this genre. We’re looking for more books by this great author. Thanks for my advance copy.

A young ultra-Orthodox woman details her discovery of porn in this fascinating novel about religion, sexuality, and rebellion. Eighteen year old Raizl has always had a head for numbers and gets a dispensation to work as an accounting assistant in a jewelry company, and a scholarship to attend college and take accounting courses. The scholarship comes with a shiny laptop (it’s not clear how she connects to the internet) which is presumably for assignments, and access to therapy.

The Internet is full of people having sex, discovers Raizl. She learns the English words for names of body parts she only knows in Yiddish, and from watching illicit videos it’s a slippery slope to eating bacon and egg sandwiches, cheeseburgers and fries, changing into tight jeans in the restroom at school, and fooling around with boys at the beach. In the midst of this, she has increasing responsibility in the accounting job, increasing belligerence towards her therapist. She shares a Maccabeats video with her little sister, and goes on several dates arranged by the shidduch, eventually accepting a suit from an auburn-haired young man who informs her no computers will be allowed in their home.

Bonus points for clever placement of hamantaschen on the cover. The writing is immediate and both authentic teenager and authentic ultra-Orthodox. Scenes detailed the porn Raizl watches and later, her fantasies, are untitalling for this reader, reduced to observation of the mechanics. The story ends were any good YA novel leaves off: at a launch point for a new beginning of sorts.

I received an advance reader’s review copy of #Shmutz via #NetGalley

A great look into a world I have never been part of.
I loved the contrast between her Orthodox life and the technology/therapy/college scene.
Thank you!

I was immediately drawn into Raizl’s world — her family dynamic, her personal struggles with her religion and her desires, and her secret porn addiction. I loved getting to see her in so many different worlds: at home, at her therapist’s office, at school, and at work. The novel was quick and cute and funny!

The only thing that is holding me back from giving this 5/5 is that I know it would have been so much funnier if I understood more of the Yiddish. There definitely was some nuanced humor that went over my head, specifically in some of the anecdotes.

Raizl lives in a Hasidic community in Brooklyn, but escapes to the rest of NYC when she goes to college classes. She is granted use of a computer because of her school work, and falls into an addiction to porn. She describes this to her therapist on her journey to finding a husband. This story of a girl discovering herself, while literally discovering herself, was well written and just pithy enough. I desperately wanted an epilogue about what came next, but the ending didn’t leave me needing something else.

I’ve told many of my friends about this book already, and I think it should be on everyone’s want to read.

Thanks to Netgalley and Atria Books for the ebook. Raizl lives with her parents and siblings in a Hasidic neighborhood in Brooklyn, as she works to help support the family, goes to college where she’s obsessed with a group of goths, especially a young woman named Sam who seems free in ways that Raizl can’t imagine and Raizl is also going on dates that are selected for her for a hopeful arranged marriage. All of this comes with stress, but the thing that’s most upsetting to Raizl, and the issue she argues with the most with her shrink, is that she has a secret porn addiction that if baffling, but seems impossible to give up. This very funny book is filled with characters that we don’t always meet in our lives, but the author portrays them with a great love instead of caricature.

You wouldn't think it by reading the blurb for this book, but Shmutz has so much heart in it. I was engaged from page one. Schmutz is so many things - a commentary on porn, on culture, on family, on discovering yourself without losing yourself. This may make people uncomfortable at times, but I will recommend this over and over again.

I found this book very difficult to read. Though it was well-written, I didn’t relate to the characters since I found them caricatures rather than engaging humans.

I admit this book made me uncomfortable. I am very familiar with the Hasidic community and have read many novels and memoirs about it, as well as having many connections there. Perhaps my discomfort reflects my age as well.

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC in return for an honest review.

This was an unexpected delight! It's also probably one of the most original stories I've ever read, and I've read a lot of books in my 39 years. This book deals with religion, arranged marriages, and oh yeah...porn addiction! This book was fun and sad all at the same time. It had this beautiful quality to it. I really enjoyed Raizl. I liked getting inside her head. She had such deep thoughts and a good heart. I really liked the part when she became friends with a goth, Sam at the University she attends. Their friendship was really cute. The only thing I didn't like was the passive, almost breezy way sexual assault is discussed in this book. It left me feeling unnerved, so I had to dock a star. Also, the ending felt a bit rushed. Overall, I think "Shmutz" is a unique and wacky romp. Enjoy!

Thank you, Netgalley and Atria for the digital ARC.

This may be the most outlandish and unpredictable book I have ever read. The idea of a Hasid frum girl being addicted to porn seems way out there, but... is it? After reading this book and just dying to know how in the world it would end, I felt like I really wanted to know more about the author and what compelled her to write such a book. I found some of it pretty distasteful, but I admire her writing and the creativity involved. The world is currently very interested in the Ultra Orthodox and Hasid world due to popular films and tv on Netflix and many books from those who've left that world. So I predict this book will certainly get a lot of attention and be the topic of much conversation. I wonder who will want to read it and who will make an outcry about it.

So... fascinating, creative, defies categorizing, and certainly unique!

As a late bloomer to my own sexuality, I really enjoyed this coming of age tale of a Hasidic woman in Brooklyn with a secret addition to porn. Unlike most in her community, Raizl attended college and was given a laptop by the school for her assignments. Having this gave her access to the forbidden world of the internet, and she developed an addiction to porn, in addition to a curiosity for the world outside her traditional upbringing.

Unlike the popular representations of Hasidic women from the past several years, I really valued the rejection of the "enlightened woman is liberated from the terrors of Orthodoxy" trope. Raizl is smart, curious, and determined, but also loves Hashem, is devoted to her family, and desires to get married. The journey she undertakes is not to leave her community, but to reconcile her unconventional self with her traditions and beliefs. While I am not Hasidic, I am Jewish, and I loved the Yiddish and Jewish holidays and traditions included. The author obviously writes from a place of loving being Jewish, and that shone through the story. I wasn't sure how the story would be wrapped up as we neared the ending, but I am truly satisfied and feel Raizl made the choices that she wanted.

As a side note, I loved the emphasis Raizl put on the idea that Hashem is not the hegemonic Christian ideal of a man in the sky, but rather an unknown, nonhuman force, a Creator of which you cannot conceive an image. I wish this point was made more in Jewish lit and texts! I know that's a very Hasidic idea but it also accepted in other communities and it's something I really love about Judaism.

Overall, loved this book. You will learn a lot, and hopefully some readers will understand that not everyone feels hopelessly oppressed within a religious community. Sometimes, that community is where someone chooses to be.