I wanted to like this book because the premise seemed interesting. Saying kaddish, especially to Orthodox Jews, is pretty important when someone dies, so the idea that you could halachically pay someone to do it was really intriguing. But I felt like you could see the ending coming from the very beginning. I also had a difficult time with the time jump: one minute Larry is sitting shiva for his father, the next he is 20 years in the future as a rabbi and taking on his old name of Shuli. How did we get from the point where he is essentially an apostate to him becoming a Gemara teacher at the same yeshiva he learned in as a boy?

I loved the mystical aspects of the book, the closeness with G-d that Shuli felt by returning to Judaism, and the ultimate happiness he found through it, as I've felt similar myself. But some of the scenes just did not seem to advance the plot, or made absolutely no sense. If there had been a middle part to the book, I think I would've rated it higher. Either way, I believe it was worth the read.