I am a Jewish reader, but I struggled a little with this because I was raised very differently and a lot less religious. I have some family members that are more religious, but it feels like a whole different world to me. This reads as a coming of age, Yoyo's best friend moved away and she's also falling in love for the first time. There's a plot line of her confessing everyone's sins anonymously on tiktok including her own that eventually gets her in some trouble. I liked her relationship with her siblings.

A surprisingly engaging coming-of-age story about Yoyo Gold — a young Orthodox Jewish girl who has always been a model for the community. She kind of has to be as she is the daughter of the rabbi and held to higher standards than most. As she explores and experiments with her place in the world — the one she has been raised to inhabit and other enticing options — she gets closer to understanding what is actually important to her.

I’ve always respected the questioning aspect of the Jewish religion, but I’ve never cared for the more conservative sects of any religion. Those are the groups where so much of daily life is proscribed that it feels too controlling — at least to me as a complete outsider. However, in this book I was able to see both sides of the religion — the questioning and the proscription — through the eyes of someone growing up in that culture. I was better able to see how the required conformity gave rise to a true sense of a close knit community that can be a strong attractor to a person contemplating the life they want to live. People seemed to have purpose and be apparently more free to experience the joys of life without the anxieties and neuroses that seem to plague so many people today.

I learned a lot about the orthodox culture — much of which was new to me, even though I’ve read about that world in the past. The characters were vibrant and had more depth of thought, responsibility, and inquisitiveness than most coming-of-age books I’ve read. I enjoyed seeing the interfaces between her community and people outside — reform Jews and non-Jews alike — through her eyes. Her thoughts, feelings, and experiences were quite real and her reactions easy to understand and to identify with. I also learned quite a bit about the practices of Orthodox Jews which were new and interesting to me — much more depth than the typical story covers.

I very much enjoyed reading The Judgment of Yoyo Gold.

Many of us have heard about the travails and annoyances of growing up a "PK" (preacher's kid.)
That being said, I don't know a lot (some, but not a lot) about Orthodox Jews and their traditions and rules. I find it utterly fascinating to learn about, and I had such empathy for Yoyo, being caught betwixt and between two worlds. It's hard for anyone to find their place in the world in middle and high school and her situation as the daughter of a Rabbi really compounded all of that.

Many thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for a galley edition of the book in exchange for an honest review.

I loved Blum's debut novel, The Life and Crimes of Hoodie Rosen, so when I saw that the ARC for The Judgement of Yoyo Gold was available, I requested it immediately. This book is a bit different than his debut, but it still combines the charm of a coming-to-age YA novel with deeper themes revolving around religious identity.

In The Judgement of Yoyo Gold, the titular character is a 16-year-old rabbi's daughter whom the whole community looks to as a shining example of Orthodox Judaism. But when her best friend gets sent to a boarding school for breaking some rules, she doesn't know where to turn. This leads to both an examination of why she lives the way she does and a realization that many in her insular community aren't practicing what they preach.

I love the way Blum comments on religion in this book. As a religious person myself, it made me think about the way I practice my faith and how to do so more intentionally. I think non-religious readers would also find the narrative fascinating, even if is wasn't as relatable.

I am also a sucker for romance, and this book had a sweet subplot that I looked forward to reading throughout the book.

I know I will be thinking about this story and the characters for a very long time.

Yoyo Gold is a rabbi's daughter, living in a tight-knit Orthodox community. Blum presents the Orthodox lifestyle with sympathy and clarity, at least for this gentile. The many terms in Hebrew that do not have easy equivalents in American English are still clear enough to follow.

The focus is on Yoyo, who as the rabbi's daughter not only has responsibilities as an Orthodox daughter, but who must be a living example to the community.

At the same time, she's a teenager on the verge of adulthood, with all the feelings that teens on the verge of adulthood feel. And the curiosity. Just as her bestie is sent away to a boarding school, and it seems as if the world has closed up, shutting her off as if forgotten, with no acknowledgment of Yoyo's grief at the separation.

Yoyo meets Mickey, the daughter of a reform rabbi, and the girls embark on a rocky relationship as Mickey introduces the world outside the Orthodox community to Yoyo.

One of the things I really like about Blum's books is the humor that laces his sharp observations about teens navigating in today's world, which includes the Internet. And how the teens in this community navigate the shoals of modern life, with four thousand year old rules and laws as their guide. These can be pretty obscure, maybe outright outmoded, but Blum shows the reader that the basic human striving for civilization, for respect for self and one's fellow human, have not changed.

Yoyo's quest to find her own truth, and define who she is, happens very fast, but that reads true to my remembered experience--and to the experience of the teens I know now. I love how Yoyo comes to see adulthood through new eyes, the beginnings of maturity--glimmerings of wisdom--and redefines herself with respect to her faith.

The Judgment of Yoyo Gold is a fun coming age of story that takes place within Jewish orthodoxy. Yoyo is in high school. Her father is the most respected rabbi in the community and, to date, Yoyo has seen herself as a critical part of upholding that respect. Yoyo does well in school, follows religious doctrine, and takes care of her younger siblings. Until Yoyo’s best friend is shipped off to boarding school for breaking the rules. Then, Yoyo starts to question everything she has believed.

This is my second Isaac Blum book and I liked them both. Yoyo is easy to like, despite her flaws and somewhat predictable trajectory. Yoyo’s detour off her prescribed life path happens very quickly, which felt dramatic to me, and then I remembered that vertiginous drama is actually pretty typical in high school.

I liked reading a book centering Orthodox Jew characters, their traditions, and the struggles some of them might have with their life path. Overall, I enjoyed this book. Recommended. 3.5 stars rounded up. With a little more editing to speed things along, this might have been a 4-star read for me.

A caveat: I am an adult reader and am Jewish. So... this just didn't come together or make a whole lot of sense to me. I thought there were too many places that simply didn't fly. I wonder who the target reader group really is? Is the author trying to present Orthodox Jewish life? Because I am not at all convinced that this is a good representation. And the author appears to be male. I'm not sure he really gets what is happening with his main character, a teen girl I'm happy to see Jewish life presented in YA lit but it just seemed off to me. However, if teens pick it up and read it and talk about it, then it has done its job. Who am I to say how it should be?

Thank you to NetGalley for an advance copy of this book. I hope teenagers enjoy it.

Yoyo is the eldest daughter of a Rabbi has a lot of responsibility between school, grocery shopping, cooking dinner, taking care of her brothers and volunteering at the local food shelf.

There she meets Mickey who is a Reform Jew. Her mom is the new Rabbi at the Reform synagogue across town. Mickey shows Yoyo a whole new world of social media, mainly TikTok. With the filters to make her phone kosher, Yoyo is mesmerized by this new world and starts posting anonymous videos about what’s going on in town.

Dare I say this is the perfect YA book with everything a later teenager might face – pressure at school, social media, family expectations, boys…

I loved the story, the world building and meeting the different characters. I felt completely immersed in the story and couldn't stop reading it.