I bought this book because I lived for many years in Toronto's Bathurst and Steeles area--near Thornhill, where Sidura Ludwig's stories take place. During those years, I became very familiar with the ever-changing suburban community of Thornhill and the wide variety of people who live there. I feel a special empathy with Thornhill's Jewish community. The author brings it to life in a thoughtful, sympathetic, and sometimes amusing way. There are lots of tensions here, for example, between beliefs and practices, between secular Jews and religious Jews ("frummies"), and between old and new ways. I have a Mennonite background, and detect similar tensions within Mennonite communities. I explore some of them in my 1940s-era novel CONSIDER THE SUNFLOWERS, which is set in Vancouver and rural Saskatchewan. I'm grateful to Ludwig for writing YOU ARE NOT WHAT WE EXPECTED. It sheds light not only on her own community, but on others facing similar experiences and challenges.
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