Reviewed by Chris
TITLE: Flying Without a Net
AUTHOR: E.M. Ben Shaul
PUBLISHER: Interlude Press
LENGTH: 224 pages
RELEASE DATE: November 17, 2016
BLURB:
Dani Perez, a secular Israeli working as a software engineer in Boston, has never had trouble balancing his faith and his sexuality—until he meets Avi Levine, a gay Orthodox Jew and sign language interpreter. As they fall in love, Dani finds himself wanting Avi in his life but confused by Avi’s observance. Dani can’t understand how Avi reconciles what his religion demands with what his body desires. And although he wants to deny it, neither can Avi.
Despite the risk of losing Avi forever to a religious life that objects to their love, Dani supports him through the struggle to find an answer. Will they be able to start a life together despite religious ideology that conflicts with the relationship they are trying to build?
REVIEW:
I’m a bit torn on this one. On one hand, I loved learning about the Avi and his views on Orthodox Judaism. I found his faith and the difficulties it brought to his life as an Orthodox Jew and gay man to be incredibly fascinating. From the start where the two characters meet, you can tell their relationship is never going to be simple, but the way they navigate the many challenges of both faith and honesty made this story a very interesting read.
On the other hand, the book seemed a bit aimless at times. It tended to float from one scene to the next and I never got a really good picture of where it was that we were going. Mostly it just seemed the tale of how Dani and Avi fall in love and learn to shape both that love and their lives around each other. It wasn’t bad, but I must admit that I would have liked a bit more structure to the plot.
While we don’t get much about it, I did like that Avi was a sign language interpreter. His job sounded really interesting and I wished we could have learned more about it. I actually wouldn’t have minded learning more about what Dani does, as well as his past.
The focus of the story seemed to rest on Avi and how his faith impacted not only his day-to-day life (I loved the bits about food, and how the strict kosher diets made something as simple as cooking or eating out more complex than I’m used to) but his romantic relationships. I am very familiar with trying to reconcile religious and personal beliefs (though much less successfully than Avi) and these parts of the story really spoke to me.
There did seem to be times, though, where it felt like the author skipped over showing us key scenes that are referenced later, but which we never got to experience. It had the effect of making the story seem a bit rushed or choppy in some sections. The prayer sections seemed to attempt to bridge the gap, but it didn’t always quite work (though I will say I loved how the prayer scenes were used to show us more about Avi’s relationship with his religion and his God).
I’ve been going back and forth on whether to go with 3.5 or 4 stars for this, but there were some parts of the book that I really loved so I think I’m going to go with 4 stars. I did enjoy this story, and if you are looking for something that is a bit different I might suggest you give it a try. I will recommend you take a gander at the end of the book, at the glossary of terms, before you start reading (and go back to reference them when needed as you go along) since there are several times in this story I wasn’t quite sure what exactly the characters were saying. It didn’t disrupt the book on the whole, but it might make the story a bit more interesting.
RATING: 
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