The story of Gershom Sholem is of tremendous value. He is a towering figure of 20th century Jewish spiritual thought. His contribution is being understood more and more, and I was so grateful for the fully detailed picture of his life.
I was also very engaged with the author’s story, and how he wove it into Sholem’s narrative.
That said, the reader should have made an effort to attempt to pronounce Hebrew names, words, and places more accurately. It was totally obnoxious that the reader mispronounced the name ‘Gershom’. There is no ambiguity that the name is pronounced with an ‘sh’. In the Torah, the name is clearly spelled with the letter Shin, yet the reader pronounced it as though it was spelled with a Sin or Samek.