Review: Yiddish Yoga: Ruthie’s Adventures in Love, Loss, and the Lotus Position

A few notes:

1. I am not Jewish.
2. I do not do yoga.
3. I am not a senior citizen.

I tell you these things because my choice of Yiddish Yoga: Ruthie’s Adventures in Love, Loss, and the Lotus Position might be a surprise (especially since, as I write this review, I’m listening to Christmas music and wearing a Virgin Mary medallion). But I still enjoyed this short, punchy, illustrated story about a woman who is all of those things.

When Ruthie Brodestein’s husband passes away, her granddaughter buys her a year membership to yoga classes. The book follows Brodestein through her year of classes, and includes her revelations as her body stretches, and how doing yoga helps her work through her grief. It’s funny, whimsical and a good read, even if it doesn’t have my swapping out my running sneakers for a yoga matt.

My only disappointment was realizing that Ruthie is not a real person and that Yiddish Yoga is fiction. But to author Lisa Grunberger’s defense, I didn’t look before I started reading.

I grabbed this book off the shelf after starting and stopping two different books last night. I finished this one in an hour, and what a delightful hour it was. I got this book too late in the mail for it to be part of my holiday book gift guide, but maybe that’s a good thing — it allowed me to give it a full review.