The Judgement of Yoyo Gold, by Isaac Blum

Yoyo has always been an exemplary Jewish girl, serving as a model in the way that being the rabbi's daughter seems to require.  Taking care of her younger brothers and sisters, doing well in school, and mediating for her peers is exhausting but she relishes the way it makes her feel.  In her Orthodox community, she feels at home and just hopes that she is a credit to her family.  It's hard these days because she had a close friend who had a falling out and was sent away.  The absence leaves her feeling lonely and even more committed to doing good and to counter the judging eyes of the community that she feels upon her.

She's also a teenager in contemporary society.  From a non-Orthodox acquaintance, she learns about TikTok videos.  Her own phone is filtered and social media are definitely forbidden, but she gets excited by the technology and, following a rumor, finds a boy name Shua in her community who can hack her phone.  She's surprised to find out from him that many other kids have used his help to overcome the phone filters.  It would seem that the community is not quite as virtuous and pious as she grew up thinking.

These revelations keep coming.  And when she spies on a particularly self-righteous girl from her community eating unkosher food, she's scandalized and she hatches a plan.  Following the example of others, she creates her own anonymous TikTok video in which she complains about the girl's behavior.  The post goes viral and, while Yoyo's role in it remains secret, she is enthralled by the attention it receives.  Soon, she is posting other exposes about her community.

Meanwhile, she's also finding herself tempted in other ways, especially by Shua, for whom she discovers a forbidden attraction.

A well-nuanced study of the life of a modern Orthodox girl -- a complex mix of modernism with traditional faith.  Her mature reasoning skills, tempered by her adolescent impetuousness, made for an interesting character study.  And her pride and the sense of self that she develops by the end was immensely gratifying.  

I was disappointed by her descent into cyber-bullying and her lack of genuine repentance, but justice is dealt out and lessons learned.  And I was actually surprised at the amount of freedom she had as a young woman, but much of that leeway may have been because of her responsible reputation.