The motto for the world today sounds much like "go with the flow." In our current society, people are taught how to think and behave. Often, people are imprisoned by the expectations and restraints of society, especially in the family. Sometimes an eccentric person will gain the courage to overcome society's limitation. However, that person would be seen as an aberration from the typical patterns of society. In My Name is Asher Lev, by Chaim Potok, the Jewish religion, enforced by his parents, severely restrains Asher's extraordinary aesthetic ability. Also in The Joy Luck Club, by Amy Tan, a Chinese mother binds her daughter, Kimberly, to the firm cultural expectations.

My Name is Asher Lev describes the life of Asher Lev, a boy with a supernatural artistic capacity, who seeks to capture the beauty as well as the ugliness of the world down on paper or canvas. Aryeh...