Intentions (review)

Rachel has always been a devout believer, a little in awe of the profound wisdom of her rabbi, until the day she takes refuge in the sanctuary of the temple and hears him having sex with a young woman on the bima. Thoroughly shaken, she enters a downward spiral that has her messing up in school, fighting with her best friend, and nearly hooking up with the wrong guy while she tries to build a relationship with the right one. Meanwhile, her grandmother is losing touch with reality, her parents' marriage is falling apart, and she has reason to suspect that her mother is also having an affair with the rabbi. Rachel's response to her shattered ideals has a ring of truth as she comes to terms with the fact that the secure enclosure of wise, moral, adults she thought surrounded her was an illusion. The jagged barbs of her best friend, whose own parents divorced years ago, serve as a brittle reminder that Rachel's faith was in the wrong things; as Rachel learns that she has to accept everyone's flaws, including her own, and act with intention rather than react out of hurt and anger, she is rewarded with a firmer sense of self. Sketched in this way, the plot appears purposive, but it never feels that way; instead, Rachel's is a well-storied path to forgiveness and self-direction that readers will relate to as they shed their own illusions but struggle to keep their faith.