My Name is Asher Lev Chapter 12 Summary

  • Asher is now a college student with two pretty successful art shows behind him. His relationship with his father has sort of settled down: Aryeh doesn't really care what Asher does as long as Asher's art doesn't shame the family, and in turn Asher tries to keep his head down and not offend Aryeh. This is sort of a hard thing to do. They end up having a lot of weird, misinformed conversation about how art isn't just about feelings and also what one art critic means by the term "Picassoid forms."
  • Meanwhile, Rivkeh keeps on trying to get Asher to marry (or at least date) a nice Hasidic girl from a good family. Asher shows absolutely no interest in a relationship with her—or a relationship of any sort with anyone, for that matter.
  • Aryeh finds Asher's portraits of nudes and becomes enraged. Asher's parents tell him that they'll only attend an exhibition of his artwork if it doesn't include any nudes. Typical parents.
  • Asher tells his mom that he wants to travel to Florence, Italy the summer after he graduates from college. She's pretty shocked, because Asher isn't exactly a huge fan of travel. Aryeh is thrilled, though, and makes a list of all the restaurants Asher can go to in Florence where he can eat kosher food.