I was in high school when I had to read this book, and what I remember most about the book was how I wanted to be Jewish when I was done with it. And how I obsessively read all of Chaim Potoks books after I read this one. 
 I think the book stuck with me because the sense of not belonging and not feeling like you fit in that crossed religion, location, and family and belongs to teenagers. The book is beautiful, sad and joyful, painful and uplifting.