Land­ed is a sur­pris­ing and inter­est­ing mem­oir in which Amer­i­can author Jen­nifer Lang shift­ing reli­gious obser­vance and her con­nec­tion to the Land of Israel now that she lives there per­ma­nent­ly. She con­sid­ers her chang­ing rela­tion­ship with her Jew­ish French hus­band, express­es neg­a­tive feel­ings about her Ultra-Ortho­dox sib­ling, and iden­ti­fies as an out­sider, torn between the real­i­ties of life in each of her homes. 

Lang’s sto­ry is told in sev­en sec­tions, from 2011 to 2018. Accom­pa­ny­ing each year are unique ​“chap­terettes” that include charm­ing quirks such as unusu­al fonts, idea bub­bles, a few lists, and var­i­ous sym­bols. The num­ber sev­en is also rep­re­sen­ta­tive of the sev­en chakras of yoga: Lang is a cer­ti­fied yoga teacher who stud­ies yog­ic phi­los­o­phy. Chakras are ener­gy points with­in the body, begin­ning with the root chakra (the earthy, ground­ing spot of the pelvis) and end­ing with the sev­enth (the crown of the head and the ener­gy in the space just above it, where bliss resides). 

Through­out the book, Lang ana­lyzes her mixed feel­ings about mak­ing aliyah in order to sat­is­fy her husband’s wish­es, and she dis­cuss­es how the move touch­es each mem­ber of her fam­i­ly dif­fer­ent­ly accord­ing to their personalities.

The read­er learns about the author’s alter­nat­ing need for sta­bil­i­ty and flex­i­bil­i­ty. Her desire for cre­ativ­i­ty, accom­plish­ment, and alone time com­petes with the respon­si­bil­i­ties of being a wife and moth­er. As her chil­dren grow into inde­pen­dent adults, Lang con­nects the pas­sage of time to yoga, which stress­es non-attach­ment, the inevitabil­i­ty of change, and the simul­ta­ne­ous need for self-care and com­pas­sion for others.

Lang strug­gles to fig­ure out where she belongs — whether ​“home” for her fam­i­ly and her­self is the Unit­ed States or France or Israel. She details the cul­tur­al and lan­guage adjust­ments and changes in atti­tude that are nec­es­sary in order to live in each place while still remain­ing true to her­self. Lang finds sup­port with­in her yoga com­mu­ni­ty and her writ­ing group. Their friend­ship and hon­esty help her evolve into a more accept­ing, bal­anced being.

Land­ed is a fast and enjoy­able read. The book includes end­notes explain­ing Jew­ish phras­es and some San­skrit terms of yoga. The author also includes notes address­ing the life-chang­ing events of the Octo­ber 7th mas­sacre in Israel.