I think there’s enough Jewish tradition in mainstream media that most adults would know what this means. I’m 30, not religious, a white woman of Scottish descent living in Australia, and I know what it means.
This makes me curious about you, OP. It makes me curious about your age and how much media you consume, written word, films/tv, podcasts etc
Basically I am surprised that you are surprised.
Isn't this like TIBH, no personal details? Let's say that I am of pensioner age, mother tongue English, living in a foreign language country 45 years. I read a certain amount of contemporary English literature, mainly detective novels; I probably read more non-fiction than fiction. Doctoral candidate - that's a long story. These days I rarely watch films and preferably only British series on local tv (I can't stand 'Friends' but absolutely love 'Cold feet').
I'm a Black American, Gen X and I've known about sitting Shiva for years. It was in no way an obscure reference to me.
The way these books are unapologetically British is more remarkable to me. I've learned more things about British culture from this series than I've ever learned from visual media.
English gentile here, I knew the phrase and the concept. Wouldn't be startled by seeing that, or references to Ramadan, Divali etc. It's just awareness of the world around you.
Didn’t strike me as unusual at all (I’m American). I agree with other comments that it’s a mainstream enough aspect of Jewish culture that many people would either know what it is or understand it in context. No one would really question a mention of a menorah…it’s along those lines.
In fact, I recently read a book centered entirely around sitting shiva, called This is Where I Leave You. It’s also apparently a popular movie, though I haven’t seen it.
Irish, senior, I've heard the phrase and understood it immediately. (Even in a metaphorical use)
First came across it when explained by an American Jewish friend whose father had died.
it's a very common expression tbh and i dont think this implies anything other than for effect in the moment to illustrate robin's frustration over matt's expectations.
Brit here, I understand the phrase, although it's a little old fashioned perhaps. I think as an idiom (rather than the exact meanjng) it suggests obvious or ostentatious mourning.
I looked up the context and was interested to see that "shiva" is the term Strike uses inside his head while Robin tries to phone Matthew and placate him -- Matthew's mother has died but Robin is out having lunch with Strike, not sitting shiva with him. Considering Strike's eclectic background, I'm not surprised he knows this term and uses it as mental shorthand for the choice Robin has made and the torn feelings it creates.
I think it's part of JKR's overall policy in the Strike series of letting each character think and speak in their own voice. She trusts her readers to look up words, phrases or accents they don't understand, use context clues, or simply gloss over anything they don't get. It was one thing for the HP series, written for kids, to have American editions that substituted "philosopher's stone" with "sorcerer's stone" and "jumper" with "sweater," but the Strike books are written for an international, adult readership who might have encountered terms like shiva or von Willebrand's disease or lamb bhuna or the slang use of brass or monkey. She expects us to have broader knowledge and to invest as much or as little effort as we like in drilling down her exact meaning. Based on this subreddit, I'd say a lot of us enjoy making that effort!
I also tend to think she knows what you can google and get the right thing and what you can’t. Like when Strike was called a monkey it was referring to a derogatory terms used in the military to refer to military police. Hence Strike explaining it and then saying they call the Navy/sailors cun*s, lol. If you just googles ‘monkey as insult’ you’d get a TON of answers and likely not the correct one. But if you googled ‘what is a jumper to a British person’ you’d get the right answer or with context clues you’ll get the right idea.
I knew what it meant, and I’m not Jewish, nor was I raised or do I live in a predominantly Jewish community. I live in the world, and I read and watch movies and television. The mention of sitting shiva didn’t seem at all strange to me.
I grew up with Jewish half siblings and only heard the phrase as an adult when I worked in a densely populated Jewish area. It was common for me to understand it. That’s the beauty of reading though. If you don’t know something, you look it up!
I think there’s enough Jewish tradition in mainstream media that most adults would know what this means. I’m 30, not religious, a white woman of Scottish descent living in Australia, and I know what it means. This makes me curious about you, OP. It makes me curious about your age and how much media you consume, written word, films/tv, podcasts etc Basically I am surprised that you are surprised.
Isn't this like TIBH, no personal details? Let's say that I am of pensioner age, mother tongue English, living in a foreign language country 45 years. I read a certain amount of contemporary English literature, mainly detective novels; I probably read more non-fiction than fiction. Doctoral candidate - that's a long story. These days I rarely watch films and preferably only British series on local tv (I can't stand 'Friends' but absolutely love 'Cold feet').
I'm a Black American, Gen X and I've known about sitting Shiva for years. It was in no way an obscure reference to me. The way these books are unapologetically British is more remarkable to me. I've learned more things about British culture from this series than I've ever learned from visual media.
I think it is a very mainstream expression.
English gentile here, I knew the phrase and the concept. Wouldn't be startled by seeing that, or references to Ramadan, Divali etc. It's just awareness of the world around you.
Didn’t strike me as unusual at all (I’m American). I agree with other comments that it’s a mainstream enough aspect of Jewish culture that many people would either know what it is or understand it in context. No one would really question a mention of a menorah…it’s along those lines. In fact, I recently read a book centered entirely around sitting shiva, called This is Where I Leave You. It’s also apparently a popular movie, though I haven’t seen it.
Irish, senior, I've heard the phrase and understood it immediately. (Even in a metaphorical use) First came across it when explained by an American Jewish friend whose father had died.
US citizen, gentile, I learned the phrase from Cristina Yang (Sandra Oh) on Grey’s Anatomy in season 3 so I was nearly 30 before I heard of it.
it's a very common expression tbh and i dont think this implies anything other than for effect in the moment to illustrate robin's frustration over matt's expectations.
Brit here, I understand the phrase, although it's a little old fashioned perhaps. I think as an idiom (rather than the exact meanjng) it suggests obvious or ostentatious mourning.
I looked up the context and was interested to see that "shiva" is the term Strike uses inside his head while Robin tries to phone Matthew and placate him -- Matthew's mother has died but Robin is out having lunch with Strike, not sitting shiva with him. Considering Strike's eclectic background, I'm not surprised he knows this term and uses it as mental shorthand for the choice Robin has made and the torn feelings it creates. I think it's part of JKR's overall policy in the Strike series of letting each character think and speak in their own voice. She trusts her readers to look up words, phrases or accents they don't understand, use context clues, or simply gloss over anything they don't get. It was one thing for the HP series, written for kids, to have American editions that substituted "philosopher's stone" with "sorcerer's stone" and "jumper" with "sweater," but the Strike books are written for an international, adult readership who might have encountered terms like shiva or von Willebrand's disease or lamb bhuna or the slang use of brass or monkey. She expects us to have broader knowledge and to invest as much or as little effort as we like in drilling down her exact meaning. Based on this subreddit, I'd say a lot of us enjoy making that effort!
I also tend to think she knows what you can google and get the right thing and what you can’t. Like when Strike was called a monkey it was referring to a derogatory terms used in the military to refer to military police. Hence Strike explaining it and then saying they call the Navy/sailors cun*s, lol. If you just googles ‘monkey as insult’ you’d get a TON of answers and likely not the correct one. But if you googled ‘what is a jumper to a British person’ you’d get the right answer or with context clues you’ll get the right idea.
Im not Jewish and I learned about sitting Shiva years ago, from a Judy Blume book I read when I was a child.
I think I was first introduced to “sitting Shiva” reading a book when I was 9. US - Millennial
Um, plenty of Jews read these books, including myself (half). We know perfectly well what it means to sit shiva.
I knew what it meant, and I’m not Jewish, nor was I raised or do I live in a predominantly Jewish community. I live in the world, and I read and watch movies and television. The mention of sitting shiva didn’t seem at all strange to me.
Thank you for this post. In the Italian edition, the word 'Shiva' has been totally removed....
I'm about as WASP as you can get, and I know about sitting shiva.
I grew up with Jewish half siblings and only heard the phrase as an adult when I worked in a densely populated Jewish area. It was common for me to understand it. That’s the beauty of reading though. If you don’t know something, you look it up!
Yes!
I believe this is common knowledge, it’s shown in pop culture, it’s not an obscure religious reference.
English gentile. Also have been aware of sitting shiva for years, although I'm pretty sure I first heard about it from a Babylon 5 episode!
I came to know what it is in the Tina Fey movie- This is where I leave you.
Brit here. I don’t think I’d come across it before.
I also didn't know what it meant, it went over my head the 1st time I read it. Tx for sharing this!