Sur­ren­der­ing Oz is a mem­oir in essays about how one Jew­ish Bronx girl learned to think (and feel) for her­self, from deal­ing with the father’s reli­gious devo­tion ver­sus the mother’s lack of spir­i­tu­al belief, shtetl rab­bis ver­sus posh sub­ur­ban ones, and respond­ing to evanes­cence and loss in a reli­gion whose empha­sis is not on the afterlife.