Chains Around the Grass, by Naomi Ragen is a novel that is about family dynamics, expectations, resilience and so much more.David Markowitz is a Jew who has done what so many other Jews have done in the past, given up his Jewish identity and assimilated into the folds of America. He changed his son’s surname to Marks. He has high hopes of making it big in a world filled with schemers and dreamers.Many may not like Chains Around the Grass, due to its slowness and/or often depressive content. I felt that the characters could have had more depth, even within their repressive environment.