The Man in the White Sharkskin Suit: A Jewish Family's Exodus from Old Cairo to the New World (P.S.)
by Lucette Lagnado
List Price:
Our Price: $7.38
You Save: $7.61 (51%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $2.92 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: Lucette LagnadoEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2008-07-01
ISBN: 006082218X
Number of pages: 368
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Book Reviews of The Man in the White Sharkskin Suit: A Jewish Family's Exodus from Old Cairo to the New World (P.S.)
Book Review: A Family's Long Journey
Summary: 4 Stars
This is a story about transition from the old, familiar world in which life seemed so comfortable and stable to a new existence across the ocean. In this case the specific cities were Cairo to New York with several complex and unsatisfying stops in Europe. The family was used to a relatively aristocratic existence in Egypt until things became quite unpleasant for Jews as Israel came into existence and then was in active conflict with Egypt. What was once an accepting and welcoming place turned into a sea of rejection and hardship. There was nothing else to do finally except for a painful move. No more independence for this family. Their trials begin with an injury to the father, a rather dramatic, stubborn and religious character who was revered and elegant in his local community at the beginning of the story and who ultimately winds up at the mercy of others at the end of his life.
In a way, though the peculiar characteristics of this family are quite distinct from the average immigrant, this book is a reasonably well told account of the pain of leaving one culture and finding a place in another. The author is the youngest child of a family of four. She details the history of the family well and one can almost taste the beloved but no longer existent Cairo into which she is born. While the family is Jewish and the father is deeply involved in his Egyptian and Jewish communities, this could be a tale that represents many universal aspects of the hardships of displaced persons who ultimately become outsiders and far more helpless than they started out in life.
I enjoyed the book for the most part but it is not a dramatic reading and some of the characters are sketchy. It does do a good job of describing the changes that immigrants endure and that traditional families face as modernism enters their life.
More The Man in the White Sharkskin Suit: A Jewish Family's Exodus from Old Cairo to the New World (P.S.) reviews:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Jewish Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in Jewish Books
Fighting Back: A Memoir of Jewish Resistance in World War IIby Harold Werner
Columbia University Press; Published: 1992-10; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $40.00
Price in other shops:
Ethics and Teaching: A Religious Perspective on Revitalizing Educationby Alan A. Block
Palgrave Macmillan; Published: 2009-02-15; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $89.03
Price in other shops:
Missing Men: A Memoirby Joyce Johnson
Penguin (Non-Classics); Published: 2005-07-05; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.73
Price in other shops:
The House of Rothschild: Volume 1: Money's Prophets: 1798-1848by Niall Ferguson
Penguin (Non-Classics); Published: 1999-11-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $13.39
Price in other shops:
Square of Skyby Janina David
Penguin (Non-Classics); Published: 1981-07-30; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $368.82
Escape to Shanghai: A Jewish Community in Chinaby Alex Ross
Free Press; Published: 1993-12-27; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $34.95
An Eye for an Eye: The Untold Story of Jewish Revenge Against Germans in 1945by John Sack
Basic Books; Published: 1995-05; Paperback; Book
Price in other shops:
A Quiet American: The Secret War of Varian Fryby Andy Marino
St. Martin's Press; Published: 1999-10-29; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $11.75
Price in other shops:
Eva's Story: A Survivor's Tale by the Step-Sister of Anne Frankby Eva Schloss, Evelyn Julia Kent
St Martins Pr; Published: 1989-04; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $40.00
Anne Frank: A Hidden Lifeby Mirjam Pressler
Puffin; Published: 2001-08-27; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.50
Price in other shops:
Similar books summaries and other product reviews
The Invisible Bridge (Vintage Contemporaries)by Julie Orringer
Vintage; Published: 2011-01-25; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.82
Price in other shops:
My Father's Paradise: A Son's Search for His Family's Pastby Ariel Sabar
Algonquin Books; Published: 2009-10-13; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.99
Price in other shops:
Rachel Calof's Story: Jewish Homesteader on the Northern Plainsby Rachel Calof
Indiana University Press; Published: 1995-09-22; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.97
Price in other shops:
History of the Jews in Modern Timesby Lloyd P. Gartner
Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 2001-02-08; Paperback; Book
Best price: $28.79
Price in other shops:
Rememberings: The World of a Russian-Jewish Woman in the Nineteenth Century (Studies and Texts in Jewish History and Culture, 9)by Pauline Wengeroff, Bernard Dov Cooperman
Univ Pr of Maryland; Published: 2000-10; Paperback; Book
Best price: $17.95
Price in other shops:
Out of Egypt: A Memoirby André Aciman
Picador; Published: 2007-01-23; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.27
Price in other shops:
The Jew in the Modern World: A Documentary Historyby Paul Mendes-Flohr, Jehuda Reinharz
Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 2010-12-21; Paperback; Book
Best price: $47.36
Price in other shops:
The Memoirs of Gluckel of Hamelnby Gluckel
Schocken Books; Published: 1987-12-27; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.88
Price in other shops:
The Hare with Amber Eyes: A Hidden Inheritanceby Edmund de Waal
Picador; Published: 2011-08-02; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.53
Price in other shops:
The Arrogant Years: One Girl's Search for Her Lost Youth, from Cairo to Brooklynby Lucette Lagnado
Ecco / HarperCollins; Published: 2011-09-06; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $13.00
Price in other shops: