Out of Egypt: A Memoir
by André Aciman
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Description
This richly colored memoir chronicles the exploits of a flamboyant Jewish family, from its bold arrival in cosmopolitan Alexandria to its defeated exodus three generations later. In elegant and witty prose, Andre; Aciman introduces us to the marvelous eccentrics who shaped his life--Uncle Vili, the strutting daredevil, soldier, salesman, and spy; the two grandmothers, the Princess and the Saint, who gossip in six languages; Aunt Flora, the German refugee who warns that Jews lose everything show more "at least twice in their lives." And through it all, we come to know a boy who, even as he longs for a wider world, does not want to be led, forever, out of Egypt. show lessTags
Recommendations
Member Recommendations
wandering_star Both these are family memoirs with a light-hearted tone, although Out Of Egypt has a rather more sombre background setting.
11
Member Reviews
This is Andre Aciman's memoir of growing up Jewish in 1950's Alexandria, Egypt. An only child, he was showered with attention from a large and eccentric assortment of great aunts and uncles. The city of Alexandria shimmers, and is itself a character in the book. Aciman's family was expelled from Egypt in the early 1960's, and his bittersweet nostalgia for his Edenic childhood permeates the book.
A memoir of a Jewish family from Alexandria Egypt pre WW II. What a cast of characters! I had trouble keeping them straight. But I enjoyed this book and might recommend it. It's not a book I would have chosen on my own, But I'm glad I read it.
forgot how much I liked this memoir of a Sephardic family living in 20C Egypt until a friend started raving about it today.
forgot how much I liked this memoir of a Sephardic family living in 20C Egypt until a friend started raving about it today.
Memoirs, Alexandria, coming of age, Egyptian politics, extended Jewish family, upper class life, childhood, languages, eccentric uncles, deaf mother, feuding grandmothers
Recommended by William Zinsser, in On Writing Well, p. 136.
the other reviews summed it up perfectly.
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Author Information
A regular contributor to the New Yorker, The New York Review of Books and The New Republic, Andre Aciman was born in Alexandria: raised in Egypt, Italy, and France; and educated at Harvard. He teaches literature at Bard College and lives in Manhattan. (Bowker Author Biography)
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Common Knowledge
- Original title
- Out of Egypt. A Memoir
- Original publication date
- 1994
- Important places
- Alexandria, Egypt
Classifications
Statistics
- Members
- 641
- Popularity
- 45,084
- Reviews
- 9
- Rating
- (3.96)
- Languages
- 8 — Catalan, Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Turkish
- Media
- Paper, Audiobook, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 27
- ASINs
- 9
