The Man in the White Sharkskin Suit

A fascinating portrait of what it was like to live in Cairo in the 1950's pre-Nasser and during Nasser's time if one was a well-to-do Syrian Jewish family. The book is a memoir by the author (a Wall St. Journal investigative reporter) of her father, an elegant though somewhat dissipated business man in Cairo whose source of income is not ever clear and who was, though always out at night dancing and having affairs, a pious man at heart. The young daughter adores her father who adores her and keeps him on a pedestal even though his patriarchal attitudes powerfully influence the family, leading to submission on his wife's part and rebellion from his oldest daughter. The focus of the story is on how this elegant man was broken by despair show more and an inability to accommodate when he was forced to emigrate first to Paris and then to America. Had he not fallen before he left and hurt himself so that walking was agony, had he been allowed to take more than 200 pounds for his entire family (not the art, jewels, and monies he had accrued), had people resettling refugees been more empathic, perhaps the family history would have turned out better. My two criticisms: there should have been more of the politics of the time reflected in the book (though I do know it was told through the eyes of a child who would not have understood) and in the American section, I was surprised that the author gave so little credit to her mother and seemed to continue to idolize her father, all this when she was mature enough to be more perceptive. show less

The Man in the White Sharkskin Suit is an extraordinarily moving and well-written memoir that speaks to the immigrant experience that built America. The focus is on author Lucette Lagnando’s family, particularly her father, Leon. Leon was a prosperous Cairo businessman. A lover of Cairo’s nightlife, Leon did not consider marriage until spying 20 year old Edith at an outdoor cafe in 1943.Within a few weeks, they become engaged, and wed shortly after.

Devout Jews, the Lagnado family lived in harmony with their Moslem and Christian neighbors in a spacious apartment on a bustling Cairo boulevard, Malaka Nazli. The Lagnado family has servants. The children attend the finest schools, and wear the finest clothes, and are often treated to show more excursions to Cairo’s most renowned cafes and pastry shops. The family vacations each year by the sea, and visits with their extended family are routine.

This magical life ends when Nasser comes to power, and the Jews of Egypt are forced to leave with only whatever clothing they can take-no money, no jewelry, nothing that would help them begin a new life. The family spends a year living in Paris, then comes to New York, all with the assistance of international refugee aid organizations. Eventually, the Lagnado family ended up in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, amidst a small community of Egyptian Jews.

Over the years, the different family members react to their new circumstances in different ways. As Leon and Edith age and become more infirm, their children become more distant, and more American. Leon and Edith never really become American.

The Man in the White Sharkskin Suit is a love letter to a time gone by, and also a sad and realistic depiction of how immigrants become American. As all traces of their old life disappear, some become stronger, and other are destroyed.

I highly recommend this fine memoir, and look forward to reading more of Lucetter Lagnado’s work. show less

I'm not sure why I'm not giving this five stars but it's a pretty terrific read, an interesting story about a Jewish family from Egypt, their life there and their life as immigrants. I found Lucette to be likeable if not really relatable, and her family's story is another tile in the mosaic of the Jewish diaspora. She is a very good writer and kept me turning the pages.

A memoir about a Jewish family that live in Cairo in the time of WWII and emigrated to France then the US after. I really enjoyed the beginning of the book when she tells about their life in Cairo. It was fascinating history that I didn't know much about. Once they move to France and then US it becomes less interesting. It is definitely the historical setting that makes the story so intriguing.

Lucette Lagnado's moving memoir is subtitled My Family's Exodus from Old Cairo to the New World. It is a story of a remarkable father and his family movingly told with the feel of a novel as you share the experiences of this family who traveled half way around the world to settle in America. Lucette Lagnado, who is a senior special writer and investigative reporter for The Wall Street Journal, demonstrates both her skill as a writer and an investigator.

The story begins with the marriage of her parents, Leon and Edith, in wartime Cairo. As the family establishes itself after the war, the position of the Jewish community gradually deteriorates until, in the early sixties, they flee to Paris en route to their eventual destination. The show more strength of both parents and the details of the family's difficult journey is a story that this reader found intensely moving. The thought of being "stateless", as they were once they left Egypt, is hard to imagine. That they overcame this and survived is a tribute to their courage. This is a memoir that I will not soon forget. show less

A story overtly about emigration, of a family of jews from Egypt at the time of Nasser, to America via France. And there is certainly much about this subject in the book. But it is more of a family memoir, and especially a story of the relationship of a late born daughter with her father. Well written, adoring, full of memory.

Really interesting book about place, families, parents and children, and exile--Cairo isn't really the backdrop, it's as much a character as the Lagnado family.