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Loading... The Man in the White Sharkskin Suit: A Jewish Family's Exodus from Old Cairo to the New World (P.S.) (original 2007; edition 2008)by Lucette Lagnado
Work InformationThe Man in the White Sharkskin Suit by Lucette Lagnado (2007)
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Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. Interesting, sad, but a little too long and detailed for my taste. ( ) 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.
Awards
Lagnado re-creates the cosmopolitan glamour of Cairo in the years between World War II and Nasser's rise to power. Her father, Leon, was a boulevardier who conducted business in his signature white sharkskin suit on the elegant terrace of Shepheard's Hotel, and later, in the cozy, dark bar of the Nile Hilton. But with the fall of King Farouk, Leon and his family lose everything. As streets are renamed, neighborhoods of their fellow Jews disbanded, and the city purged of foreign influence, the Lagnados, too, must make their escape. With all of their belongings packed into 26 suitcases, their jewels and gold coins hidden in sealed tins of marmalade, Leon and his family depart for any land that will take them. The poverty and hardships they encounter in their flight from Cairo to Paris to New York are strikingly juxtaposed against the beauty and comforts of the lives they left behind.--From publisher description. No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)305.892407471092Social sciences Social Sciences; Sociology and anthropology Groups of people Ethnic and national groups ; racism, multiculturalism Other Groups JewsLC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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