House of Windows: Portraits From a Jerusalem Neighborhood [Paperback]

Adina Hoffman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 12, 2002

A brilliant and moving evocation of the rhythms of life (and the darker shadows below it) in a working-class quarter of the world’s most fascinating and divided city.
In the tradition of the literature of place perfected by such expatriate writers as M. F. K. Fisher and Isak Dinesen, Adina Hoffman’s House of Windows compellingly evokes Jerusalem through the prism of the neighborhood where she has lived for eight years since moving from the United States. In a series of interlocking sketches and intimate portraits of the inhabitants of Musrara, a neighborhood on the border of the western (Jewish) and eastern (Arab) sides of the city–a Sephardic grocer, an aging civil servant, a Palestinian gardener, a nosy mother of ten–Hoffman constructs an intimate view of Jerusalem life that will be a revelation to American readers bombarded with politics and headlines. By focusing on the day-to-day pace of existence in this close-knit community, she provides a rich, precise, and refreshingly honest portrait of a city often reduced to cliche–and takes in the larger question of identity and exile that haunts Jews and Palestinians alike.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The author and her husband, Peter, moved to Jerusalem from the United States a decade ago, soon after she completed college, in an attempt to "test the bonds and limits of our American home." But unlike many of her contemporaries who write about themselves, Hoffman refreshingly ignores her inner world in favor of the geography and personalities in one neighborhood in the ancient and much fought over city of Jerusalem. It's her experiences with her neighborsAand their fascinating historiesAthat distinguish this expatriate's work. Some of those experiences could occur in any city, as when a neighbor who is still a virtual stranger thrusts all of her valuables on them to safeguard when she goes on a short trip. But others could only happen in Jerusalem: discussions with a fish-stand operator who describes his childhood in Morocco and his immigration to the Jewish state; an impromptu, "bittersweet" visit with a Palestinian family on a trip to Jordan; and a neighborhood battle with Orthodox Jews who want to cut down trees to make way for a religious school. At times, as in the latter case, Hoffman's American sensitivities may seem a bit extreme, but to her credit, she doesn't take herself too seriously. The writing in this debut book by the film critic for the Jerusalem Post is as poignant and layered as the subjects she writes aboutAand by detailing the ways history and culture play out in the day-to-day lives of the residents of one of the world's most contentious cities, she adds nuance and complexity to a much-studied subject. (Sept.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Hoffman, an American who has settled in Jerusalem, is the film critic for the Jerusalem Post. Her first book uses the colorful neighborhood where she lives, Musrara, on the border between East and West Jerusalem, as a way of introducing her readers to the rich variety of life in contemporary Israel. Originally a well-to-do Arab neighborhood, Musrara became the home of poor Moroccan Jews after 1948. Although many Moroccans still live there, the neighborhood is now more diversified and beginning to gentrify. Hoffman captures its essence in a series of portraits: a Moroccan Sephardic grocer, a Palestinian gardener, a multilingual retired fishmonger from Casablanca, and a nosy mother of 10. Her sketches of daily life in Musrara not only depict a changing community but also raise the issues of identity and exile. Jerusalem beyond the travelogues and the headlines. Barbara Bibel
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Broadway; 1 edition (March 12, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0767910192
• ISBN-13: 978-0767910194
• Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 0.5 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,155,777 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Real Life in Jerusalem, November 11, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: House of Windows: Portraits from a Jerusalem Neighborhood (Hardcover)

One of the many things I hate are books about foreigners who come to Jerusalem and through exploring the city find themselves. "The Book of Windows" is most definitely not one of those horrid books. Yes, Ms. Hoffman is a newcomer to the city, but the lovely book she's written is not one of neurotic American soul-searching but a minutely crafted portrait of a couple of streets she lives in that just happen to be in Jerusalem. Of course, as a Jerusalem resident I recognize the stories she tells as possible only in Jerusalem and nowhere else in the world. But Ms. Hoffman doesn't try to make any of the characters or events she so evocatively describes stand for anything except for themselves - there are no cheap attempts to turn the everyday occurrences of a tiny neighborhood and its residents into either "The Story of Jerusalem" or "The Story of Adina Hoffman". Instead, Ms. Hoffman has given us a series of small events which constitute the daily drama of living in Jerusalem: meeting the neighbors, food shopping, planting a garden. There are no earth-shattering revelations here, but the quiet, steady rhythm of real life which is far more satisfying and enjoyable.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Softer Jerusalem, June 2, 2001

By 

Bryon Sales (New York City, N.Y.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: House of Windows: Portraits from a Jerusalem Neighborhood (Hardcover)

I read this book while visiting Israel last summer. It is gentle. The writer has a poetic soul and now, reading it from USA, it gives us a vision of Jerusalem that isn't at war, a nice image if unfortunately not a true one-- not now. But there is a lyrical rhythm to this book that I recommend. 4 Stars.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars House of Windows is low keyed, poetic, important, April 7, 2001

By 

Gertrude Wellikoff (Big Island, Hawaii) - See all my reviews

This review is from: House of Windows: Portraits from a Jerusalem Neighborhood (Hardcover)

I read this book a month ago and it had a calming effect on me. I think the writer intended this, intended to slow life down, even life in Jerusalem, which is not a slow moving city. She succeeds in drawing us readers slowly into a world she found, but one suspects it's also a world she made. Look for the next book by a talent that is bound to grow.