Customer Reviews

Number Our Days: A Triumph of Continuity and Culture Among Jewish Old People in an Urban Ghetto

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book is an excellent study of the Jewish elderly living in Venice. I had to read it for an anthropology class at UCLA, and, considering it is an ethnography (which are usually dull and straight-forward) it is a really great book! Barbara Myerhoff makes her book extremely interesting to read, especially because of the comical episodes that happen within the context. Her book not only provides a study of the elderly, but also what it means to be a Jew who has survivor's guilt (from the holocaust). The book shows how the elderly are neglected, outcast members of society. A lot of mainstream media is focused towards our youth. Almost all of us will experience old age, and this book addresses that issue. I highly recommend this book, and to see the short film (which won an oscar).

Myerhoff, who was a leading cultural anthropologist, led the way in moving anthropological studies from exotic far-off locations to the study of near-by and familiar cultures. In her case, Myerhoff, a Jew herself, studied an elderly East European immigrant Jewish community in Southern California. The book is a subtle and compassionate ethnographic portrayal of their struggles, relationships, and religious lives centered at a local Jewish Community Center. Though materially poor and burdened by old age, Myerhoff shows that the people's lives are rich in tradition and ceremony. An Academy Award winning documentary was also made of the community carrying the same title.

I read this book a while ago and reread it every few years. It is wonderful and moving, unsparing but kind. I often buy it for friends.

This was mostly for a class, but it moves rather slowly and wasn't really my favorite. Semi-interesting, but not one that I felt the need to hang onto forever.

I was required to read this book for an Anthropology class I took at Temple University and this was a great book. The Professor even went as far as locating the video through our video library for the class to view and it was interesting as well. This book was great! I would recommend it for reading even if you don't have to read it for a class!

Loved It!

I love to read, but I doubt that this is the kind of book I would have ever read on my own free will. For each little point the author inexplicably feels compelled to ramble for 5 pages. Existing existentials? Symbolic cultural polarities? What the heck is that supposed to mean? Get to the point dude. The text should have been at most, a third its actual length...Indeed the setting is glum, Schmuel is OK but most of the others are portrayed as relentlessly vicious and petty. Not the kind of people you would want to hang around with or get to know for that matter. But none of this matters if the book is at least, overall, interesting and achieves its goals. I am sorry to say that it neither manages to be the former (except for rare instances)or accomplish the latter. Unless its goal is to leave the reader with a vaguely depressing emptiness. What a shame. I have heard that the Prof. Myerhoff, may she RIP, was a dedicated and talented teacher, who while unable to write well in all her books at least had her heart in the right place. Perhaps I would find her other works more enjoyable and would have seen greater titles had she not passed away so quickly.

Anyways I harbor no bad feelings against her. No, the real fault lies with my ... professor, who along with legions of his ... colleagues across the nation, torture countless students with overblown and hyperverbose books and lectures. Take my advice. AVOID THESE CLASSES AT ALL COSTS!

I love to read, but I doubt that this is the kind of book I would have ever read on my own free will. For each little point the author inexplicably feels compelled to ramble for 5 pages. Existing existentials? Symbolic cultural polarities? What the heck is that supposed to mean? Get to the point dude. The text should have been at most, a third its actual length...Indeed the setting is glum, Schmuel is OK but most of the others are portrayed as relentlessly vicious and petty. Not the kind of people you would want to hang around with or get to know for that matter. But none of this matters if the book is at least, overall, interesting and achieves its goals. I am sorry to say that it neither manages to be the former (except for rare instances)or accomplish the latter. Unless its goal is to leave the reader with a vaguely depressing emptiness. What a shame. I have heard that the Prof. Myerhoff, may she RIP, was a dedicated and talented teacher, who while unable to write well in all her books at least had her heart in the right place. Perhaps I would find her other works more enjoyable and would have seen greater titles had she not passed away so quickly.

Anyways I harbor no bad feelings against her. No, the real fault lies with my idiot professor, who along with legions of his moronic colleagues across the nation, torture countless students with overblown and hyperverbose books and lectures. Take my advice. AVOID THESE CLASSES AT ALL COSTS!