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Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
This elegant memoir provides readers with glimpses of an unusual cross-cultural childhood. Delman was raised, in Cleveland, Ohio, New York and Israel, in a cacophonous culture clash: her father was a Jewish American of Eastern European descent; her mother was descended from India's ancient Bene Israel community and had spent her youth in Israel. The combination of bagels and lox and chutney doesn't offer an easily digested sense of identity. The outside world, too, is confused about Delman: she is viewed with suspicion by both American Jews and Indians. Most jarring to the author's coming of age is her mother's strictly patriarchal heritage. Her Indian relatives expect Delman to support all decisions made by the men. Girls are to be quiet and dainty and keep apart from the opposite sex until they are ready to wed. Even enrolled in a Jewish day school, Delman feels alienated from the mainstream culture. Nor does participation in synagogue life provide solace the Delmans find too much concern for conformity and materialism. Moving to Israel will be the answer, Delman thinks. But there she sees many Indian Jews, along with Israel's other Asian and African immigrants, largely confined to isolated development towns with subpar housing and education. Woven into Delman's often painful musings and reflections on her identity is the poignant story of the aged Nana-bai, her closest Indian relative, who has survived poverty, bigamy and abuse with resilience and grace. Writing in a lively style with rich details, Delman's debut brims with intelligence and insight and should appeal not only to Jews and Indians but to anyone compelled by the mingling of cultural identities.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
From School Library Journal
Adult/High School-Delman shares a highly personal story in a readable, often-poetic style. Her father was an American Jew of Eastern European descent, and her mother was born into the Bene Israel community, a small group of Jews who lived near Bombay. Her mother and grandmother emigrated to Israel, where her parents met. Raised in the U.S. and in Israel, the author has a strong and supportive nuclear family, but a scandal in her grandmother's generation still divides her maternal relatives in subtle, destructive ways. She describes her heavy-metal teenage rebellion in 1980s' America; her confused but liberating experimentation in her college years; and her alienation from mainstream American Jewish culture because of racial differences and economic inequalities. But at the heart of her story is her Indian Jewish grandmother, a remarkably courageous woman who negotiated even more hazardous terrain. Her life is revealed through a journal she left behind (and through her granddaughter's imagination), as the author reconciles her own identity with that of her grandmother's in the discovery of truths not owned exclusively by any culture. In Delman's troubled, fascinating, and ultimately inspiring growth amid the "eclectic, often eccentric potpourri of cultures" that formed her, teens will find much with which to identify.
Christine C. Menefee, Fairfax County Public Library, VA
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.
See all Editorial Reviews
This elegant memoir provides readers with glimpses of an unusual cross-cultural childhood. Delman was raised, in Cleveland, Ohio, New York and Israel, in a cacophonous culture clash: her father was a Jewish American of Eastern European descent; her mother was descended from India's ancient Bene Israel community and had spent her youth in Israel. The combination of bagels and lox and chutney doesn't offer an easily digested sense of identity. The outside world, too, is confused about Delman: she is viewed with suspicion by both American Jews and Indians. Most jarring to the author's coming of age is her mother's strictly patriarchal heritage. Her Indian relatives expect Delman to support all decisions made by the men. Girls are to be quiet and dainty and keep apart from the opposite sex until they are ready to wed. Even enrolled in a Jewish day school, Delman feels alienated from the mainstream culture. Nor does participation in synagogue life provide solace the Delmans find too much concern for conformity and materialism. Moving to Israel will be the answer, Delman thinks. But there she sees many Indian Jews, along with Israel's other Asian and African immigrants, largely confined to isolated development towns with subpar housing and education. Woven into Delman's often painful musings and reflections on her identity is the poignant story of the aged Nana-bai, her closest Indian relative, who has survived poverty, bigamy and abuse with resilience and grace. Writing in a lively style with rich details, Delman's debut brims with intelligence and insight and should appeal not only to Jews and Indians but to anyone compelled by the mingling of cultural identities.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
From School Library Journal
Adult/High School-Delman shares a highly personal story in a readable, often-poetic style. Her father was an American Jew of Eastern European descent, and her mother was born into the Bene Israel community, a small group of Jews who lived near Bombay. Her mother and grandmother emigrated to Israel, where her parents met. Raised in the U.S. and in Israel, the author has a strong and supportive nuclear family, but a scandal in her grandmother's generation still divides her maternal relatives in subtle, destructive ways. She describes her heavy-metal teenage rebellion in 1980s' America; her confused but liberating experimentation in her college years; and her alienation from mainstream American Jewish culture because of racial differences and economic inequalities. But at the heart of her story is her Indian Jewish grandmother, a remarkably courageous woman who negotiated even more hazardous terrain. Her life is revealed through a journal she left behind (and through her granddaughter's imagination), as the author reconciles her own identity with that of her grandmother's in the discovery of truths not owned exclusively by any culture. In Delman's troubled, fascinating, and ultimately inspiring growth amid the "eclectic, often eccentric potpourri of cultures" that formed her, teens will find much with which to identify.
Christine C. Menefee, Fairfax County Public Library, VA
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.
See all Editorial Reviews
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