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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Real Personal Statement about One's Roots and How it Shaped a Life, January 23, 2006
This book, about the daughter of Armenian immigrants who escaped genocide in Turkey and resettled in Egypt, is about the adversity that the author dealt with in her own household after the death of her mother when she was still a child. Well written and easy to read, the book is written from her perspective as a child growing up in a household in Cairo, Egypt at a time when Egypt, in the 1940s was going through many socio-political changes, from the pleasant days of a cosmopolitan, diverse society heavily influenced by England, through World War II, and the transfer from a monarchy to a Republic, in which indigenous Arabs began exerting their influence in all spheres of life.
Ms. Terzian has a great ability to distill an entire span of some twenty years into numerous vignettes and episodes that powerfully convey her desire to become educated and to overcome stereotypical notions about the role of a woman in society and in the household. The lack of love and appreciation for her accomplishments by her stepmother and father merely serve to strenghten her resolve to break from the shackles of convention and limited expectations. At the same time, she puts in perspective what it feels like to be a member of a people -- the Armenians -- who are displaced from their historic homeland and are forced to make adjustments in what was then a polyglot of cultures in Cairo, Egypt.
Ultimately, it is a story of personal triumph, if not reconciliation, as Ms. Terzian describes her journey as a United Nations employee, utilizing her French and English skills in such far-flung places as the Congo and Togo. It's an easy read, and not without its humourous moments, like when her father argues with the Mother Superior at her religious secondary school, and she is asked to translate for both of them; or when she describes her efforts to learn English and the unique quirks of the language that bedevil her. In reading this book, one would not come away with the impression that English is a second language for the author, who immigrated to the U.S. as a twenty something.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Gripping, January 11, 2006
This was gripping reading. I read it cover to cover on a transatlantic flight without even stopping for a refreshment. During this time, I disturbed others as it made me cry and laugh as I follow Marys rollercoaster of an experience. Buy it, you won't regret it.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Must READ!!!, August 31, 2007
This award winning book, "The Immigrant's Daughter," by Mary Terzian, is a literary achievement in more than one dimension. Her personal experience of growing up in Cairo, Egypt, in a family that was deported from its ancestral Armenian homeland, is most captivating and heartwarming. The emotional stress and psychological turbulences, caused by constrictive family traditions, in a young girl who is striving for respect and identity, are presented with eloquence draped in simplicity. Mary's style and language, often seasoned with subtle humor, are the manifestations of her professionalism and creativity.
The impact of "The Immigrant's Daughter" goes beyond the Armenian-Egyptian bi-cultural environment. The ongoing industrial and economic globalization is creating multicultural societies across the continents. Millions from third world countries or rural areas are moving to more industrialized cities or countries. Consequently the adaptation of old traditions and cultures with prevailing conditions creates internal strife in families. Inevitably children are caught between these conflict-filled circumstances, facing individual challenges. These children and subsequent generations could certainly benefit from Mary Terzian's real-life experiences by reading the loud message in her book: uncompromising pursuit of education, motivation, perseverance, and adaptation of traditional moral values in a new milieu.
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