The Portable Jewish Mother: Guilt, Food, And... When Are You Giving Me Grandchildren (Paperback)

~ Laurie Rozakis (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Lately, have you not felt enough guilt? Forgotten to worry if you're getting too thin? Or heard too few complaints about your being single? Well then, here you go! All the kvetch-ing and moaning only a Jewish mother could provide.

Laurie Rozakis brings you the good, the bad, and the guilt with The Portable Jewish Mother. Serving up a healthy, heaping portion of Mom's love and wisdom, all without the gefilte fish aftertaste. Complete with quizzes and recipes, myths and misconceptions, this book answers any and all questions you could ever have about Jewish mothers.

Even if your mom is a shiksa, she'll love The Portable Jewish Mother. Because all mothers have a little Jewish mother in them!

About the Author

Laurie Rozakis, Ph.D. is a professor of English and humanities at Farmingdale State University, part of the State University of NY. She is the author of more than 100 books, including the bestselling Complete Idiot's Guide to Grammar and Style, The Complete Idiot's Guide to Creative Writing, and Comma Sutra. She is a Jewish Mother.

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Adams Media (March 1, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1598693417
• ISBN-13: 978-1598693416
• Product Dimensions: 6.2 x 5.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #774,275 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars My mother loved it!, July 31, 2009

By	Sam - See all my reviews

I gave this to my mother for mother's day and she couldn't stop laughing. The food bits were especially funny for her, as she's always baking and shipping food to me and all my siblings. The book is very funny and I'd recommend it to anybody who has a mother.

7 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Strange feeling of deja vu, August 7, 2008

By	David M. Bader (New York, NY) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

As I read this book, I found many of the passages eerily familiar. That is because they are from two books that I wrote, Haikus for Jews: For You, a Little Wisdom and Zen Judaism: For You, A Little Enlightenment. The Portable Jewish Mother contains three passages from Zen Judaism woven into the text, i.e. not presented as quotations from another source (on pp. 56, 147 and 153). It also quotes numerous haikus from Haikus for Jews without ever mentioning the book.

Two other pages in the book (pp. 195-196) struck me as familiar, and they appear to be taken from The Optimist Sees the Bagel the Pessimist Sees the Hole: Life's Little Jewish Instruction Book by Leonard Sorcher.

With respect to my material, this book was the subject of a claim of copyright infringement that has been settled out of court. While the terms of the settlement were and are confidential, I am allowed to state that the passages in question will be removed from future printings of the book (if any).

I am not in any way commenting on the motivations or intentions of Professor Rozakis, which remain a mystery to me. I do strongly feel that that potential purchasers and readers of this book should aware of the problems with the originality of this book.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars You Don't Have to be Jewish..., August 11, 2009

By	Marilyn Cobert (Knoxville, TN United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Amazon Verified Purchase

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It would be particularly useful for someone marrying into a Jewish family or someone with a Jewish friend. Certainly there are a lot of funny stories, many of which are so old that Moses might have told one to Aaron, but still funny. There is a lot of information about holidays and traditions. There are recipes-but be warned that every family has its own idea about food preparations. I can still hear my husband say, "Fluffy matzoh balls? Whoever heard of fluffy matzoh balls?"

This book has a lot crammed into it and could be considered an adventure in meeting another culture, one I'm glad to say has a unique sense of humor.