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Roots & Branches: A Family Saga Like No Other (A Surgeon's Tale Book 1) by [Michael M. Meguid]

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Michael M. Meguid MD

Roots & Branches: A Family Saga Like No Other (A Surgeon's Tale Book 1) Kindle Edition

by Michael M. Meguid (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

18 ratings

Book 1 of 2: A Surgeon's Tale

Roots & Branches is rooted in a story of love and longing based on a fatal accident in an upper Egyptian village over a century ago. In this rich and powerful story Meguid explores his remarkable early life based on a journal, letters and photos, which amply illustrate the book. How does a four-year-old boy uprooted from a cozy Egyptian family endure abandonment in impoverished post-war Germany? In this vivid biography of his formative years Meguid traces his childhood—alone, forsaken and often threatened with corporal punishment. Born to an Egyptian father and a German mother, his earliest memories of Cairo are idyllic, but his mother’s refusal to adapt to Egyptian life results in upheaval. At the age of four, his parents leave him in Hamburg with his German grandparents, where life becomes defined by the rigid rules of his Prussian grandfather. The desertion leaves him with a gaping hole, howling loneliness, and a longing that ripples through him. When his parents collect him five years later, they take him to England, where once again he has to adapt to being an outsider. When he eventually returns to his beloved Egypt, he was gone so long that he no longer quite fits in. His father’s premature death thrusts Meguid into an existential crisis. Facing conscription and an uncertain future, Meguid learns to navigate his own path.

Print length

366 pages
Language

English
Publication date

October 8, 2020
File size

16002 KB
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Product details

ASIN : B08KYX5NRZ
Publisher : M3 Scientific Media (October 8, 2020)
Publication date : October 8, 2020
Language : English
File size : 16002 KB
Text-to-Speech : Enabled
Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
X-Ray : Not Enabled
Word Wise : Enabled
Print length : 366 pages
Lending : Enabled

Best Sellers Rank: #716,437 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #154 in Historical Middle Eastern Biographies
- #341 in Historical German Biographies
- #1,524 in Biographical Fiction (Kindle Store)

Customer Reviews:
18 ratings

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4 star		18%
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Elizabeth E. Lane

INTEGRATION INTO FOUR CULTURES

Reviewed in the United States on November 1, 2020

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THIS IS A FASCINATING AND VERY WELL WRITTEN ACCOUNT OF A CHILD'S STRUGGLES AS HIS PARENTS ATTEMPT TO BLEND TWO VERY DIFFERENT CULTURES AS WELL AS ACHIEVING THE AMBITIONS OF EACH.
THE HEART WRENCHING STORY OF THE EFFECT IT HAD ON THE CHILDREN WHEN SUDDENLY WRENCHED FROM THE WARM EMBRACE OF AN EXTENDED EGYPTIAN FAMILY INTO A COLD POST WORLD WAR II GERMAN CITY TO GRANDPARENTS THEY DID NOT KNOW OR UNDERSTAND.
THE REMARKABLE RESILIENCE OF CHILDREN IS DEPICTED SO WELL AS IS THE PAIN AND CONFUSION WHILE REACHING ACCEPTANCE.
THIS READER LOOKS FORWARD TO THE BOOK(S) THAT MUST FOLLOW THIS INTERESTING PSYCHOLOGICAL AND SOCIOLOGICAL DRAMA WRITTEN ON A BACKGROUND OF FOUR QUITE DIFFERENT CULTURES!!

I ENTHUSIASTICALLY RECOMMEND THIS AMAZING BOOK!

One person found this helpful

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Lisa Gandy

Success and Happiness Don't Come By Accident-What a Story!

Reviewed in the United States on November 12, 2020

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This book is hard to put down after starting on the author's adventure! Imagine being a young boy faced with continuous parental abandonment being moved from location to location with having to adapt to all different cultures in each new home while growing up.
This story is so well written and such a joy to read. The author has created a loving adventure loaded with struggle, emotion, happiness and challenge. There is also an educational aspect to this story as we get to feel and share many different cultures.
The author has lived a lifelong dream to become a renowned internationally known and respected surgeon and achieved that goal in spite of a childhood loaded with unbelievable challenges as a young boy matures into becoming a grown adult both personally and professionally.
I highly recommend this book and this author and look forward to future sequels which are referenced as one explores this genuinely exceptional adventure.

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Krishnan Sriram

A soul-searching book during these difficult times

Reviewed in the United States on December 4, 2020

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The language in this book is exquisite. It is amazing that a physician/surgeon can write so well, and in a style different from his usual medical journal publications. One can almost feel, hear, and smell the streets of erstwhile Cairo, or the devastated post-war Hamburg under “the feeble, intermittent light”. I must confess I have a sense of jealousy that I cannot write so well, given our somewhat similar professional background. Roots & Branches is a page-turner. I sincerely hope it will be made into a made for TV movie series, as the saga cannot be condensed into one movie. I can well imagine the final episode where viewers are shown the old photographs, with the author narrating the final words, convincing everyone that this really happened.
I do have one suggestion for future editions. A family tree would help as many of the names may be unfamiliar to some readers. I cannot wait to read the sequel.

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Werner E. Kade

A different Biography

Reviewed in the United States on November 14, 2020

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Roots and Branches starts with a heart attack causing Meguid to ask the aqe -old question: Who am I and why?
The answer is rooted in a story of love and longing based on a fatal accident in a primitive upper Egyptian village over a century ago.
In this rich and powerful story, the author explores his remarkable early life based on a journal, letters and photos, which amply illustrate the book.
A mesmerizing story.

One person found this helpful

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Ricky Cuba

Finding identity... truly thought provoking

Reviewed in the United States on January 16, 2021

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Let me say beautifully written book with a multitude of cultural insights, some of the social undertones we all face everyday are displayed especially if you come from different backgrounds. It was incredible to follow the journey through the book. Currently waiting for the sequel amazing writer!

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Vera

Roots and Branches ... fascinating book

Reviewed in the United States on October 25, 2020

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Captivating story of an exceptional life ... very well written!

2 people found this helpful

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Lori Stone

What an amazing life, beautifully told

Reviewed in the United States on October 16, 2020

This extraordinary memoir manages to be simultaneously the story of a man's life, an eye witness account of tumultuous historical events, and a sweeping saga across cultures and generations. Again and again I was moved by the beauty of the prose, struck by the historical moments the writer lived through, and moved by the insights and reflections he wove through the book. It's hard to pull out a favorite aspect because there are so many, but for me the real depth and beauty of this memoir comes from his keen and moving experiences of and insight to the meaning of identity. From an Egyptian Muslim boy to a German boy to an English young man to an English physician and surgeon, and finally to an American surgeon and writer, Meguid has had more reasons and opportunities than most to reflect deeply on identity, and his exploration of those issues greatly moved me.

What has lingered for me in the time since I read this beautiful book is the writer's eloquent voice, a view of life in Egypt during particularly tumultuous times (his experiences always striking to read), and a general mood of inquiry and thoughtful exploration. I'm left holding an image of a young boy who longed to escape, who dreamed of flying a glider out of one life and into another, and gratitude that he was able to do that and write this book.

3 people found this helpful

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dawn jensen nobile

A powerful book

Reviewed in the United States on October 20, 2020

Some lives have much to teach us; this is what we get from the best of memoirs. This is such a life and such a book. I find I cannot get its lessons, its images, and its vivid stories out of my mind.

It is, as the subheading suggests, captivatingly unique and yet speaking to all our lives. We are all trees reaching towards the sun. This particular seed--as its brilliantly conceived cover so accurately expresses--was planted in the desert, its roots shallow but broadly and firmly dispersed to receive such nutrients as nature has provided, including a family in which east and west both blend and conflict, in which love is both present and absent. His parents are each fiercely driven by the circumstances of their own pasts to aim for financial and social success; thus our protagonist is half shoved upon this path, half attracted to it--all the while his heart aching for something more. Between the winds of east and west, of affection and abandonment, he is blown while still young--so that the trunk bends in time permanently this way and that, creating a peculiar symmetry and strength as the branches determinedly upright themselves in search of the light.

I highly recommend this rich and fascinating book.

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Hossam ElBadrawy

A human tale

Reviewed in Canada on November 9, 2020

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This is an epic tale by a sensitive man with a photographic memory who had to endure and adjust to many changes in his young life and learned from all of them. It is a tale of divergent cultures and of being uprooted many times. The author's narrative reads like a novel and I found myself both enthralled and absorbed. He has a talent for bringing to life, people and places from his past and expertly wraps it in his present. The story spins from birth in Egypt, to postwar Germany, to postwar England and back again. He describes his pains and joys in every phase. At the end of the day, this is a story about humanity and human beings and so utterly relatable. I understand that this book is the first of a Trilogy and I anxiously await the next installment. Bravo.

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