Ultima notte ad Alessandria

Brilliant! In its early pages it’s interesting to think of this book as a flipside of Naguib Mahfouz’s The Cairo Trilogy . Both stories are multigenerational family sagas set in Egypt during the same period, early to mid-20th century. But while Mahfouz’s three-volume book focuses on an Arab family an Leggi tutto

A really stunning memoir, which despite being published in the US in 1994, is only appearing in print at this side of the Atlantic in 2019 (due to Faber's recent acquisition of Aciman's back catalogue). Aciman's accounts of his family are almost unbelievable. Whereas many families may have one chara Leggi tutto

Unlike features of a landscape like trees and mountains, people have feet. They move to places where the opportunities are best, and they soon invite their friends and relatives to join them. This demographic mixing turns the landscape into a fractal, with minorities inside minorities inside minorit Leggi tutto

This book is utterly fascinating. This family of Turkish Jews speaks a form of Spanish (except the ones who speak German), tell people they are Italian, identify with France, and live in Alexandria Egypt, before leaving due to war and the same seizure of goods they suffered a generation or two earli Leggi tutto

3.5 stars. One benefit of reading this memoir is what you learn about the climate of Egypt after the Egyptian revolution and the Suez Canal Company debacle, how it must have felt for a Jewish-European family living and doing business in Egypt. I must admit, I liked False Papers better because I love Leggi tutto

Recensione originale: https://sonnenbarke.wordpress.com/202... Premetto che non ho (ancora) letto il libro più famoso di André Aciman ,  Chiamami col tuo nome . Nonostante ciò ho voluto leggere questo suo libro di memorie, dopo aver letto alcune recensioni su Goodreads che mi avevano fatto pensare a un' Leggi tutto

Uno spartiacque Spesso la vita ha uno spartiacque e gli avvenimenti si collocano prima o dopo. Quello di André Aciman è l’addio ad Alessandria d’Egitto, dove le famiglie dei suoi genitori vivevano da 3 generazioni. E’ un addio annunciato da anni, col peggiorare dei rapporti diplomatici con Francia, G Leggi tutto

A controversial humanitarian read, you can call it a story or a memorial (as the author did) or a partial biography of European Jewish family & community living in Alexandria - Egypt between the early years of the 20th century till the forced deportation of foreigners and Jews by Nasser regime (1900 Leggi tutto

3.5 stars. Parts of OUT OF EGYPT were fascinating and other parts confusing and boring. André Aciman's account of growing up in Alexandria, Egypt, from his birth in 1951 to his large, quirky Jewish family's regretful departure from the city in 1965 actually delves farther into the past when some in Leggi tutto

André Aciman's memoir of growing up Jewish -- and speaking French -- in post-World War II Alexandria. His family had moved to that city from Constantinople in 1905, back when both cities lay within the Ottoman Empire. Aciman found his native city -- along with his family -- to be a treasure chest of Leggi tutto