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3.42 AVERAGE
3.42 AVERAGE
I didn't care for it. All she is doing in this one is dating around and searching out being jewish in many other countries around Europe. Felt too much like she was trying to justify still being jewish because of her birth community and being a modern woman because she is no longer part of her birth community.
Meh
Meh
A follow up memoir to her first, Unorthodox, I expected a lot more. I thought it would be more about adjusting to the secular world after a very closed off Satmar Jewish life in Brooklyn but mostly it was about her gallivanting around Europe and dudes she had relationships with. Instead of examining why she was fearful of being harassed or attacked for being Jewish she really honestly thought that people were waiting around the corner everywhere. She seemed very judgmental/assuming of people instead of examining her own anxiety and trying to heal.
I expected to read about adjusting to a secular life, dealing with raising a child and having to communicate with family members when dealing with her ex-husband over parenting issues. I wanted to know what it was like working or navigating the world when you left everything behind. Must be nice to leave everything behind and become a jet-setting traveler who apparently doesn't have to worry much in the way of money or child care. I suppose I expected a tale more of struggle than navel gazing.
I expected to read about adjusting to a secular life, dealing with raising a child and having to communicate with family members when dealing with her ex-husband over parenting issues. I wanted to know what it was like working or navigating the world when you left everything behind. Must be nice to leave everything behind and become a jet-setting traveler who apparently doesn't have to worry much in the way of money or child care. I suppose I expected a tale more of struggle than navel gazing.
Not a favourite at all. Not because it wasn’t well written but because there were so many things missing. While some things were covered at length such as her her sex life and time spent traveling, she hardly mentions her son or being a mother. I kept asking myself if she only had him every other weekend? This book is closer to the self indulgent “Eat, Pray, Love” than the wonderful “Educated”.
medium-paced
reflective
slow-paced
Exodus is the continuation of Feldman's story from her first memoir [b:Unorthodox: The Scandalous Rejection of My Hasidic Roots|13547241|Unorthodox The Scandalous Rejection of My Hasidic Roots|Deborah Feldman|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1336676500s/13547241.jpg|16322595]. I did not enjoy this as much as I enjoyed Unorthodox, and I think there are two reasons for that.
Before I get to those I do want to say that this is a much better written book than Unorthodox. Feldman has really found her voice as a writer, and she is unflinchingly honest in this book. Perhaps too honest at times, but nevertheless, I can only offer her my admiration on being so raw and present in the pages of this book.
To the reasons I didn't like this as much as her first memoir:
1) There was no underlying story to this book. This is written in a disjointed manner, and actions that occur in the past are written later. The timeline jumps around a lot. It was confusing at times. Especially with all of her travels - when is she where?
Unorthodox ended rather abruptly after she left her community, and I was hoping to read more of her journey in this book - instead Feldman has written a deep and introspective memoir about her internal struggle to come to terms with her new life. I think an uninterrupted narrative that moved in chronological order, while still discussing her inner turmoil, would have made this a more readable book.
And, I think that many people would have been equally interested and curious in her physical story. The actual facts of what occurred after she left her community and the controversy it inspired. As well, there are glimpses and hints of other interesting stories and interactions she had with her family that aren't explored at all.
It's possible she consciously chose not to write a memoir like that. Perhaps she felt that that was all written in the first book, and that this one would be about her internal struggle. And that's fair. It is her memoir, after all.
2) I also did not connect as much to Feldman in this book as I did in her previous book. Part of it may be her neuroses, but I've read other books with neurotic characters and connected with them....
I think it has more to do with her searching for closure on something I've never seen, felt or experienced. And that is where she could have been more expansive and explanatory about her struggle and travels.
For some context - she travels to Europe, on many different occasions, to trace her Grandmother's story - from her birth in Hungary, through the Holocaust, her liberation from Bergen-Belsen, her life in Switzerland, and then her move to New York.
That story - in and of itself - could have been a phenomenal story to write her own story around. Yet, she goes to Hungary and then Switzerland, and finds her grandmother's path - and then drops the entire storyline. We never really learn anything else new about this woman, her struggle, her story - and how it connects to Deborah's story.
My grandparents are not Holocaust survivors. But we learned about it in school, and I've been to Holocaust museums, and to Europe, and to Berlin, and Salzburg, and concentration camps - yet I don't understand Feldman's connection/disconnection to the events, the places and the stories.
I just don't get it.
And that is where I felt the disconnect in this memoir - that is where Feldman lost me. She didn't properly convey why she felt that way. Why this connection between her, her grandmother, and the Holocaust was so important to her move away from her religious community - why this story was so important to her sense of self as a person.
Overall, this is a very readable memoir. And for anyone who read and enjoyed her first book, you will also like this one, and I do recommend it - but for different reasons than I would recommend her first book.
Before I get to those I do want to say that this is a much better written book than Unorthodox. Feldman has really found her voice as a writer, and she is unflinchingly honest in this book. Perhaps too honest at times, but nevertheless, I can only offer her my admiration on being so raw and present in the pages of this book.
To the reasons I didn't like this as much as her first memoir:
1) There was no underlying story to this book. This is written in a disjointed manner, and actions that occur in the past are written later. The timeline jumps around a lot. It was confusing at times. Especially with all of her travels - when is she where?
Unorthodox ended rather abruptly after she left her community, and I was hoping to read more of her journey in this book - instead Feldman has written a deep and introspective memoir about her internal struggle to come to terms with her new life. I think an uninterrupted narrative that moved in chronological order, while still discussing her inner turmoil, would have made this a more readable book.
And, I think that many people would have been equally interested and curious in her physical story. The actual facts of what occurred after she left her community and the controversy it inspired. As well, there are glimpses and hints of other interesting stories and interactions she had with her family that aren't explored at all.
It's possible she consciously chose not to write a memoir like that. Perhaps she felt that that was all written in the first book, and that this one would be about her internal struggle. And that's fair. It is her memoir, after all.
2) I also did not connect as much to Feldman in this book as I did in her previous book. Part of it may be her neuroses, but I've read other books with neurotic characters and connected with them....
I think it has more to do with her searching for closure on something I've never seen, felt or experienced. And that is where she could have been more expansive and explanatory about her struggle and travels.
For some context - she travels to Europe, on many different occasions, to trace her Grandmother's story - from her birth in Hungary, through the Holocaust, her liberation from Bergen-Belsen, her life in Switzerland, and then her move to New York.
That story - in and of itself - could have been a phenomenal story to write her own story around. Yet, she goes to Hungary and then Switzerland, and finds her grandmother's path - and then drops the entire storyline. We never really learn anything else new about this woman, her struggle, her story - and how it connects to Deborah's story.
My grandparents are not Holocaust survivors. But we learned about it in school, and I've been to Holocaust museums, and to Europe, and to Berlin, and Salzburg, and concentration camps - yet I don't understand Feldman's connection/disconnection to the events, the places and the stories.
I just don't get it.
And that is where I felt the disconnect in this memoir - that is where Feldman lost me. She didn't properly convey why she felt that way. Why this connection between her, her grandmother, and the Holocaust was so important to her move away from her religious community - why this story was so important to her sense of self as a person.
Overall, this is a very readable memoir. And for anyone who read and enjoyed her first book, you will also like this one, and I do recommend it - but for different reasons than I would recommend her first book.
Az Exodus nem annyira volt könnyű olvasmány számomra, mint az Unortodox. Nagyon vártam, nagyon kíváncsi voltam rá, sok pontban át tudtam érezni Feldman sorait, de összességében valahogy mégsem vagyok maradéktalanul elégedett. Mindezekkel szemben mégis azt mondom, hogy meg tudom őt érteni. Hiszen egy hermetikusan elzárt világban nevelkedett, a saját határait pedig egyedülálló, huszonéves anyaként tudta elkezdeni feszegetni.
Nem utolsó sorban a világnézetünk is egy érdekes dolog. Vannak, akik szerencsések, és a szüleiktől olyan útravalót kaptak, amivel nyitottan és pozitívan tudják szemlélni a világot, ezzel szemben vannak, akiket az utálatra és a kirekesztésre neveltek, amihez iszonyú sokat kell tanulni, hogy változtatni tudj rajta. És vannak, akik semmi ilyesmit nem kaptak, akiknek szintén nehéz eligazodni azon, hogy vajon mi a helyes, mi a helytelen, és egyáltalán hogyan viszonyuljanak az élet dolgaihoz.
Pontosan ezek miatt más az Exodus, mint az Unortodox: itt már nem egy zárt csoport titkairól van szó, hanem egy útkereső fiatal nőről. Érezni azért a regényen, hogy próbálja az Unortodox izgalmait belecsempészni, de itt inkább más kérdések a fontosak. Például hogy hogyan lehet teljesen egyedül új életet kezdeni? Hogyan lehet a kisgyerekkor óta belénk nevelt káros sémákat megváltoztatni? Vagy hogy mennyit számít az akaraterő és a küzdés.
Bővebben: https://www.gyorgytekla.hu/2021/12/deborah-feldman-exodus/
Nem utolsó sorban a világnézetünk is egy érdekes dolog. Vannak, akik szerencsések, és a szüleiktől olyan útravalót kaptak, amivel nyitottan és pozitívan tudják szemlélni a világot, ezzel szemben vannak, akiket az utálatra és a kirekesztésre neveltek, amihez iszonyú sokat kell tanulni, hogy változtatni tudj rajta. És vannak, akik semmi ilyesmit nem kaptak, akiknek szintén nehéz eligazodni azon, hogy vajon mi a helyes, mi a helytelen, és egyáltalán hogyan viszonyuljanak az élet dolgaihoz.
Pontosan ezek miatt más az Exodus, mint az Unortodox: itt már nem egy zárt csoport titkairól van szó, hanem egy útkereső fiatal nőről. Érezni azért a regényen, hogy próbálja az Unortodox izgalmait belecsempészni, de itt inkább más kérdések a fontosak. Például hogy hogyan lehet teljesen egyedül új életet kezdeni? Hogyan lehet a kisgyerekkor óta belénk nevelt káros sémákat megváltoztatni? Vagy hogy mennyit számít az akaraterő és a küzdés.
Bővebben: https://www.gyorgytekla.hu/2021/12/deborah-feldman-exodus/
Ein sehr dicht erzähltes Buch, für das man sich Zeit und einen freien Kopf nehmen sollte.
Sehr selbstreflektiert geschrieben und voller Denkanstöße. Ist wahrscheinlich nicht für jeden etwas, aber wer offen für die Themen Judentum, Identität und Immigration ist, bekommt hier einiges an Informationen, historischen Hintergründen und moralischen sowie philosophischen Fragen an die Hand. Und das alles angereichert durch eine sehr persönliche und berührende Erzählweise, die weder belehrt noch verurteilt.
Sehr bemerkenswert.
Sehr selbstreflektiert geschrieben und voller Denkanstöße. Ist wahrscheinlich nicht für jeden etwas, aber wer offen für die Themen Judentum, Identität und Immigration ist, bekommt hier einiges an Informationen, historischen Hintergründen und moralischen sowie philosophischen Fragen an die Hand. Und das alles angereichert durch eine sehr persönliche und berührende Erzählweise, die weder belehrt noch verurteilt.
Sehr bemerkenswert.
Überbitten/Exodus is the second memoir of Deborah Feldman. I read the German version which includes the seven years after she has escaped the orthodox Jewish community she’s described in her first book (which I haven’t yet read). I personally really liked this book. It centers around identity, finding an access to her religion by visiting several places in Europe and the US, about language (which she uses in a brilliant way to create images that really reinforce the meaning) and finally settling in Berlin and dealing with the holocaust (shoa) and the still heavy presence of nazis in Berlin/Germany.
As I myself am German I find that there is a responsibility and I think it’s always helpful to look at perspectives like Deborah’s. It creates an awareness that you wouldn’t find out about otherwise but it’s still so important.
For me it has been a thoroughly interesting read and I highly recommend it because for me it has brought many new facets to light.
As I myself am German I find that there is a responsibility and I think it’s always helpful to look at perspectives like Deborah’s. It creates an awareness that you wouldn’t find out about otherwise but it’s still so important.
For me it has been a thoroughly interesting read and I highly recommend it because for me it has brought many new facets to light.
The thing I like most about Unorthodox and Exodus is Deborah Feldman discovering herself. In Exodus, I liked reading about her retracing her grandmothers history. Her grandmother was a Holocaust survivor. Tracing her grandmother roots is her way of understanding herself more. Those were the most interesting moments of the book for me. Other than that... Eh. Someone recently told me they thought Unorthodox was not written very well. I enjoyed it so much, I overlooked it. I now think the same thing about Exodus. It was almost written like a teenage girls journal. Which, isn't such a horrible thing. I guess. All in all I think Deborah Feldman is an interesting person. She has a unique story to tell. I just hope the next book does a better job at telling it.