Andr Aciman's "Out of Egypt": A Memoir of Exile and Homecoming

Amazon Customer: A picture of a family in 20th century Egypt ravished by forces beyond their control. It is not a nostalgic memoir, far from (just) that. It is imbued with humor and understanding. Despite the fact that it is in a way a chronicle of the destruction of Egyptian Jewish community it is written in a very entertaining style. I enjoyed every page.

United Kingdom on Jun 19, 2023

Ferran Aguilera: Magnífico libro y magnífica història, excelentemente narrada.

Spain on Jan 02, 2022

Peter Hambloch: Die Familien-Geschichte aus der Sicht eines in einer sephardisch jüdischen Familie heranwachsenden Jungen, die aus Istanbul vertrieben wurde.
Es wird beschrieben, wie die faszinierende Umgebung Alexandrias in den 50 er und 60er Jahren zur Heimat und zum späteren Sehnsuchtsort wurde, erzählt mit einen milden ironischen Blick auf die große Familie mit der ewig in Hassliebe einander verbundenen Großmutter und ihrer Schwester, zum Schluss wieder in die gemeinsame Emigration nach Paris gezwungen. Der Rest der Familie wird über ganz Europa und nach Amerika vertrieben.
Eine typische Geschichte des 20ten Jahrhunderts, erzählt ohne Bitterkeit und Hass.

Germany on Mar 03, 2020

Customer Catherine: A fascinating story about a very charming but eccentric Jewish family that seems to have no solid or permanent roots. They hail from turkey, Italy, France and England and speak all these languages simultaneously avoiding learning arabic regarding it the language of the servants and the illiterate populace. Egypt seems to be their new temporary home in which the enjoy an upper class life style but they can't escape the ascent of Nasser and his push to nationalize all businesses , deport all foreigners, especially Jews, from Egypt. The young narrator and his family are ultimately forced to leave what to them has been an interlude of happiness in slander described as a paradise: suffused with sunshine, surrounded by the blue Mediterranean waters and yellow sand. Their relationships and lives will be pulled apart never to be resumed again . One gets the sad feeling that they are being exiled from a paradise never to return again.

United States on Apr 27, 2018

Daphne: This wonderful book pulls you into the life of a young boy, Jewish, living in an Egypt that no longer exists. The memories are so evocative that seem to be your own. Highly recommended to all readers.

Italy on Nov 03, 2014

Ira Krull: This is a true story about one, rather large, Jewish family living in Egypt thru WWII, thru the Israeli War of Independence in 1948, and up until Nasser's defeat in the Sinai Campaign of about 1957. The book details the various characters in the family, their social lives, and how they blended with the general, Arab population of Egypt for decades. The book is a very good history, from the particular perspective of this, perhaps typical, Jewish family. It details how their lives changed because of the Israel-Egypt wars of the 40s and 50s. It gives a very clear and vivid picture of what it was to live under such, at times, very stressful conditions while not actually being involved in the wars. I would recommend the book to others who may have wondered about the lives and times of Jews living in Arab countries at war with Israel, both before and after it became a legitimate State of Israel. The book is somewhat similar to- The Man in the White Sharkskin Suit, which also covers about the same time frame in Egypt of a different, Jewish family in Cairo, who then emigrated to America when they too could no longer live, safely in Egypt in the 40s and 50s.

United States on May 19, 2013

Tara: I loved this book! I was so impressed with the quality of the writing, especially since English is not the author's first language. It is a real marvel to be able to write in a second language better than most in their native language.
I enjoyed the author's family's story, especially since my ex-husband's family was from Egypt and had similar background and parallels. I think that anyone would find this book fascinating and well written.

Canada on Apr 06, 2013

Judith M. Taylor: REVIEW OF "OUT OF EGYPT" for Amazon.com July 12, 2007

Andre Aciman describes his colorful and complicated life (and family)in
Alexandria in the 1960s. Childhoods like that are often the preparation
for a life of writing. The child absorbs all the peculiarities as part of
normal life without knowing they are peculiar until much later. Then they
need to make sense of it all.
All this is heightened by the fact that the Acimans are Jewish, in a
Muslim country still resonating with the after effects of British rule.His
experiences in the theoretically best school in Alexandria, run by
British teachers, would be funny if they weren't so awful. For complete
cognitive dissonance,his parents force him to learn Arabic to survive.
Reading about those lessons alone is worth the price of this book. At
home they speak Ladino, the Sephardic Yiddish, among themselves.
His beautful mother was born deaf. When provoked she can produce a
high-pitched scream. used to good effect at the butcher's. Once she has
made her point they are all quite happy. The butcher has to give the package
to her Arab servant. She never touches an Arab's hand.
The...

United States on Jul 12, 2007

Ayman S. Ashour: Andre Aciman's Out of Egypt is an amazing book, I found it very hard to put down. At a time of increased hostility in the middle east it is heartwarming to read of a time when Jews lived in peace with their Muslim and Christian neighbors in Alexandria. Not a whiff of anti Jewish sentiments was reported by Aciman until after the Suez War. Aciman and his family left Egypt in the sixties.

Aciman, like many "Egyptian" Jews preferred to hold European nationalities and in some cases some were French or Italian without ever setting foot in these countries. Europeans had their own courts in Egypt and did not fall under Egyptian Laws. For Aciman, born and raised in Egypt and in many ways no different than many affluent Alexandrians life became unbearable after the waves of Nationalization in the early 60's.

Aciman writes of an Alexandria that no longer exists not just for Egyptian Jews. The population explosion in Egypt has transformed Alexandria beyond recognition; hence Aciman's beautiful writing of Alexandria, its beaches and its tram will bring floods of memories for anyone who's known Alexandria.

Affluent Egyptian Jews who left Egypt in the fifties and sixties are...

United States on Aug 14, 2006