Culminating in an unforgettable trip across Europe to retrace her grandmother's life during the Holocaust,Exodusis a deeply moving exploration of the mysterious bonds that tie us to family and religion, the bonds we must sometimes break to find our true selves.
Deborah Feldman was raised in the Satmar Hasidic community in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. She now lives with her son in New England.
Praise for Exodus
“One woman's search to understand herself and her Jewish heritage.
. . . Rich in details of Jewish life and the lives of her
grandparents in the World War II era, [Feldman] sensitively
portrays the inner struggles of accepting the pervasive feeling of
survivor guilt and her own desires to understand the woman she was
becoming. . . . An enthralling account of how one Orthodox Jewish
woman turned her back on her religion and found genuineness and
validity in her new life.”—Kirkus Reviews
“Feldman’s journey is undeniably and explicitly Jewish, but the
aching need to find both a welcoming community and a sense of
individuality is one that readers from all walks of life will be
able to identify with. Those left unsatisfied with the abrupt
ending to Unorthodox will enjoy the more hopeful conclusion to
Feldman’s second book as well as her more mature and increasingly
eloquent writing style.”—Booklist
“Overall, Exodus is a satisfying sequel to Unorthodox, which shows
how Deborah Feldman went on to the next step after getting her own
freedom from the bonds of a strictly insular society. . . . [A]
chronicle of a continuing journey of self-discovery . . . There are
many satisfying finds and revelations along the road, but there are
also plenty of bumps, frustrations, disappointments, and pitfalls,
which is expected when one spends their formative years being
closed off from the rest of the outside world, and is confined to
the boundaries of a Brooklyn neighborhood. . . . This book is more
about the liberation of Deborah Feldman, and how she copes with
this newfound sense of freedom and self-discovery, that can be a
shock to some, or a declaration of independence for others.”—Stuart
Nulman, Montreal Times
“In her first memoir, Unorthodox, Feldman made the courageous
choice to cut off ties with her family and the Satmar community of
Williamsburg, Brooklyn. . . . Now a divorced woman in her twenties,
Feldman chronicles the next phase of her life in her new book
[Exodus]. . . . A quest of self-discovery . . . Some of the most
powerful scenes come when Feldman retraces the path of her female
ancestors in Hungary and confronts the anti-Semitism of
contemporary Europe. . . . Feldman ultimately discovers that her
rightful place is wherever she happens to be.”—The New York Times
Book Review
 |
Ask a Question About this Product More... |
|
