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 enlarge | Author: Ariel Sabar
Publisher: Algonquin Books
Category: Book
List Price: $25.95
Buy New: $13.99
You Save: $11.96 (46%)
New (40) Used (13) Collectible (2) from $13.99
Avg. Customer Rating:  51 reviews
Sales Rank: 15672
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 325
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.3
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 5.9 x 1.3
ISBN: 1565124901
Dewey Decimal Number: 305.892405672092
EAN: 9781565124905
ASIN: 1565124901
Publication Date: August 21, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
Wonderful Book December 6, 2008
This well written story starts with a Jewish family in Kurdish Iraq before WWII. The story takes us to Israel and America and through the decades to the present. The characters are all interesting and informative. We learn about place and culture, the consequences of displacement and the strength that guides people. The author, as a grown son seeking to connect with his father, is honest and moving in his journey. Especially those with immigrant parents will find this story close to home. All will be touched.
I enjoyed this book from beginning to end.
WONDERFUL READ November 13, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I actually loved this book. It was well written. Pictures in your mind of the scenes were actually painted as you read the stories. As the author walked through his heritage and through his father's country you walked right beside him. Cried with him and laughed with him, was disappointed when he was and wanted more. This story is about a man taking his fathers legacy and putting it into print. It is a story of a dying language being brought back to life. I will read this book again and again and highly recommend it as a good read.
Vanishing Culture November 9, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
My Father's Paradise is a wonderful homage to Ariel Sabar's father, who was born in Kurdish Iraq and spent his childhood years in a Jew in an ancient society Iraq and as an unappreciated immigrant in the new state of Israel. The book opened my eyes to a culture that has mostly vanished except in the lives of its survivors. It also shows the power of language in reflecting the culture of people, so that even when the inital culture dies, it can remain alive within the language and oral traditions of its people.
Sabar uses his father's history to dscover who he is and where he fits into the melting pot that is twenty-first century America. He discovers that which makes him unique, which ultimately makes him strong. This is something that so many second generation Americans learn, and it is very nicely explored and analyzed in this book.
I very much encourage anyone with an interest in the dynamics of social change to read this fascinating book.
Looking Beyond the Stigma to the History of a Man from another Place and another Time October 27, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
"My Father's Paradise" is the haunting story of Yona Sabar, born a Jew in Zakho, in the heart of Kurdish Iraq. Yona's family immigrated to Israel in 1951. Yona was 13 years old when they arrived in Israel. He worked days and completed his high school in evening schools provided for the young workmen. He was admitted to Hebrew University he studied Aramaic. In 1967 he was awarded a scholarship to Yale University in America. Yona Sabar went on to become a well regarded professor of Aramaic at UCLA.
It was not until Ariel held his first son in his arms that he begin to think he might have misjudged his father and determined to seek out answers. By then he was a journalist, questions were a natural part of the trade. But this was something deeper...then a story.
Ariel Sabar's quest, to better understand his father, took him on a journey to Kurdish Iraq. Yona accompanied him. They went to find what was left of Zahko, Yono's paradise. Ariel wanted to learn the story of the Sabar family. This book is the result of his careful research, interviews, letters, diaries, photographs, and official documents. Ariel has made every effort to provide a framework that tells his family story.
His findings are rich in historical, geographical, and cultural background. He goes back into the history of his Jewish ancestry (the Jews of Kurdistan) but also highlights the history and politics of the Kurds, the Turks, and the Arabs.
The book provides photo illustrations that bring the pages to life and add another dimension to this awe inspiring tribute to a deserving father from a loving son.
Sabar's writing is heartfelt, thought provoking, and moving. Yona's person, character, and story will haunt the reader for days. I find myself going back to recapture something I might have missed. Highly recommended.
Kurdistan to L.A.: An awesome ride October 26, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
If you are an American Jew, the offspring of immigrants, a linguist, a student of the Mideast crisis, or an ex-teen who's finally dropped the attitude, you should read this book. And if I'm not mistaken, that would be all of us.
I've scarcely considered the plight of the Sephardic Jews of Western Asia much less the disposition of the Lost Tribes of Israel. Nor pondered the enormity of forced exile and the task of assimilating these uprooted peoples in America or Israel. Never knew the painstaking scholarship involved in archiving an ancient language. I was taken aback by the prejudices held by European immigrants towards those from the Middle East and Africa during the settlement of Israel. And heartened to learn that in Kurdish Iraq midway through the 20th century per a village elder there, "We and the Jews were loving each other...We were blood brothers."
I am no stranger, however, to the know-it-all attitudes with which children view their parents, and the father and child reunion that dominates the last chapters of this book is the best part of all.
Take a journey with Mr. Sabar back to a lost homeland, back to family. It's a place we all need to visit.
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