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 enlarge | Author: Sadia Shepard
Publisher: Penguin Press HC, The
Category: Book
List Price: $25.95
Buy New: $12.55
You Save: $13.40 (52%)
New (36) Used (11) from $12.55
Avg. Customer Rating:  13 reviews
Sales Rank: 20693
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 384
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.3
Dimensions (in): 9.2 x 6.3 x 1.3
ISBN: 159420151X
Dewey Decimal Number: 973.04924054092
EAN: 9781594201516
ASIN: 159420151X
Publication Date: July 31, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
Beautifully written memoir October 11, 2008
Sadia Shepard's memoir of her search for her grandmother's past among the Bene Israel Jewish sect in India is a wonderful story, a meditation on identify, culture, and religious tolerance. As befits her training as a film maker and photographer, she draws vivid pictures of various scenes and individuals in India, Pakistan, and the United States, moving back and forward in time, but always bringing us on her journey. Her portrait of the tiny, centuries-old Bene Israel community, for so long cut off from most Jewish life, now studying Hebrew and moving to Israel at a rapid pace, is moving in part because it celebrates her relationship and grief for her grandmother. It also portrays a similar sense of grief for a community that is both dying (in that so many younger people are emigrating) and coming back to life (as they rediscover Jewish heritage and culture). Her contrasting portraits of a Pakistani Muslim wedding of a cousin and a Bene Israel Indian-Jewish wedding of a young friend are very movin. Her sympathy with both young brides helps us understand why she does not feel compelled to choose between the various traditions of her heritage.
An Extraordinarily Relevant Yet Very Personal Memoir October 9, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Sadia Shepard's book tells the compelling story of her personal journey to find a grandmother's somewhat hidden history. It is at once a personal quest and a universal story of desire for gaining a better sense of self. Nana's background was complex, and had roots in both one of the lost tribes of Israel and also in the Partition in India and Pakistan in 1947. This is an outstandeing memorial to a beloved grandmother, yet truly much more to the average reader. The times we live in beg many emormous questions of us with regard to the turmoil between Israel and its neighbors, and in educating our Western mentality about the complexity and size [therefore the influence] of Islam. The author has the gentle voice of reason and conveys the need for contemplation of such issues without ever being overt or preachy on the subject. The need for cross-cultural understanding and tolerance is specific in Nana's story, and also of vital importance for survival and peaceful co-existence in our modern world.
The Girl from Foreign: A Search for Shipwrecked Ancestors, Forgotten Histories, and a Sense of Home October 7, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Beautifully written . . . this book was so touching and the writing style so elegant that it brought the characters to life in a way that made me feel like I could make a connection to each and every one of them. The one section of this book that really affected me was when her grandmother, Nana, toward the end of her life was terrified that she would not see her parents in heaven because she had converted to Islam. It shattered my heart. I loved the "affair" the author had with a gentleman in India. It is so difficult to put in words how the book affected me . . . I have been highly recommending this book to everyone which I do not do lightly.
The Girl from Foreign October 3, 2008
This is a fascinating, well written story. The author has organized a very involved story in a format that makes it easy for the reader to follow. In addition to her Grandmother's story I learned more about the partition of India and Pakistan. Sadia Shepard should be very proud of her first book.
Fascinating story, beautifully told September 18, 2008
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
I expected this book to be informative and interesting, but I had no idea of how emotionally involved I would feel by the end. Shepard's first-person narrative describes the two years she spent in India, researching her grandmother's roots in a small community of Indian Jews. Her tale depicts the blending and intermingling, successful and otherwise, of nationalities, cultures, and religions, both in India, Pakistan, and in the U.S. Her quest to understand her grandmother better inevitably draws the reader in, and by the end of the book, I couldn't help but feel an intimate connection to both Sadia and her grandmother. Shepard tells her story beautifully, and I was very impressed that this is her first book. I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys personal narratives, foreign travel, the intersection of cultures, and questions of religious faith.
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