April 6, 2015
Post-war Alexandria, a lush paradise by the sea, comes to antic, full-bodied life in Gormezano Gorenâs first book to be translated into English. Itâs the summer of 1951, and wide-eyed 10-year-old Robby welcomes the vacationing Hamdi-Alis, another Jewish family, to whom Robbyâs Sephardic Jewish parents sublet rooms. Robby and 11-year-old Victor Hamdi-Ali enjoy clandestine sexual play. Victorâs perfect 23-year-old brother David, a hotshot horse jockey, courts Robbyâs older sister, whoâs hesitant to leave her beloved familyâ"who gave her complete freedom"âfor marriage, "that constant friction with a stranger... always... the same man, morning, noon, and night." The cast of characters also includes a cohort of older Ladino women, who bring levity even as riots break out. Interrogated by anti-Zionist protestors, Robbyâs grandmother and a friend declare, "Weâre Greek, are we not...?" although "her face attested louder than a hundred witnesses to her Jewish identity." Ultimately, itâs the Hamdi-Ali patriarch, Josephâonce the Turkish Yusufâwho embodies rising Arab-Jewish tensions. As David competes on the race track with the "unbeatable" Muslim jockey Al-Talâooni, Josephâs doubts about his own loyalties, and his fears of Allahâs punishment for his conversion to Judaism, prompt him toward increasingly desperate acts. Gormezano Gorenâs characters are vividly depicted as they grow up or grow older in a city of conflicting loyalties, riven by resentment, ready to revolt. Readers will be transported to an Alexandria full of "unending Mediterranean energy."
June 1, 2015
Like Andre Aciman (Out of Egypt), who introduces this book, leading Israeli author Gormezano Goren was born in Alexandria but eventually had to flee with his family. Published in 1978, long before Gormezano Goren won the Israeli Prime Minister's Prize for Literature, this novel recalls one gloriously golden summer in a cosmopolitan city on the verge of upheaval. It's 1951, and Joseph Hamdi-Ali's jockey son David longs uselessly for Lilly, whose Sephardic Jewish family includes little brother Robby, introduced to sexual play by David's brother, Victor. VERDICT As the four young characters sort out their emotions, they have little sense of the impending tragedy--no, not the tragic death of a major character or the first drop of winter rain, but their coming expulsion from Eden. Fluidly written and soberly enticing.
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