Oct, 2009 national book critics circle award winner for autobiography. In my fathers obsession with his mother tongue, i had already glimpsed this. As they try to fit in, they look to their parents for guidance or for examples of what not to do. A sons search for his jewish past in kurdish iraq by ariel sabar published by algonquin books is the winner of the 2009 rodda award sponsored by the church and synagogue library association csla, an international organization serving congregational libraries of. A sons search for his jewish past in kurdish iraq is a 2008 memoir by kurdishamerican journalist ariel sabar. Dec 04, 2008 anyway, its no surprise that i loved my fathers paradise, a new book by ariel sabar about his father, prof. My fathers paradise paints a picture of sabars genealogical past that is tragically incomplete. My fathers paradise brings them together through beautiful prose and intense storytelling. A powerful story of the meaning of family and tradition in. In this awardwinning debut book, ariel travels with yona to wartorn iraq in a quest for roots and reconciliation. National book critics circle award winner for autobiography. An immigrant parent can seem like an embarrassing oddball. Ancient iraq and 21st century america are indeed worlds apart. My father s paradise is excellent on a number of levels as a family story, immigrant story, father son tensions and reconciliations, religions living together in peace or not story, the search for our roots, the stabilization of our values, the value of the place we.
Anyway, its no surprise that i loved my fathers paradise, a new book by ariel sabar about his father, prof. Unlike many memoirs flooding the book market these days, my fathers paradise is both unique and universal. I recently read ariel sabars memoir my father s paradise. Pdf my father s paradise download full pdf book download. Read my father s paradise a sons search for his familys past by ariel sabar available from rakuten kobo.
My fathers paradise the ohio digital library overdrive. The authors father came to america on a scholarship and ended up. Eventually he and yona visited a vastly altered zakho, a town without jews that now boasts a cybercafe. With an overdrive account, you can save your favorite libraries for ataglance information about availability. It brings back memories of my trip to zhongshan, guangdong, my fathers hometown. A son s search for his family s past by ariel sabar 2009, paperback at the best online prices at ebay. Sep 15, 2008 my fathers paradise is an engaging account of a wonderful, enlightening journey, a voyage with the power to move readers deeply even as it stretches across differences of culture, family. Then, prompted by the birth of his own son, sabar began to investigate his familys past. I found all of this out when i read my fathers paradise, a book by ariel sabar. Download for offline reading, highlight, bookmark or take notes while you read my father s paradise.
A sweeping saga of middleeastern history, my fathers paradise is also an intimate story of tolerance and hope in an iraq very different from the one in the headlines today. A generational and cultural gap divided the immigrant father from the cool son who cared little for his heritage. As ariel and his father travel together into todays postwar iraq to find whats left of. My fathers paradise is a personal undertaking for a son who admits he never understood his unassuming, pennypinching immigrant father, a man who spent three decades obsessively.
Ariel, now a journalist, demonstrates his own love and newfound understanding in my father s paradise, a sensitive exploration of his father s migration from an isolated kurdish village in northern iraq to israel and the u. His second book, heart of the city, was called a beguiling romp. Thanks for sharing this wonderful experience of going back. A sons search for his jewish past in kurdish iraq by ariel sabar published by algonquin books is the winner of the 2009 rodda award sponsored by the church and synagogue library association csla, an international organization serving congregational libraries of all faiths. My fathers paradise king county library system overdrive. A sons search for his jewish past in kurdish iraq, which was published last year. My father s paradise in a remote corner of the world, forgotten for nearly three thousand years, lived an enclave of kurdish jews so isolated that they still spoke aramaic, the language of jesus. My fathers paradise is an engaging account of a wonderful, enlightening journey, a voyage with the power to move readers deeply even as it stretches across differences of culture, family.
In a remote corner of the world, forgotten for nearly three thousand years, lived an enclave of kurdish jews so isolated that they still spoke aramaic, the language of jesus. A sons search for his familys past and found it to be rather amazing. My fathers paradise book san antonio public library. A journalist grows closer to his iraqiborn father as they journey together to kurdistan to explore their family roots. A sons search for his jewish past in kurdish iraq, written by ariel sabar and published by algonquin press is actually the story of three journeys. My fathers paradise is ariel sabars captivating account of the plight of the kurdish jews in iraq, as well as the story of his familys history. My father s paradise is ariel sabars quest to reconcile present and past. Official website of author and journalist ariel sabar, winner of the national book critics circle award. My fathers paradise is a personal undertaking for a son who admits he never understood his unassuming, pennypinching immigrant father, a man who spent three decades obsessively cataloging the words of his moribund mother tongue. A son s search for his jewish past in kurdish iraq. A sons search for his familys past ebook written by ariel sabar.
My fathers paradise the free library of philadelphia. My fathers paradise ebook by ariel sabar rakuten kobo. Yona sabar, a kurdish jew, is a respected, beloved linguistics. The birth of sabars own son in 2002 was a turning point, prompting sabar to try to understand his father on his own terms. May 25, 2011 i recently read ariel sabars memoir my fathers paradise. As ariels father, yona, travels with him to todays postwar iraq to find whats left of yonas birthplace, ariel brings to life the ancient town of zakho, telling his familys story and discovering his own role in this sweeping saga. A sons search for his jewish past in kurdish iraq by ariel sabar published by algonquin books is the winner of the 2009. It begins with a story about going to israel to find a man who knew his father s family, and being rudely confronted at the door. A powerful story of the meaning of family and tradition inside a littleknown culture san francisco chronicle.
Oct 12, 2008 the bulk of my fathers paradise centers on yona beh sabaghas transformation into yona sabar a name change intended to echo the hebrew word for native israeli, sabra, moving from. This book won the national book critics circle award for autobiography and it is easy to tell why. A sons search for his jewish past in kurdish iraq algonquin books. The book shifts from the social and political aspects of the culture and its struggles to maintain the legacy of its heritage and language to the tale of how his father, yona, and his family lived in zakho, a small town in kurdish iraq, and their eventual departure. My father s paradise is ariel sabar s quest to reconcile present and past. To these descendants of the lost tribes of israel, yona sabar was born. However, sabar suggests that he has found some solace in the realization that the modern identity can be complete despite the difficulties of assimilation and the nontraceability of family history. A son s search for his jewish past in kurdish iraq by ariel sabar published by algonquin books is the winner of the 2009 rodda award sponsored by the church and synagogue library association csla, an international organization serving congregational libraries of all faiths. A son s search for his jewish past in kurdish iraq, algonquin, 2008. My father s paradise a sons search for his jewish past ebook.
As father and son travel together to todays postwar iraq to find whats left of yonas birthplace, ariel brings to life the ancient town of zakho, telling his familys story and discovering his own role in this sweeping saga. In my fathers paradise, journalist ariel sabar has crafted a fascinating and moving account of both the jews of kurdistan and of his relationship with his father. My father s paradise describes the life and family background of yona sabar, the author s father. If ariel sabar s my father s paradise were only about his father s life, it would be a remarkable enough story about the psychic costs of immigration. As father and son travel together to today s postwar iraq to find what s left of yona s birthplace, ariel brings to life the ancient town of zakho, telling his family s story and discovering his own role in this sweeping saga. Ariel sabars first book, my father s paradise, won the national book critics circle award for autobiography. Before the 1950s when most had to leave, there was a thriving community of kurdish jews who lived peacefully in northern iraq amongst other kurds, iraqi muslims, chaldeans and assyrians.
But sabar s family history turns out to be more than the chronicle of one man s efforts to retain something of his homeland in new surroundings. Ariel sabar in a remote corner of the world, forgotten for nearly three thousand years, lived an enclave of kurdish jews so isolated that they still spoke aramaic, the language of jesus. My fathers paradiseinterview with ariel sabar my jewish. Ariel sabar talked about his memoir my fathers paradise. Sep 16, 2008 if ariel sabar s my father s paradise were only about his father s life, it would be a remarkable enough story about the psychic costs of immigration. Mostly illiterate, they were selfmade mystics and gifted. In a remote corner of the world, forgotten for nearly three thousand years, lived an enclave of kurdish jews so. It begins with a story about going to israel to find a man who knew his fathers family, and being rudely confronted at the door. I just finished reading through my fathers paradise.
Mostly illiterate, they were selfmade mystics and gifted storytellers and humble peddlers who dwelt in harmony with their muslim and. Dec 12, 2009 i just finished reading through my fathers paradise. My fathers island paradise may 3, 20 kian lam kho 3 comments across a very narrow strait from the downtown waterfront of xiamen sits the island of gulangyu, a hilly outcrop smaller than central park in new york city and dotted with colonialera european style buildings. May 03, 20 3 thoughts on my fathers island paradise jose wong may 8, 20 at 8. Times excellenta compelling readtold with novelistic attention to narrative and detail, but its heart is ariels heart, that of a son searching with love for the meaning of his relationship with his father. Ariel wanted nothing to do with his fathers strange immigrant heritageuntil he had a son of his own. Yona beh sabaghas son is ariel sabar, a journalist and now author of what could best be described.
My fathers paradise is ariel sabars quest to reconcile present and past. My father s paradise available for download and read online in other formats. My fathers paradise by ariel sabar overdrive rakuten. My fathers paradise is a personal undertaking for a son who admits he never understood his unassuming, pennypinching immigrant father, a man who spent three decades obsessively cataloging the. The distance between father and son is bridged as sabar explores the conflicting demands of love and tradition, the burdens and blessings of an ancient culture encountering the 21st century. As ariel and his father travel together into todays postwar iraq to find what s left of yonas birthplace, sabar brings to life the ancient town of zakho, telling his family s story and discovering their place in the sweeping saga of the sephardic jews millennialong survival in islamic lands. My father s paradise a sons search for his familys past by ariel sabar. A sweeping saga of middleeastern history, my father s paradise is also an intimate story of tolerance and hope in an iraq very different from the one in the headlines today. A sons search for his jewish past in kurdish iraq, written by ariel sabar and published by algonquin press is actually the story of three. As father and son travel together to todays postwar iraq to find whats left of yonas. A sons search for his familys past by ariel sabar 2009, paperback at the. Yona sabar, who was born in kurdish iraq, emigrated to israel, and wound up teaching neoaramaic and the history of kurdish jews at ucla. Several times my eyes filled with tears as i read, both from the depth of the tales and the beauty of the prose. I was predisposed to like this book, but wowit was way more interesting and complicated.
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