Sipping From The Nile: My Exodus From Egypt (2012) - Plot & Excerpts
I enjoyed Jean Nagger's book immensely. She writes eloquently and lucidly of her family history and her early life. The bonds of love and affection shopping through the pages and become almost tangible. The author grew up very isolated from the outside world, she lived a rather suffocated life until the Suez crisis propelled her into the wider world. She herself admits that, although it was a tragedy for her family and, indeed, a very frightening time for her, it liberated her to a very great extent.This is a very personal memoir, the author invites us into the heart of her family. Very little of the outside world intrudes, even Suez, the elephant in the room (or, as she says, the snake in the grass), is recorded only in so far as it has an effect on her family. This intensely private lens does make for tedious reading at times but the book is redeemed by the quality of the writing. I found the memoir to be extremely evocative, however, it was a little limited in scope. The author seemed to skim through her life post Suez, giving it little of the in-depth treatment that characterised the early part of the book. I would ave enjoyed reading more about life in Europe and the US. Sipping From the Nile is at once a wonderful record for the author’s family and a good research source for those interested in a place and society now gone. It is particularly timely in light of the resurgence of the Muslim Brotherhood and current unrest in Egypt. It is dense with detail (the on-target description of the Flit gun of that era) mixed with lyrical prose (women wrapped in “the shreds of their losses”). Anyone interested in Egypt and Jewish culture could learn from this book.
What do You think about Sipping From The Nile: My Exodus From Egypt (2012)?
Interesting. Sometimes hard to keep all the people straight.
—ioana
Loved this author's style - a delicious feast!
—ThatSoKari
