My Father's Paradise: A Son's Search for His Jewish Past in Kurdish Iraq | Ariel Sabar

My Father's Paradise: A Son's Search for His Jewish Past in Kurdish Iraq | Ariel Sabar | Excellent story that balances the historical and the personal

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My Father's Paradi...

	My Father's Paradise: A Son's Search for His Jewish Past in Kurdish Iraq Ariel Sabar Algonquin Books, 2008 - 325 pages average customer review:based on 49 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

A remarkable story

Ariel Sabar has done a remarkable job in relating his search for his father's past. What struck me about this story is that father and son were so far apart in their early relationship. Here was a son born in the U.S. and a father born in a remote part of the world most of us never heard about. Ariel was a typical wild teenager and not the least interested in his father's remarkable journey from a Kurdish background to Israel and eventually a professorship in a prestigious America University. His father's manners, customers and interests were foreign to him but an eventual awaking took place that set him on an incredible journey to understand and learn why his father was the man he was. The story takes us back to his father's earliest days, his family, traditions and boyhood lifestyle. It traces the exodus to Israel and eventually his immigration to the United States. His insight and knowledge of the Aramaic language made him one of the most sought after professors in his field. Yet Yona Sabar was almost unknown to his son until this boy finally saw something so special in his father. The stories and travels that eventually take place make for a wonderful read and a heartwarming story of a father and son finally becoming true family. Well worth the time and a great read!

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Excellent story that balances the historical and the personal

I wasn't quite sure what to expect from this book's description, but knowing I'm not a fan of "sweeping multi-generational sagas" on the fiction side, I approached "My Father's Paradise" with a little nervousness. But Ariel Sabar won me over very quickly with what turned out to be a surprisingly engrossing, educational, and ultimately moving story.

The narrative covers a lot of literal ground, from Kurdistan to Israel to New Haven to Los Angeles and back, but also thematic ground, addressing history, linguistics, cultural and generational clashes, and quite a bit more. At its heart, though, it's a story of a family -- and while those often can end up maudlin, uncomfortably personal, or larded with irrelevancies, Sabar has kept a light hand and a fine balance, and has produced a remarkable story, one I think will remain with me for quite a while. For not knowing what to expect, I ended up very pleasantly surprised.

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The most interesting book I have read in a few years.

I could not stop reading this book.
Usually a book like this, starts off great, but gets boreing. Not this one, it only gets more interesting to the very end, and you cannot put it down.
Ariel Sabar draws you into his Fathers world.

Ariel takes you on a Journey about his Kurdish Father, Yona, who was born in the 40's in small remote town in Kurdish Iraq. His Father Yona and his family had to escape to Israel in the 50's, to a harder life. They where consitered illiterate people. Low on the standards for Israel, which was a new country at that time.
Yona went to Yale University.

When Ariel got married, and has a Son, he wanted to find his Father's, and his Jewish Kurdish Roots. Also to understand and have a closer relaionship with His Father Yona.

This Book has touched my Heart. I'm Jewish but not a Kurdish Jew. I'm a second generation Jew in the USA, who was raised reformed. After reading this book, I will be looking in to my Jewish ancestors, to find out what they went through in there native country, and where I have really come from.
This book has showed me that I should have been more tolorent of my Grandparents that came to this country. I wish I would have understood them better. It also opened my eyes to why they did certain things in there life. I'm sure they brought with them there culture. My parents wanting to fit in, and be the new Jewish in the Usa , My Parents forgot there parents culture, and we lived as the rich Americans.

Are the Jew's a Religion or a Tribe!!!

I do not think it matters if your a Jew, Christian, or what Religion you follow, This book will bring back memeories, Giving you a better understanding of the emigrants. and lift your Spirit.

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A Family's Tale, A People's Tale

Ariel Sabar's father fled Iraq with his family as a young boy, but was never able to truly let go. Today, he is one of the leading scholars of Neo-Aramaic, the language he grew up speaking but which most of the world has forgotten.

While Ariel's father clung to his past in Zakkho - his father's paradise - Ariel wanted to be an American. And an American he is, a journalist who was an intolerable teenager, who got involved in things he shouldn't have in high school, and who settled into a career in journalism before discovering that he'd been sitting on a big story all his life without even realizing it.

This is the story of the family of Yona, Ariel's father; the story of how he and his father grew apart and finally of journeys back to Iraq to try to put together a past forever lost.

The opening section, the story of the family, reads like a well-spun history. The story of Ariel and Yona manages to be open and honest without the exhibitionism so common to memoirs. And Ariel's story of his efforts to rediscover his family's past are heartbreaking, both for what he learned and what he didn't.

In a world gone global, it's hard to find places like Zakkho, places hidden away from the world. It's more astonishing to think, though, of that out of the way place where Jews, and Muslims and Christians lived side by side and mostly got along because the isolation of the mountains and the rivers played a larger role in their lives than which book they read for spiritual comfort. Ironically, the closest Ariel's father has come is the university classroom in Los Angeles.

This is a beautiful portrait of a family that is remarkable yet not so uncommon in our globalizing age, as well as a revelation about what multiculturalism and diversity are really about. A marvelous tale well and clearly told.

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Fascinating History of a Forgotten Corner of the Middle East

Told as a journey by Ariel Sabar to re-discovery his family's Jewish roots in Iraq, this book unveils a fascinating glimpse into the history and culture of the Mesopotamian Jews, a community so isolated from the outside world that they continued the use of the ancient language of Aramaic! I confess that even with my knowledge of the Middle East, I had little knowledge of the Jewish Iraqis beyond their existence, and am grateful to the author for writing this book. Although this book focuses on family history, it also gives a wider view of a fascinating community, isolated from the wider world but still clinging to their own vibrant culture and traditions, and the experiences of the Iraqi Jewish community with the formation of modern Iraq and the creation of Israel. The community of Zakho, deep in the foothills of Kurdish Iraq, comes alive in this book. Anyone seeking knowledge of the Middle Eastern Jews should definitely read this book, because it shows the human side of history, the people displaced by their own country, and the difficult choices families made with the creation of Israel. An outstanding work!

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