Bagels and Grits: A Jew on the Bayou

by Jennifer Anne Moses

Jennifer Anne Moses left behind a comfortable life in the upper echelons of East Coast Jewish society to move with her husband and children to Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Searching for connection to her surroundings, she decided to volunteer at an AIDS hospice. But as she encountered a culture populated by French Catholics and Evangelical Christians, African Americans and Cajuns, altruistic nurses and nuns, ex-cons, street-walkers, impoverished AIDS patients, and healers of all stripes, she found she had embarked on an unexpected journey of profound self-discovery. 
     In a keenly observed memoir that embraces both pathos and humor, Moses takes us into a world that is strange and sad but also suffused with the holy. As witness to dire poverty and extreme adversity, Moses discovers a deeper commitment to her own faith—Judaism that asks not for blind belief, but rather daily commitment. She recounts the challenges of taking on a life committed to God in a postmodern world that has little use for the divine. Telling her story of redemption with an honesty that goes right for the guts, she leaves the reader with new hope. Outstanding Book, selected by the American Association of School Librarians, and Best Books for Regional Special Interests, selected by the Public Library Association

Genres: Memoir

184 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2007

Reviews

[Dianne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rough start. Lots of condescending-observations about our fair city and those who populate it. Lots of quirky religious humor, about people's sacred beliefs and practices. Little emotion and downright ridicule-of her dying mother. If you can get past that to start with. . . Trauma does that to people, makes them vent and struggle and speak -raw. She finds, by the hardest, her way ultimately, and it does make sense. And at a fairly high cost. My persistent thought though was that after all of this took place she had the opportunity to go back and qualify a lot of her words and thoughts and impressions as venting and wailing and unacceptable, but she didn't. You can't fault someone for being honest, but it got personal. Very. Quick read, heavy subjects, interesting perspective. The right ending.

[Cyndy · Rating 2 out of 5]

At it's core, this is a story of personal growth. Her path was personal, social, and spiritual, yet It was hard at times to suss out what was self deprecating humor, or perhaps a simple lack of insight.

I believe the author was being brutally honest about her perspectives and feelings on being Jewish amongst a sea of WASPs and being from a privileged class, yet feeling apart...and being challenged and molded by (many things, but precipitated by) a move to the cultural antithesis of McLean, to Baton Rouge, LA—another environment where she really didn't fit in yet immersed herself in as best she could. She tells her story with a brutal honesty about her prejudices and her sense of self that makes her feel outside of it all. What would have brought this full circle for me would be more willingness to step away from the humor on occasion and bare her heart and true feelings without always relying on that facade of being the self deprecating joker.

As a story of personal growth, it's honest and humorous. I'd recommend it.

[Tabitha · Rating 1 out of 5]

I wanted this book to be great. I willed it to be great. It was not great. It didn't feel genuine to me. I kept checking the copyright to see if it was written several years ago. It wasn't. My largest complaint was her description of individuals in a hospice for folks with HIV. Yes people still die in the States, but the majority of my clients are very healthy. Most are poor. Most have to struggle for medications, insurance, work, housing, and basic human dignity. The stigma is still massive! Most are not dying. I couldn't get past that. It felt like an artificial plea for praise for the author for all her "good deeds."

Also, I thought the book would describe a search for meaning. I suppose that the author tried, but this didn't translate. Her privilege choked me. There were just too many descriptions of her financial luxuries and suggestions of her humbleness to work with "terribly sick" individuals.

I did want to like this book, but I didn't.

[Laurie · Rating 1 out of 5]

Over-sharing, self-absorbed whining - all the advantages, all of the neuroses (as she readily admits). Not what I want to read right now. I thought she was more compelling than she turned out to be after the first 3rd of the book. I'm just not that interested in her quest for God and Judaism in the super Jesus South. I guess I'm one of those by-default reform Jews, and I'm fine with it. She's welcome to her search for meaning, but I don't have to care about it! Or read about it.

[Susan Baumgartner · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jennifer Moses is absolutely loaded with human faults and there are times where I couldn't fathom how or why she felt like she did. However, the story is now about "why". It's simply an honest depiction of one woman's spiritual journey as it's colored by her hyper mind, hopes and fears. I respect it for that.

[Jo Ann Hall · Rating 3 out of 5]

The title is misleading. Jennifer Moses's move from the Northeast to bayou-grits country may have stimulated her spiritual quest, but don't read this looking for cultural insight or epiphany. That said, her writing about the discovery and understanding of her own spiritual roots was enjoyable. It's evident that the author deeply respects the idea of God's presence in all faiths and traditions.

[Liz · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little slow and self-important, but also a valid account of an imperfect person's quest for perfect faith.