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Sipping from the Nile: My Exodus from Egypt
In this coming-of-age memoir about a privileged, protected childhood in the exotic milieu of 1950's Egypt, author Jean Naggar describes a magical time that seemed as if it would never end. But Egypt's nationalizing of the Suez Canal would set in motion events that would change her life forever. An enchanted existence suddenly ended by international hostilities, her family is quickly scattered far and wide, and Naggar is eventually swept into adulthood and the challenge of new horizons in America. Speaking for a different wave of immigrants whose Sephardic origins explore the American Jewish story through an unfamiliar lens, Naggar traces her personal journey through lost worlds and difficult transitions, exotic locales and strong family values. The story resonates for all in this poignant exploration of the innocence of childhood in a world breaking apart. An intriguing way of life that no longer exists. Glamorous, exciting, filled with the sophisticated life of a Jewish family living in Europe and the Middle East, Naggar documents times of elegant lifestyles, to the tumultuous struggles of war? And like every family, there is passionate love and loss, but always there is the undercurrent of delight and an indomitable will to do more than just survive.
Alternate Cover Image: ISBN-10: 1612181414/ ISBN-13: 9781612181417)1
Alternate Cover Image: ISBN-10: 1612181414/ ISBN-13: 9781612181417)1
388 pages, Paperback
First published October 2, 2008
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 104 reviews
November 22, 2020
Do you remember when you were a child and you lay in bed while one of your parents told you a story? I am not talking about their reading you a story, but rather they invent it for you as they speak. Or even better, you were told of your parent’s childhood memories, things that had happened to them when they were a child. THAT is how this book feels, if you listen to the audiobook version. I would recommend listening to it. The narrator is the author herself, and in this case the experience is magical. It is magical because she expresses what she wants to convey through her words. She sighs and laughs and is sorrowful at all the right points. This audiobook experience is wonderful. Let me add, while I speak of narration, that in her youth, growing up in Cairo and Alexandria, Egypt, English, French and Italian were used. They were used daily. Arabic was also a central language to her life style. Arabic expressions make up her childhood experiences. All of these languages are who she is. As a result, when she speaks French in this autobiography it is not a learned tongue but the tongue of her youth, and it is wonderful. There is no translation. The language spoken is genuine. The narration is perfect, splendid and wonderful.
Through the words of this book you get a peek into another person’s life. That person is from a Sephardic Jewish household. She grew up in Egypt in an extremely affluent family. A large family with cousins and aunts and uncles and grandparents, and these people become your own friends. She traveled to Europe over the holidays – Paris and London and Switzerland and more cities. You visit them with this family. What I want to emphasize is that you are part of the group; you are one of them. You eat with them, the Jewish repasts are crunchy or sour or deliciously sweet. You splash in the waves with them. And then when granny dies you feel so terribly sad. I feel like I know these people.
I love the words this author uses to express herself. She offers us lines that melt in my mouth. That is what her lines did to me. I am not sure that others will react as I did…….. I like how she wonders if writing this book was merely an ego trip, but concludes that “the past is the foundation on which we build our lives”. I will read more by this author. I like her writing style and her life philosophy.
I thought this book would teach me about Egyptian history. I thought this book would show me what it was like to live through the Suez crisis in 1956. It did, but not really. What I mean is that this is only one family’s experiences and their wealthy lifestyle is certainly not typical; you do not get a general depiction of the times. What I did experience was a wonderful and unique peek into another world. It was so honest, and yet told with politeness and understanding. Don’t expect family brawls, even when views conflict. This is not really a book to choose if you are looking for history. I didn’t get what I expected, but indeed much more!
The title is explained in the book, and it is fun. There is Arabian music at the beginning and end of each chapter, the ambiance created is enticing, you are drawn right in. An advantage to reading the book, I have been told, is that there are wonderful pictures included. Maybe a family tree is included? That would be helpful! Then you would see in the chart exactly who is who. Still, listening to this book was delightful from beginning to end. I highly recommend it.
Through the words of this book you get a peek into another person’s life. That person is from a Sephardic Jewish household. She grew up in Egypt in an extremely affluent family. A large family with cousins and aunts and uncles and grandparents, and these people become your own friends. She traveled to Europe over the holidays – Paris and London and Switzerland and more cities. You visit them with this family. What I want to emphasize is that you are part of the group; you are one of them. You eat with them, the Jewish repasts are crunchy or sour or deliciously sweet. You splash in the waves with them. And then when granny dies you feel so terribly sad. I feel like I know these people.
I love the words this author uses to express herself. She offers us lines that melt in my mouth. That is what her lines did to me. I am not sure that others will react as I did…….. I like how she wonders if writing this book was merely an ego trip, but concludes that “the past is the foundation on which we build our lives”. I will read more by this author. I like her writing style and her life philosophy.
I thought this book would teach me about Egyptian history. I thought this book would show me what it was like to live through the Suez crisis in 1956. It did, but not really. What I mean is that this is only one family’s experiences and their wealthy lifestyle is certainly not typical; you do not get a general depiction of the times. What I did experience was a wonderful and unique peek into another world. It was so honest, and yet told with politeness and understanding. Don’t expect family brawls, even when views conflict. This is not really a book to choose if you are looking for history. I didn’t get what I expected, but indeed much more!
The title is explained in the book, and it is fun. There is Arabian music at the beginning and end of each chapter, the ambiance created is enticing, you are drawn right in. An advantage to reading the book, I have been told, is that there are wonderful pictures included. Maybe a family tree is included? That would be helpful! Then you would see in the chart exactly who is who. Still, listening to this book was delightful from beginning to end. I highly recommend it.
August 11, 2017
Tedious and uninsightful, full of flowering language and verbal pirouettes that do not make up for its lack of stories and character development, this memoir was a disappointment, particularly as I read it after Lucette Lagnado's "The Man in the White Sharskin Suit" and Andre Aciman's "Out of Egypt", both of which convey their individual, family and their community's struggles in pre-1967 Egypt as well as the authors/ unique insights into growing up Jewish in a multi-cultural Egypt that no longer exists. Jean Naggar's writing is superficially artful yet conveys no insight on the privileges and limitations of any aspect of Jewish life in Egypt. Her memoir is filled with detailed description of her parents' mansion, its decor and decorations, their cars, gardens and her clothes, but offers readers no insight into how those people reconciled or viewed their privileged lives set against Egypt's cultural background and the Jewish community's struggles to adjust and ultimately abandon a country they loved and served for generations. Whereas Lucette Lagnado illuminated a single family's joy, despair and struggles against Egyptian society's restricted mores and political upheavals, Jean Naggar just lists her relatives and their privileged mansions without psychological nor sociological insight into their lives and struggles as they raised their children and made/lost fortunes across Egypt, England, Syria and South Africa. So much potential in such a memoir went unused and lost in her superficial treatment of characters, societies and the art of writing itself.
March 29, 2011
Reading this book was akin to that dream you have where suddenly, you come upon a secret door in your house, and crawl through it to find a sumptuously decorated room that you never knew was there.
The story begins as a tale of unimaginable wealth and privilege, like Brideshead Revisited, and goes on to tell the tale of a second exile from Egypt. It is hard to read Sipping From the Nile without your jaw dropping open at every page. The descriptions of the palaces along the Nile, of a sheltered childhood spent amongst multitudes of whispering servants on vast landscaped grounds, of snakes hidden among the potted plants, all portend the beginning of a fairy tale.
And just like in a fairy tale, it is precisely the wealth and privilege that make the fall from grace so breathtaking; after centuries of co-existing peacefully with their Arab neighbors, Jean's family is driven out of Egypt with little more than the clothes on their backs.
But this is no morality tale. If anything, this is a story of the resiliency of the human spirit. Members of a family who once had to do little more for themselves than summon a servant or marry well, set sail for strange new shores, take firm hold of their own destinies, create brilliant new fates.
Read it for the lush and loving attention to material detail. Read it for the loving portraits of a privileged, cultured, highly educated family that finds itself scattered across the globe. Read it for the documentation of a period scantly covered in Twentieth Century Jewish history. But most of all, read it for the story of one young woman's profoundly remarkable journey.
The story begins as a tale of unimaginable wealth and privilege, like Brideshead Revisited, and goes on to tell the tale of a second exile from Egypt. It is hard to read Sipping From the Nile without your jaw dropping open at every page. The descriptions of the palaces along the Nile, of a sheltered childhood spent amongst multitudes of whispering servants on vast landscaped grounds, of snakes hidden among the potted plants, all portend the beginning of a fairy tale.
And just like in a fairy tale, it is precisely the wealth and privilege that make the fall from grace so breathtaking; after centuries of co-existing peacefully with their Arab neighbors, Jean's family is driven out of Egypt with little more than the clothes on their backs.
But this is no morality tale. If anything, this is a story of the resiliency of the human spirit. Members of a family who once had to do little more for themselves than summon a servant or marry well, set sail for strange new shores, take firm hold of their own destinies, create brilliant new fates.
Read it for the lush and loving attention to material detail. Read it for the loving portraits of a privileged, cultured, highly educated family that finds itself scattered across the globe. Read it for the documentation of a period scantly covered in Twentieth Century Jewish history. But most of all, read it for the story of one young woman's profoundly remarkable journey.
May 30, 2014
This book is the author's autobiography describing her earlier life in Egypt and how the annexation of the Suez Canal in 1956 changed the lives of this healthy family.
This is a surprisingly good book since by learning the Naggar's saga, which lived in Egypt in a glamour style of live, until such historical facts changed their lives forever.
"The events precipitated by the nationalization of the Suez Canal in 1956 spun the Egyptian Jews relentlessly out of their comfortable homes and influential positions and scattered them around the globe."
Since the author came from an upper level family, her father was a Mosseri from Cairo and her mother is a Smouha from Alexandria, the reader cannot guess from this book what could had happen with the lower class of Egyptian at that time.
From the Jewish Virtual Library, we can learn more about this prominent Mosseri family:
MOSSERI, prominent family in *Egypt, said to have come there from Italy around 1750 (many of its members were Italian subjects). The family was active in the administration of the Jewish community in *Cairo as vice presidents and in its philanthropy towards the needy in the community.
Lets hope we can find another book which show us the other side of the coin.
This is a surprisingly good book since by learning the Naggar's saga, which lived in Egypt in a glamour style of live, until such historical facts changed their lives forever.
"The events precipitated by the nationalization of the Suez Canal in 1956 spun the Egyptian Jews relentlessly out of their comfortable homes and influential positions and scattered them around the globe."
Since the author came from an upper level family, her father was a Mosseri from Cairo and her mother is a Smouha from Alexandria, the reader cannot guess from this book what could had happen with the lower class of Egyptian at that time.
From the Jewish Virtual Library, we can learn more about this prominent Mosseri family:
MOSSERI, prominent family in *Egypt, said to have come there from Italy around 1750 (many of its members were Italian subjects). The family was active in the administration of the Jewish community in *Cairo as vice presidents and in its philanthropy towards the needy in the community.
Lets hope we can find another book which show us the other side of the coin.
April 7, 2012
I'm thinking this is more like 2.5 stars, rather than three. Why? It's certainly an interesting peek inside the lives of super wealthy Jews in Egypt before the Suez Canal crisis and Naggar has a lovely voice, but at times I got sick and tired of hearing about what a wealthy, privileged life she led. She doesn't seem to have much regard or interest in the lives of everyday Egyptians who aren't uber-wealthy, thus coming across as if she is completely out of touch with reality. Sure, she talks about how one of their servants was almost a member of the family, but was he really? It doesn't seem as if her family tried to provide for him and his family after they left Egypt and she seems more interested in how much he cared about her family than about his family.
I'm certainly not saying that what happened to her family was fair, just, or that she didn't suffer, but, yes, I got tired of hearing about how wealthy she was.
Admittedly, I was embarrassingly ignorant (and still am) about Jewish history in Egypt and the Suez Canal crisis, so I'm not able to truly analyze her position regarding the crisis and her family's role in Egyptian history.
I'm certainly not saying that what happened to her family was fair, just, or that she didn't suffer, but, yes, I got tired of hearing about how wealthy she was.
Admittedly, I was embarrassingly ignorant (and still am) about Jewish history in Egypt and the Suez Canal crisis, so I'm not able to truly analyze her position regarding the crisis and her family's role in Egyptian history.
June 22, 2012
I really enjoyed this book. It's the memoir of a woman born in 1937 and who grew up in an affluent Jewish family in Egypt. Her family had a long history in Egypt starting with her grandfather but were forced to leave the country after the nationalization of the Suez Canal in 1956. I loved the author's descriptions of her family members, life in Egypt in the mid 1900s, how they celebrated Jewish religious holidays, and I especially enjoyed the pictures even though I read this on my Kindle. I did not discover the family tree until the end of the book and wished it had been at the front so I could have referred to it.
May 16, 2012
Jean Naggar was an Italian Jewish national who was born and grew up in Colonial Egypt. Her family was fluent in Italian, French and English and used them interchangeably with each other depending on what they wanted to say or convey. Their servants were Yugoslav so they also learned phrases of Serbo-Croation to talk to them. Arabic was heard on the streets and the surrounding areas. The family was very wealthy and lived in a bubble where contact with the common people was very limited and not part of their world. They learned music, languages and math in a tutoring situation as befit their station in life. The life was charmed until 1952 when a revolution threatened territories under foreign occupation and finally a crisis in 1958 forced the family to flee. Arab nations were becoming more and more hostile to the creation of Israel and driving out Jewish families. Out of the bubble, in Italy, then Britain and the United States, Jean discovered that she was Jewish, Sephardic, and White. In the bubble, there was no need to be labeled or identified as something. The autobiography is told with family photos and descriptions about them. A photo is shown and the author describes them and includes more information. In the beginning, the method is interesting, even charming. There comes a point however when I realized the story will never get deeper or more interesting. I felt the emotion of annoyance not unlike a guest in a house where the hostess is showing me family photos but doesn't know how to stop and I am not sure how to leave. I learned something from this book and found the photos interesting but I fear the author is still in the bubble and would rather stay there. A life on the surface lacks emotion and depth. It also acknowledges less trouble and conflict. Probably the best way a colonial family can survive and reap the benefits as occupiers of a country.
September 30, 2012
3.5 stars
I admit I started writing a review half way through the book, explaining why I wouldn't be finishing it. For about the first half of the book, Jean Naggar describes her family tree in detail back to several generations. Despite all the travelling and exotic locations like Cairo and Alexandria, to me it read really like any other large family's tree. Like mine. And if I kept reading was because it did bring back some of my own memories from childhood, of many family members all travelling together to cooler locations in the summer.
And I am so glad I kept reading. Finally at half way through the book we get to start knowing Jean Naggar, her life. I had a little bit of hard time following all the time jumps, going from the 20s to the 50s to the 30s. But after a few lines my mind would catch up and figure out where and who was the chapter about.
Jean Naggar grew up in London,Cairo and Alexandria in a very successful Jewish family. When she was a young woman her family had to leave Egypt for good leaving their homes, their money. This part of the book prompted me to read more about the Suez crisis, which I felt deserved a little bit more discussion in Jean Naggar's book.
What I really loved about the book was Jean's way of honoring her family and all her customs when she moves to the US as an adult. It was beautiful to read how she tried to recreate memories through traditions and foods. The description of the food was specially great.
I admit I started writing a review half way through the book, explaining why I wouldn't be finishing it. For about the first half of the book, Jean Naggar describes her family tree in detail back to several generations. Despite all the travelling and exotic locations like Cairo and Alexandria, to me it read really like any other large family's tree. Like mine. And if I kept reading was because it did bring back some of my own memories from childhood, of many family members all travelling together to cooler locations in the summer.
And I am so glad I kept reading. Finally at half way through the book we get to start knowing Jean Naggar, her life. I had a little bit of hard time following all the time jumps, going from the 20s to the 50s to the 30s. But after a few lines my mind would catch up and figure out where and who was the chapter about.
Jean Naggar grew up in London,Cairo and Alexandria in a very successful Jewish family. When she was a young woman her family had to leave Egypt for good leaving their homes, their money. This part of the book prompted me to read more about the Suez crisis, which I felt deserved a little bit more discussion in Jean Naggar's book.
What I really loved about the book was Jean's way of honoring her family and all her customs when she moves to the US as an adult. It was beautiful to read how she tried to recreate memories through traditions and foods. The description of the food was specially great.
August 12, 2012
I would have given this book 4 1/2 stars. Naggar writes about a part of history I was not aware of--the Suez Canal Crisis of the late '50s when Jews were persecuted and pushed out of their homes in Egypt. I enjoyed learning about all the traditions of the Sephardic Jews born in the Middle East.
I loved reading this book!!!!
I loved reading this book!!!!
April 16, 2020
Interesting memoir taking place in Egypt, Europe, and US. The struggle this Jewish family withstood is a testament to strong family ties and willingness to live peacefully in some anti-Semitic countries. Writing style was lyrical and enhanced the telling of this family's odyssey.
May 20, 2022
I loved this book and felt it was one to savor. Jean Naggar writes about growing up Jewish in Cairo and how it was an ideal childhood with lots of relatives, traveling opportunities, music, and rich Jewish traditions. That all changed after the Suez Crisis in 1956 when her family and relatives and fellow Jews were no longer welcome. I finished it thinking about questions we rarely hear on the nightly news when Israel makes headlines. What would the Middle East be like today if the Jewish communities in Egypt, Syria, Iraq, etc. had been able to stay?
November 5, 2018
Jean is a great writer but a mediocre reader. Still her reading of her own book lent it authenticity and a bit of power.
I read this book for an insight into the experience of Middle Eastern Jews, but it left me truly baffled. What I found is an account of a foreigner's existence in Egypt, and I felt that the "Egypt" this person experienced was filtered through layers and layers of luxury, European holidays and foreign boarding schools. This person has very little to do with the Egypt of the common people.
We are pre-programmed to symathise with the Jewish experience of suffering and exodus and the emotive title plays on this, but I could not help feeling that if it weren't for a few pepperings of Jewish culture and custom I could have very easily been reading about the exodus of one of King Farouq's offspring, but oh of course King Farouq was a bad guy and did deserve his fate while Jean and her family did not. My rational mind wants to ask why, what is the difference between King Farouq's daughter who was born into his privileges and Jean who was also born into hers? At least I think that the progeny of King Farouq spoke Arabic. Jean says she did not (she was almost an adult when she left Egypt). On her later return to Egypt she thought of Arabic as the background to her life, but it did not play any part of it.
The Arabs that Jean dealt with are the gardener, the driver and the woman who prepared the halawa (sugar paste) for her exfoliation. I am sure she had only limited vocabulary to talk to those. After her family left she mentions in long passages how the driver Usta Hussein kept writing to them, praising his loyalty, but nowhere in all of this did she ever mention anything about the man's circumstance, family, or children. Did she ever write back?
One interesting observation is that while the Jews of Europe suffered horribly from discrimination, the Jews of the middle east were by and large very prosperous and only suffered after the creation of Israel. Yet even as they "fled" most managed to live comfortably in Europe and America. From my own experience I know this as well from the handful of Jews that used to live in my native city Aleppo. The affluent lot had their own hierarchy and my heart really went out for example to Jean's first love. Her family of course did not accept him for he was a Polish Jew from some Shtetl and so really not in her league. All went well when she met someone from the same milieu.
I do not mean to be terrible to Jean and her book, and to belittle her experience. But as a Middle-Eastern Jew her experience sounded remote to me. Only in the latter parts of chapter 16 does she mention a few of the superstitions and language quirks I am familiar with. The rest of her book is about a spoilt rich girl. I felt dizzy with all the descriptions of opulence, and her constant quoting of French poetry. What can I say I guess I am a peasant at heart.
The book is a tribute to large families and their enduring connections. There are a few memorable characters like her father's sister Helen Mosseri. Her maternal grandparents Joseph (born in Iraq) and Rosa Smouha (nee Ades - born in Damascus). Jean's mother is also a special character taking up painting in old age. Most of her people lived comfortably through old age though and there is no denying that their experience of "exodus" was truly a mild one and had to do more with their privileged and insular existence during the time of revolutionary change in Egypt, and less with their Jewish heritage.
I read this book for an insight into the experience of Middle Eastern Jews, but it left me truly baffled. What I found is an account of a foreigner's existence in Egypt, and I felt that the "Egypt" this person experienced was filtered through layers and layers of luxury, European holidays and foreign boarding schools. This person has very little to do with the Egypt of the common people.
We are pre-programmed to symathise with the Jewish experience of suffering and exodus and the emotive title plays on this, but I could not help feeling that if it weren't for a few pepperings of Jewish culture and custom I could have very easily been reading about the exodus of one of King Farouq's offspring, but oh of course King Farouq was a bad guy and did deserve his fate while Jean and her family did not. My rational mind wants to ask why, what is the difference between King Farouq's daughter who was born into his privileges and Jean who was also born into hers? At least I think that the progeny of King Farouq spoke Arabic. Jean says she did not (she was almost an adult when she left Egypt). On her later return to Egypt she thought of Arabic as the background to her life, but it did not play any part of it.
The Arabs that Jean dealt with are the gardener, the driver and the woman who prepared the halawa (sugar paste) for her exfoliation. I am sure she had only limited vocabulary to talk to those. After her family left she mentions in long passages how the driver Usta Hussein kept writing to them, praising his loyalty, but nowhere in all of this did she ever mention anything about the man's circumstance, family, or children. Did she ever write back?
One interesting observation is that while the Jews of Europe suffered horribly from discrimination, the Jews of the middle east were by and large very prosperous and only suffered after the creation of Israel. Yet even as they "fled" most managed to live comfortably in Europe and America. From my own experience I know this as well from the handful of Jews that used to live in my native city Aleppo. The affluent lot had their own hierarchy and my heart really went out for example to Jean's first love. Her family of course did not accept him for he was a Polish Jew from some Shtetl and so really not in her league. All went well when she met someone from the same milieu.
I do not mean to be terrible to Jean and her book, and to belittle her experience. But as a Middle-Eastern Jew her experience sounded remote to me. Only in the latter parts of chapter 16 does she mention a few of the superstitions and language quirks I am familiar with. The rest of her book is about a spoilt rich girl. I felt dizzy with all the descriptions of opulence, and her constant quoting of French poetry. What can I say I guess I am a peasant at heart.
The book is a tribute to large families and their enduring connections. There are a few memorable characters like her father's sister Helen Mosseri. Her maternal grandparents Joseph (born in Iraq) and Rosa Smouha (nee Ades - born in Damascus). Jean's mother is also a special character taking up painting in old age. Most of her people lived comfortably through old age though and there is no denying that their experience of "exodus" was truly a mild one and had to do more with their privileged and insular existence during the time of revolutionary change in Egypt, and less with their Jewish heritage.
April 20, 2012
Sipping from the Nile: My Exodus from Egypt by Jean Naggar is a memoir of a bygone era. This elegantly written memoir of a close knit Egyptian Jewish family and the turmoil they encounter during the turbulent 1950s.
Jean Naggar writes her childhood spent in Cairo and England as we all remember our childhood – a magical time in an enchanted world. Surrounded by a large, protective family members of the Cairo elites Ms. Naggar was unaware of the world changing Suez crisis happening practically outside her window.
The crisis changed her life, as well as the life of many of Egypt’s Jewish population forever.
I originally had this post scheduled for later in the month, but I realized that this book is appropriate for the Jewish holiday of Passover, which celebrates the departure of the Israelites from the land of Egypt as told in the Jewish bible’s book of Exodus.
Sipping from the Nile: My Exodus from Egypt by Jean Naggar (www.jeannaggar.com and www.JVNLA.com) is like listening to an elder relative talks about your family. Ms. Naggar presents life as she knows it, full of vivid detail and eccentric relatives.
In Ms. Naggar’s family it was customary to offer visitors a glass of Nile water to ensure a return visit. Unfortunately for the author’s family, all the glasses of Nile water in the world didn’t help as they were summarily kicked out of Egypt – losing their fortune, home and heirlooms in the process.
While I found the intimate stories and struggles of Ms. Naggar’s family fascinating, I wish there was more historical context and/or cultural/political background about those turbulent times which caused the family to flee. While I understand that it might not be an official part of a “memoir” by definition, I do think it’s important to put these events in context of the times, not just for me but for future Naggar generations as well.
I feel that historical context is especially important because, as a child, the author had a privileged childhood and little contact with the native population. Life in the author’s childhood home was composed of parties and celebrations which were a cause to get the newest fashions from Paris. Vacations were spent on trips to Europe to get away from the oppressive heat – certainly not a typical childhood by any means, albeit a good one.
This lyrical book is well written and full of astonishing memories, more significantly, it is an important document for the Naggar, Smouha, & Mosseri families for generations to come. The stories are rich and clearly told throughout the book and one day I could only wish to write something similar for my children and feel a sense of deep loss that my grandparents didn’t write their memoirs before they passed.
For more reviews and bookish posts please visit: http://www.ManOfLaBook.com
Jean Naggar writes her childhood spent in Cairo and England as we all remember our childhood – a magical time in an enchanted world. Surrounded by a large, protective family members of the Cairo elites Ms. Naggar was unaware of the world changing Suez crisis happening practically outside her window.
The crisis changed her life, as well as the life of many of Egypt’s Jewish population forever.
I originally had this post scheduled for later in the month, but I realized that this book is appropriate for the Jewish holiday of Passover, which celebrates the departure of the Israelites from the land of Egypt as told in the Jewish bible’s book of Exodus.
Sipping from the Nile: My Exodus from Egypt by Jean Naggar (www.jeannaggar.com and www.JVNLA.com) is like listening to an elder relative talks about your family. Ms. Naggar presents life as she knows it, full of vivid detail and eccentric relatives.
In Ms. Naggar’s family it was customary to offer visitors a glass of Nile water to ensure a return visit. Unfortunately for the author’s family, all the glasses of Nile water in the world didn’t help as they were summarily kicked out of Egypt – losing their fortune, home and heirlooms in the process.
While I found the intimate stories and struggles of Ms. Naggar’s family fascinating, I wish there was more historical context and/or cultural/political background about those turbulent times which caused the family to flee. While I understand that it might not be an official part of a “memoir” by definition, I do think it’s important to put these events in context of the times, not just for me but for future Naggar generations as well.
I feel that historical context is especially important because, as a child, the author had a privileged childhood and little contact with the native population. Life in the author’s childhood home was composed of parties and celebrations which were a cause to get the newest fashions from Paris. Vacations were spent on trips to Europe to get away from the oppressive heat – certainly not a typical childhood by any means, albeit a good one.
This lyrical book is well written and full of astonishing memories, more significantly, it is an important document for the Naggar, Smouha, & Mosseri families for generations to come. The stories are rich and clearly told throughout the book and one day I could only wish to write something similar for my children and feel a sense of deep loss that my grandparents didn’t write their memoirs before they passed.
For more reviews and bookish posts please visit: http://www.ManOfLaBook.com
January 30, 2015
I really enjoyed this book. It gave a great insight into a privileged lifestyle and the experiences in Egypt before the suez crisis. Her family was a large and complex one with family all over the place -- I hadn't realised what a connection Sephardic Jews had to Manchester! I enjoyed her tales about Rodean and how she made a life for herself after leaving Egypt, first in London and later in the USA.
At times I found it confusing as it kept skipping backwards and forwards but the stories were all interesting and amusing - and I could relate to her anecdotes and think about how life must have been for my grandparents in the Middle East around the same time... Quite eye opening.
As a memoir, Jean Naggar faces more criticism for being from a sheltered world where she was protected from much of the difficulties ordinary people face. In a novel, that would be characterisation - but this is her life and she has a right to reflect upon it as she experienced it.
Great book, really enjoyed it. 4*.
At times I found it confusing as it kept skipping backwards and forwards but the stories were all interesting and amusing - and I could relate to her anecdotes and think about how life must have been for my grandparents in the Middle East around the same time... Quite eye opening.
As a memoir, Jean Naggar faces more criticism for being from a sheltered world where she was protected from much of the difficulties ordinary people face. In a novel, that would be characterisation - but this is her life and she has a right to reflect upon it as she experienced it.
Great book, really enjoyed it. 4*.
June 3, 2012
I loved this book for its sense of family and relationships through several generations. Tale is from point of view of the author who was raised as a young girl in Egypt to a very wealthy and influential Jewish family. Book deals with the history of this family in Egypt up to the point of the Egyptian natiionalization of the Suez Canal when their family had to leave the country and all they had there. My only complaint is the book at time jumped around in time rather than having the story evolve chronologically.
June 23, 2024
Another poignant story of a Jewish family's exodus from a privileged existence in Egypt. I am not sure how appealing this book would be to people unfamiliar with Egypt or the issues of displacement . For me however, it was an echo of my parent's youth and their forced departure from their homeland a few years after the author's own and at the same time a stark reminder of the pluralistic society that once was Egypt . Clearly a cathartic labour of love by Jean Naggar.
December 21, 2018
I have always been delighted by nonfiction, especially nonfiction that is international in scope. With that in mind, I found the first two-hundred-fifty pages of this book quite dry, each chapter an introduction to another of Jean Naggar's family or friends. I understand the need to set the scene, to depict with whom and how Jean's childhood was lived, but I often felt that I was learning too little about each person, and about Jean, to feel truly connected to the life story unfolding before me.
The book expands its scope, naturally, when Jean and her family are displaced from their home in Egypt. Relatives, close and distant, are scattered; livelihoods are trampled and rebuilt; and the cultures of new homes begin to settle with the cultures of old. This turning point is the first time that I could render myself interested and succumb to Jean's precise and eloquent storytelling.
Somewhere, the lavish childhood was lost on me; the change, though, was not. Brilliant writing. Good read.
The book expands its scope, naturally, when Jean and her family are displaced from their home in Egypt. Relatives, close and distant, are scattered; livelihoods are trampled and rebuilt; and the cultures of new homes begin to settle with the cultures of old. This turning point is the first time that I could render myself interested and succumb to Jean's precise and eloquent storytelling.
Somewhere, the lavish childhood was lost on me; the change, though, was not. Brilliant writing. Good read.
August 3, 2021
I started reading the book not quite sure what to expect. The subject is compelling as it is one of displacement and exile. However, the description of minute details concerning different members of the family was painful/boring and not all that necessary. The opulence described is beyond the ken of most readers and distracts from the tragedy of the situation. Having family experienced similar situations, but without the opulence have a story that is much more compelling.
I kept reading the book to the end, knowing all along that this family would be fine. I found that this reading was much more a diary of a daughter trying to recreate what once was while searching for herself. It was interesting in that it describes a life style that can still exist but perhaps not with same splendor.
I kept reading the book to the end, knowing all along that this family would be fine. I found that this reading was much more a diary of a daughter trying to recreate what once was while searching for herself. It was interesting in that it describes a life style that can still exist but perhaps not with same splendor.
August 25, 2023
It is as if the author have not gone past its trauma (although it seems leaving Egypt set her free from constraining matriarchal family ties). The reader can only infer and guess family tensions, power relationships, the wealth and posh living style of this family vs the poor loving standard of the majority of Egyptians at the time. The book is filled with countless descriptions of external displays of wealth and traditions (food, clothes, pastimes, houses). When the Government official comes and asks them to leave their house, the author’s father arrogantly asks him about his origins and underlines that he was a name in Cairo and a builder of the city. Indeed. He and his family have founded a bank.
December 24, 2024
This book was just boring. I mean it started out okay talking about a privileged life in Egypt by a Jewish family, but then she just started telling short stories about each of her parents and grand parents, and you didn't really get any continuity of characters, or really much relevance to her own life. And for a book called "My exodus from Egypt" we're 50% into the book and she still hasn't left Egypt or given any indication that that is coming, and I guess this basically sounds like old ladies sitting around a parlour talking about the old days and laughing at stories they already know amongst themselves, while not including you in the joke. and basically, I could not make myself care.
October 1, 2017
A life filled with change
A wonderful story of a childhood filled with lessons of changes. Growing up in a family home, a mansion built on the Nile. Being Jewish in Egypt, and her thoughts and practices of Passover. Her father, who through a death would have to give up what he loved doing for a family business. The author's love of life and her family even after moving to America after marriage. You will love her and her love of life.
A wonderful story of a childhood filled with lessons of changes. Growing up in a family home, a mansion built on the Nile. Being Jewish in Egypt, and her thoughts and practices of Passover. Her father, who through a death would have to give up what he loved doing for a family business. The author's love of life and her family even after moving to America after marriage. You will love her and her love of life.
December 31, 2019
I couldn't help comparing this to A Broken Circle as I was reading it since they are similar topics. This book proves that you don't need to have similar experiences to thoroughly enjoy a story. These stories were so well expressed and really painted a picture where as the other seemed very phony. As reading this I felt like I was spending time with the author as she told me about her life. Lovely read.
July 25, 2020
The privileged oppressed
A compilation of a very privileged family, living in a culture/country where they were foreigners. Explaining Jewish traditions quite well. Rich in the imagery of events , impressions and emotions. but also with a very "stay in your lane" lifestyle and mind set. You will be able to recognize yourself and your family on these pages. Just enough history added so as not to be totally a family roots story
A compilation of a very privileged family, living in a culture/country where they were foreigners. Explaining Jewish traditions quite well. Rich in the imagery of events , impressions and emotions. but also with a very "stay in your lane" lifestyle and mind set. You will be able to recognize yourself and your family on these pages. Just enough history added so as not to be totally a family roots story
November 15, 2021
I really liked the opening question: What is it to BE/identify as a nationality versus from that that country? After 6 hours/chapters of childhood recollections of an elite childhood I felt impatient and wanted the story to move on to what that time represented — what did it mean and why are these memories significant. As a diary to pass along to future generations it would be invaluable. I may come back to this book and skip forward but for now I’m taking a break.
February 12, 2024
A glimpse of a period of history
This book presents a personal history of Sephardic and Middle Eastern Jewelry that many are unaware of. Jean and her family live a life of privilege. As a result, it's hard to know what a typical life would be like. Still, one gets a good look at Egypt that has passed.
This book presents a personal history of Sephardic and Middle Eastern Jewelry that many are unaware of. Jean and her family live a life of privilege. As a result, it's hard to know what a typical life would be like. Still, one gets a good look at Egypt that has passed.
May 23, 2017
I had to abandon this book. The only reason I am giving it 2 stars is because it is well-written. I am sure that this lovingly told account of a privileged upbringing in Egypt uprooted by the Suez crisis would hold someone's interest. Just not mine.
May 30, 2018
I didn’t enjoy this family history. I gave this book 2 stars because there may be some who would like to read all the interconnections in this family. I found myself skipping whole sections, and just looking at the photos.
November 27, 2020
Interesting look into a pre WWII slice of life in upper class Egypt. I particularly enjoyed the vantage point of having a Jewish seder celebration while actually in Egypt. So interesting that as a child, she didn't see the irony of her family making an exodus INTO Egypt!
April 21, 2022
Excellent autobiography and fantastic read about Egypt in the 50ies
Jean Naggar is a wonderful writer who effortlessly makes you travel back in time to the 1950ies in Egypt to discover her family history for over 200 years and their personal exodus following the Suez crisis.
Jean Naggar is a wonderful writer who effortlessly makes you travel back in time to the 1950ies in Egypt to discover her family history for over 200 years and their personal exodus following the Suez crisis.
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