What do you think?
Rate this book
House of Windows: Portraits From a Jerusalem Neighborhood
A brilliant and moving evocation of the rhythms of life (and the darker shadows below it) in a working-class quarter of the world’s most fascinating and divided city.
In the tradition of the literature of place perfected by such expatriate writers as M. F. K. Fisher and Isak Dinesen, Adina Hoffman’s House of Windows compellingly evokes Jerusalem through the prism of the neighborhood where she has lived for eight years since moving from the United States. In a series of interlocking sketches and intimate portraits of the inhabitants of Musrara, a neighborhood on the border of the western (Jewish) and eastern (Arab) sides of the city–a Sephardic grocer, an aging civil servant, a Palestinian gardener, a nosy mother of ten–Hoffman constructs an intimate view of Jerusalem life that will be a revelation to American readers bombarded with politics and headlines. By focusing on the day-to-day pace of existence in this close-knit community, she provides a rich, precise, and refreshingly honest portrait of a city often reduced to cliche–and takes in the larger question of identity and exile that haunts Jews and Palestinians alike.
In the tradition of the literature of place perfected by such expatriate writers as M. F. K. Fisher and Isak Dinesen, Adina Hoffman’s House of Windows compellingly evokes Jerusalem through the prism of the neighborhood where she has lived for eight years since moving from the United States. In a series of interlocking sketches and intimate portraits of the inhabitants of Musrara, a neighborhood on the border of the western (Jewish) and eastern (Arab) sides of the city–a Sephardic grocer, an aging civil servant, a Palestinian gardener, a nosy mother of ten–Hoffman constructs an intimate view of Jerusalem life that will be a revelation to American readers bombarded with politics and headlines. By focusing on the day-to-day pace of existence in this close-knit community, she provides a rich, precise, and refreshingly honest portrait of a city often reduced to cliche–and takes in the larger question of identity and exile that haunts Jews and Palestinians alike.
224 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2000
1 person is currently reading
82 people want to read
About the author
Adina Hoffman
12 books24 followersBorn in Jackson, Mississippi in 1967, Hoffman grew up in Peterborough, New Hampshire and Houston, Texas, and graduated from Wesleyan University in 1989. She has lived in Jerusalem since 1992 and writes often about the Middle East and its people, especially those who are overlooked in standard journalistic or textbook-styled accounts.
Her first book, House of Windows: Portraits from a Jerusalem Neighborhood (Steerforth Press, 2000, Broadway Books, 2002) consists of a series of linked essays about her North African Jewish neighborhood in Jerusalem. It was described by Kirkus Reviews as “steadily perceptive and brimming with informed passion.” In 2009 Yale University Press brought out her My Happiness Bears No Relation to Happiness: A Poet's Life in the Palestinian Century, a life and times of the Palestinian poet Taha Muhammad Ali. The first biography ever published about a Palestinian writer, My Happiness was awarded Britain’s 2010 Jewish Quarterly-Wingate Prize and was named one of best twenty books of 2009 by the Barnes & Noble Review and one of the top ten biographies of the year by Booklist. Writing in The Independent, Boyd Tonkin called it “a remarkable book… A triumph of personal empathy and historical insight and a beacon for anyone who believes that ‘more joins than separates us.’” A 2011 Guggenheim Foundation fellow, Hoffman is married to MacArthur-winning poet and translator Peter Cole, and in 2011, she and Cole published a book they wrote together, Sacred Trash: The Lost and Found World of the Cairo Geniza (Schocken /Nextbook), which has been widely praised, with Harold Bloom calling it “a small masterpiece” and the Nation describing it as “a literary jewel whose pages turn like those of a well-paced thriller, but with all the chiseled elegance and flashes of linguistic surprise we associate with poetry... Sacred Trash has made history both beautiful and exciting.” In the Jewish press, the Chicago Jewish Star called it "captivating, with the drama of any good mystery… it has all the ingredients of a compelling work of fiction. Except that it's true."
Hoffman is formerly the film critic for the Jerusalem Post (1993–2000) and the American Prospect (2000–2002). Her essays and criticism have appeared in the Nation, the Washington Post, the Times Literary Supplement, Raritan, Bookforum, the Boston Globe, New York Newsday, Tin House, and on the World Service of the BBC. She is one of the founders and editors of Ibis Editions, a small, Jerusalem-based press that publishes the literature of the Levant. Hoffman has been a visiting professor at Wesleyan University and Middlebury College, and in 2009 was the Franke Fellow at Yale’s Whitney Humanities Center. During the summer of 2011 she was the Distinguished Writer in Non-Fiction at NYU’s McGhee School. She now divides her time between Jerusalem and New Haven.
Her first book, House of Windows: Portraits from a Jerusalem Neighborhood (Steerforth Press, 2000, Broadway Books, 2002) consists of a series of linked essays about her North African Jewish neighborhood in Jerusalem. It was described by Kirkus Reviews as “steadily perceptive and brimming with informed passion.” In 2009 Yale University Press brought out her My Happiness Bears No Relation to Happiness: A Poet's Life in the Palestinian Century, a life and times of the Palestinian poet Taha Muhammad Ali. The first biography ever published about a Palestinian writer, My Happiness was awarded Britain’s 2010 Jewish Quarterly-Wingate Prize and was named one of best twenty books of 2009 by the Barnes & Noble Review and one of the top ten biographies of the year by Booklist. Writing in The Independent, Boyd Tonkin called it “a remarkable book… A triumph of personal empathy and historical insight and a beacon for anyone who believes that ‘more joins than separates us.’” A 2011 Guggenheim Foundation fellow, Hoffman is married to MacArthur-winning poet and translator Peter Cole, and in 2011, she and Cole published a book they wrote together, Sacred Trash: The Lost and Found World of the Cairo Geniza (Schocken /Nextbook), which has been widely praised, with Harold Bloom calling it “a small masterpiece” and the Nation describing it as “a literary jewel whose pages turn like those of a well-paced thriller, but with all the chiseled elegance and flashes of linguistic surprise we associate with poetry... Sacred Trash has made history both beautiful and exciting.” In the Jewish press, the Chicago Jewish Star called it "captivating, with the drama of any good mystery… it has all the ingredients of a compelling work of fiction. Except that it's true."
Hoffman is formerly the film critic for the Jerusalem Post (1993–2000) and the American Prospect (2000–2002). Her essays and criticism have appeared in the Nation, the Washington Post, the Times Literary Supplement, Raritan, Bookforum, the Boston Globe, New York Newsday, Tin House, and on the World Service of the BBC. She is one of the founders and editors of Ibis Editions, a small, Jerusalem-based press that publishes the literature of the Levant. Hoffman has been a visiting professor at Wesleyan University and Middlebury College, and in 2009 was the Franke Fellow at Yale’s Whitney Humanities Center. During the summer of 2011 she was the Distinguished Writer in Non-Fiction at NYU’s McGhee School. She now divides her time between Jerusalem and New Haven.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
October 2, 2007
I read this book of essays for
Adina Hoffman -- daughter of author Rosellen Brown -- for a review for Hadassah Magazine and an AP news-feature. I found Hoffman's work at times slow but overall surprisingly refreshing. I was impressed by her own objectivity in relating the reasons behind the conflicts between the Israelis and the Arabs of Jerusalem. Her book did not dwell on politics, but on the people directly affected by the politics and by individuals' actions toward each other -- from shop owners to a Palestinian refugee with whom she and her husband take a cab ride one day. The book takes off on little details that can lead to insightful stories: Hoffman's quest for olive oil as the Sabbath begins and the Jewish shop owners shut down their businesses exactly what its title promises: portraits, pictures, short stories of the people who live in Hoffman's neighborhood. This is an excellent and different book -- one people would do well to read before rendering too many thoughts on the Middle Eastern conflict, especially if they've never been to Jersusalem.
Adina Hoffman -- daughter of author Rosellen Brown -- for a review for Hadassah Magazine and an AP news-feature. I found Hoffman's work at times slow but overall surprisingly refreshing. I was impressed by her own objectivity in relating the reasons behind the conflicts between the Israelis and the Arabs of Jerusalem. Her book did not dwell on politics, but on the people directly affected by the politics and by individuals' actions toward each other -- from shop owners to a Palestinian refugee with whom she and her husband take a cab ride one day. The book takes off on little details that can lead to insightful stories: Hoffman's quest for olive oil as the Sabbath begins and the Jewish shop owners shut down their businesses exactly what its title promises: portraits, pictures, short stories of the people who live in Hoffman's neighborhood. This is an excellent and different book -- one people would do well to read before rendering too many thoughts on the Middle Eastern conflict, especially if they've never been to Jersusalem.
October 14, 2025
Seriously beautifully written, an enthralling portrait on the livelihood of such a diverse and culturally relevant neighborhood. There were times/certain essays where I became distracted, and I overall much preferred the chapters that singled out a certain local character. Luckily there were several of those. I feel like I learned a lot from reading this without having to understand any of its bounds — a true marker, in my opinion, of a great book
March 1, 2020
I have mixed feelings about this book. On the one hand, it's an interesting peek into a small Jerusalem neighborhood. On the other hand, the author's clear antipathy for her fellow Jews, and outright hostility toward observant Jews is disheartening and puzzling. She sometimes exhibits a patronizing attitude toward Mizrachi Jews, and almost naive embrace of Muslim culture and community. Real life has nuances , and no one is a cardboard cut-out -- this was something I felt lacking. Nonetheless, and interesting read.
February 13, 2017
Ex-pat American moves to Israel; shares interactions and emotional reactions. I wouldn't want to be one of her neighbors! She doesn't hold back her opinions which is refreshing but they can be harsh. Her points of view as an American or a Jew or an Israeli are carefully dissected and considered. I appreciate the chapter in which she tries to learn about her home's original Arab owners and how that process evolves. Map would have been helpful.
July 16, 2017
This was a very good book it gives you a snapshot into the the authors world and also of her own
Unique world of HER neighborhood. Her narrative reminds me of " A Year In Provence" but trimmed down not as expressive or expansive a delicious read for a Saturday afternoon
Unique world of HER neighborhood. Her narrative reminds me of " A Year In Provence" but trimmed down not as expressive or expansive a delicious read for a Saturday afternoon
December 19, 2018
Exquisitely written, insightful book about a Jerusalem neighbourhood and its mix of characters. A microcosm encapsulating so much of history, politics, culture, traditions, mindsets - all from the introspective perspective of an American Jew.
July 17, 2018
I enjoy Adina's writing. Gives you an interesting portrait of life in Jerusalem.
January 26, 2020
Insightful words, sights, sounds and tastes of Jerusalem neighborhood and the lives of some of the people who live there.
June 13, 2009
I read this book expecting it to be a lot more place-oriented, and was surprised (more or less pleasantly) to find that it followed the lives of neighborhood residents rather than its streets. Hoffman runs through a series of characters with whom she interacts on a regular basis, in some way tying each personality into the historical situation of the neighborhood (Musrara), Jerusalem, and more broadly, Israel/Palestine. I found what she had to say refreshing because it was short on rhetoric and quite full of real life examples - in the form of personalities - which people the Israeli and even Palestinian neighborhoods of Jerusalem. Rather than force-feeding the reader an image, the book paints it painstakingly in a very self-aware (almost cubist) style.
I guess it was this that detracted from my pleasure in the book. While it certainly had a message, the author leaps about, trying to analyze every possible angle of her statements about Israel/Palestine (criticism or praise) to avoid sounding one dimensional. The result is that the voice is kind of confused, tentative, in a way that I imagine the author felt as an American Jew in the 'new Israeli Jerusalem.' This resonated somewhat with me, but in the end I think something was sacrificed to maintain that uncertainty.
I guess it was this that detracted from my pleasure in the book. While it certainly had a message, the author leaps about, trying to analyze every possible angle of her statements about Israel/Palestine (criticism or praise) to avoid sounding one dimensional. The result is that the voice is kind of confused, tentative, in a way that I imagine the author felt as an American Jew in the 'new Israeli Jerusalem.' This resonated somewhat with me, but in the end I think something was sacrificed to maintain that uncertainty.
November 26, 2010
Hoffman, an American immigrant to Israel, offers a finely-wrought first-person account of eight years living in Musrara, a neighborhood in Jerusalem. An Arab neighborhood before Israel’s War of Independence, Musrara straddled the no-man’s land between East and West Jerusalem between 1948 and 1967, despite being only a few blocks from the center of the Jewish part of the city. During this time, Moroccan Jewish immigrant families, part of the Edot HaMizrach (“Oriental Jews”) that swelled the Israeli population during this period, populated the neighborhood. When Hoffman and her husband, Peter bought an apartment in Musrara in the 1980’s, they found that living in Musrara was a rich cross-cultural experience. In addition to reporting on her everyday encounters with her Jewish neighbors, Hoffman writes about their trip to Jordan and her efforts to learn more about the pre-1948 Arab occupants of her building. Not your typical political book about the Middle East, this is a sensitive, subjective account about Hoffman’s encounters with neighbors across cultural and national divides.
June 25, 2010
One of my favourite non-fiction books. Beautiful language, captivating vignettes, vivid descriptions of places and people. I really can rave and rave about this book. I read one chapter from this book a while ago as required reading for one of my college lit classes. I loved that chapter so much that I went and bought the book, but it took me a while to get to it. This is not a book about the Arab-Israeli conflict. It is not a book about Jerusalem. And it is not a book about Adina Hoffman. It's a book about living and adapting to a foreign city and culture, and the steady rhythm of everyday live. Lovely read.
March 28, 2012
American Jewish couple immigrates to Israel and moves into oriental/African
Jewish neighborhood that borders East Jerusalem. Been there, done that,
and I believe the author gets the ambiguities of the situation perfectly right.
Wonderful writer, although I can see how book may have limited readership.
Jewish neighborhood that borders East Jerusalem. Been there, done that,
and I believe the author gets the ambiguities of the situation perfectly right.
Wonderful writer, although I can see how book may have limited readership.
February 10, 2016
Stunningly beautiful book with little episodes and portraits of the people in the author's neighborhood (Musrara) of Jerusalem; exquisite prose, it had me copying out phrases, see Collecting Word and Phrases
November 14, 2010
Having just returned from a trip to Israel, I was happily brought back to the characters and atmosphere of Israel. The last part deals with issues of the Palestinians and their displacement from their homes as a result of the 48 war in a sensitive and thoughtful way. I really enjoyed this book.
January 10, 2008
What an interesting perspective and insight into this side of the world!
decided-not-to-read
October 18, 2009Couldn't really get into this. Tone sort of irritating. Back to the free books bin it goes.
December 7, 2009
What a brilliant book. Very well written, and the characters are awesome. I wish I could live that book!
January 7, 2013
It's a very interesting book, an inside look at a neighborhood in Jerusalem and it's occupants. It's not sweet. It's often harsh and critical, but it's definitely intriguing.
November 8, 2015
1990s Jerusalem stories from the Meserara neighborhood - Sephardic jews, palestianians, "American jews", interesting perspectives, character sketches.
May 5, 2016
Very good book indeed, a little dull at the beginning but very interesting towards the end. Story-telling about people's lives are always more catchy that describing buildings and roads :)
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews