deborah feldman exodus revisited my unorthodox journey to berlin

Providing a disjointed account of her travels while she sought to understand her grandmother's Holocaust experience and more about her own life, she shares random and iften disjointed stories about certain people, experiences with anti-Semitism and her life after leaving her community. I expected Exodus to have the same level of depth and Intrigue as Unorthodox and left feeling disappointed. I waited to do both of my book reviews until I had completed listening to both Unorthodox and Exodus. Feldman proves herself again to be a captivating storyteller, and her singular life has been an inspiration to countless others and for listeners everywhere. Inwardly, Feldman has navigated remarkable experiences: raising her son in the “real” world, finding solace and solitude in a writing career, and searching for love.Ĭulminating in an unforgettable trip across Europe to retrace her grandmother’s life during the Holocaust, Exodus is a deeply moving exploration of the mysterious bonds that tie us to family and religion, the bonds we must sometimes break to find our true selves. In her travels, and at home, Feldman redefines her sense of identity - no longer Orthodox, she comes to terms with her Jewishness by discovering a world of like-minded outcasts and misfits committed to self-acceptance and healing. Taking her cues from favorite childhood books read in secret and the modern classics only recently introduced to her, Feldman explores the United States, from San Francisco to Chicago, New Orleans, and the Southwest. Out of her experience came the incendiary, best-selling memoir Unorthodox, and now, just a few years later, Feldman has embarked on a triumphant journey of self-discovery - a journey in which she begins life anew as a single mother, an independent woman, and a religious refugee. She was determined to forge a better life for herself, away from the rampant oppression, abuse, and isolation of her Satmar upbringing in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. In 2009, at the age of 23, Deborah Feldman packed up her young son and their few possessions and walked away from her insular Hasidic roots.

Deborah feldman exodus revisited my unorthodox journey to berlin