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12th out of 34 books
—
96 voters
The Forgetting River: A Modern Tale of Survival, Identity, and the Inquisition
by
Doreen Carvajal (Goodreads Author)
The unexpected and moving story of an American journalist who works to uncover her family’s long-buried Jewish ancestry in Spain.
Raised a Catholic in California,New York Timesjournalist Doreen Carvajal is shocked when she discovers that her background may actually be connected to conversos in Inquisition-era Spain , Jews who were forced to renounce their faith and convert...more
Raised a Catholic in California,New York Timesjournalist Doreen Carvajal is shocked when she discovers that her background may actually be connected to conversos in Inquisition-era Spain , Jews who were forced to renounce their faith and convert...more
Hardcover, 320 pages
Published
August 16th 2012
by Riverhead
(first published August 1st 2012)
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Amazing! It was one of those books that you hate to end.
"The Forgetting River" has something for everyone. I originally picked up this book because of the genealogical aspect, but found that it is so much more! The descriptions of Arcos de la Frontera are wonderful and when I went to the Internet and looked at the images of this medieval city it was just as Caravajel had written. This book is a beautifully written memoir and encompasses all aspects of the author's incredible search for her famil...more
"The Forgetting River" has something for everyone. I originally picked up this book because of the genealogical aspect, but found that it is so much more! The descriptions of Arcos de la Frontera are wonderful and when I went to the Internet and looked at the images of this medieval city it was just as Caravajel had written. This book is a beautifully written memoir and encompasses all aspects of the author's incredible search for her famil...more
Doreen Carvajal was raised Catholic, but like Madeleine Albright she began to suspect that her family used to be Jewish. In Albright’s case this wasn’t ancient history, her family’s religious shift happened during WWII, but Carvajal had reason to believe her ancestors may have been forced to convert during the Spanish Inquisition. Even more surprising to Carvajal, it wasn’t until she was well into adulthood that she realized that while outwardly Catholic some older members of her family were qui...more
This is a book that I really wanted to love. The first few chapters drew me in very quickly and I was intrigued by the subject.
Doreen Carvajal, is a journalist and it shows with this book, which reads as individual columns in a series. My problem with this is that single threads of the book are separated from each other by other threads. The chapters are mostly quite short and it's disrupting to become interested in something only for it to end abruptly and the subject to pick back up in three c...more
Doreen Carvajal, is a journalist and it shows with this book, which reads as individual columns in a series. My problem with this is that single threads of the book are separated from each other by other threads. The chapters are mostly quite short and it's disrupting to become interested in something only for it to end abruptly and the subject to pick back up in three c...more
I won this on First Reads.
I really enjoyed this book. I have been looking for my family roots for a while. I have found surprises and questions as well as answers. I loved that I was able to identify with part of the book. I am thankful for the chance to enjoy this interesting ride of family and self realization. Thanks for letting me share the ride.
I really enjoyed this book. I have been looking for my family roots for a while. I have found surprises and questions as well as answers. I loved that I was able to identify with part of the book. I am thankful for the chance to enjoy this interesting ride of family and self realization. Thanks for letting me share the ride.
I had such high hopes for this book when I began reading it and was so excited to read it. It is the true story of a journalist who is searching for Jewish roots that she believes lie hidden somewhere in her past and those of her forebearers.
It takes place mainly in Spain and while parts of the book were very interesting most of it seemed to be to be sprawling and meandering all over the place, taking way too long to tell most of the events. I think that this book could have been very good had t...more
It takes place mainly in Spain and while parts of the book were very interesting most of it seemed to be to be sprawling and meandering all over the place, taking way too long to tell most of the events. I think that this book could have been very good had t...more
The "river" of the title is the passage of time which has swept away links between Spanish Jews who were forced to convert to Christianity by the Spanish Inquisition and their modern day survivors, many of whom are not aware of their former Jewish roots. The author takes us on a personal genealogy trip to determine her own background and in the process turns up the horrors of the persecution of Jews by the Catholic church and subsequent loss of identity and even records that were destroyed or al...more
This book is really an incredible true story. Reminds me of doing genealogy for myself and what mysteries and surprises may be there to be discovered. I want to write so much but can't because I don't want to give away the story.
Being Hispanic with some of my ancestors coming from the Canary Islands, this story has opened up to me possible avenues to take in my research for my own family.
It is a very touching and intense story as well because of some of the issues discussed which have to do wit...more
Being Hispanic with some of my ancestors coming from the Canary Islands, this story has opened up to me possible avenues to take in my research for my own family.
It is a very touching and intense story as well because of some of the issues discussed which have to do wit...more
This was a fascinating book about a woman who grew up in California now trying to trace her lineage back through Costa Rica and from there back to the days of the Inquisition in Spain. She started following the trail of occasional stories, symbols, and other handed-down clues to unearth the secret most of her family didn't want to confront directly: whether or not they were descended from Jews who had been forced to convert to Christianity during the Inquisition or face torture or death for thei...more
A writer's journey of discovery places genealogical research and history lessons in a very personal context. This may be more than you ever wanted to know about the Spanish Inquisition, the expulsion of Jews, then gypsies, then Muslims. Even an occasional wealthy noble, whose property seizure by Inquisition officials and anyone with a grudge to point at them, could be put to torture and execution, all to "purify the faith." This true story was viscerally disturbing, yet the music playing in my m...more
I wanted to like this book and set out with a very positive attitude, however, once the author said that fathers do not contribute to the genetic makeup of their children ...
I wish I had the page number for this. But I read it over and over, and went back to re-read the paragraph to see if, in context, it made sense. For example, was this in reference to mitochondrial DNA? I couldn't find it so I gave up, stopped reading and that's that. Such a blatant error turned me off this book altogether.
I wish I had the page number for this. But I read it over and over, and went back to re-read the paragraph to see if, in context, it made sense. For example, was this in reference to mitochondrial DNA? I couldn't find it so I gave up, stopped reading and that's that. Such a blatant error turned me off this book altogether.
I'm only halfway through this book, but I have to say that, although the topic is fascinating, the writing is often so confusing that I have to read back to try to figure out what the author is talking about. Where was the editor???
Finished the book - here are my comments: I chose to purchase this book because it's about searching for the author's Marrano roots. I wish it had given me more content about the Marranos and the author's family - felt like she didn't have enough material to do justic...more
Finished the book - here are my comments: I chose to purchase this book because it's about searching for the author's Marrano roots. I wish it had given me more content about the Marranos and the author's family - felt like she didn't have enough material to do justic...more
I was mildly disappointed in this book. Having read the great reviews, I was expecting much more. The premise is that the author suspects she may be the descendent of converso Jews and I was expecting a much deeper exploration of who the converso Jews were and their place in history. There are long descriptions of the residents of the Spanish village where the author has a summer home and not that much on her quest for her converso Jew roots.
It is a fascinating book about an author who spends her time wondering whether she is Jewish though she knows or seems to care to know very little about Judaism. If that does not suffice, she sends her daughter to a Catholic school. It would all be funny if the stories she tells were not so gut wrenching.
This would make a superb Book club selection.
This would make a superb Book club selection.
I received this book as part of the First Reads program. It explores the author's journey to find out more about her family history spurred on by many clues along the way that suggest her Catholic family actually has roots in Judaism. I think I found it particularly intriguing because I, too, have ancestors that left Spain around the time of the Inquisition with little hints here and there that they may have been Jews. More than anything, The Forgetting River sparked my interest in that personal...more
This is an amazing book, it took a bit to get past the overwhelming anthropomorphism, though. I don't think bells and buildings talk to me, apparently no poetic soul or some such. Of all I thought about the Spanish Inquisition, I didn't know anything. This tells the tale of the cruelty and secrecy in the context of history. I learned about the various exodus routes, of Mexico and Costa Rica and the Balkans. It tells of the hidden clues in the art and music and food.
To me, while not structured as...more
To me, while not structured as...more
This is a one because there is no zero on the scale.
The "organization scheme" she chooses makes one think she missed that class in J school. She skips around so much geographically and chronologically that it makes your head spin in confusion. Maybe she is also confused as to what she is writing that maybe the reader will tell her.
The "organization scheme" she chooses makes one think she missed that class in J school. She skips around so much geographically and chronologically that it makes your head spin in confusion. Maybe she is also confused as to what she is writing that maybe the reader will tell her.
An excellent blend of memoir and history. Carvajal takes us through the Inquisition right up to modern day Spain. In the process, she integrates her own coversa history into her narrative.
Interesting ... a little self-absorbed ... needs a companion tourist's guide to Arcos de la Frontera, would like to go back to Arcos now, and see the places the author writes about.
This book needed an editor. The topic is fascinating, but sadly, I found it extermely poorly written. It doesn't come together, it feels just like fragments and musings, and it's exteremly hard to read, or at least put together. I found it more indulgent than interesting.
Read my review at http://www.thereportergroup.org/Artic...
Not yet read or rated. Using mobile dvice and can't clear accidental "rating".
Oct 10, 2012
Bettie
marked it as lookedinto-decidedagainst
Nick's 1*
Fascinating true story.
The writing style was a little melodramatic for me, but this story of a woman attempting to discover proof of her family's pre-Inquisition Jewish ancestry is actually rather suspenseful. She introduces us to the town of Arcos de la Frontera in Spain's Andalusia region, and to its unique residents, secrets, and history. To attempt to discover 500-year-old family history seems like an insurmountable obstacle to me, but I was cheering for her all the way.
First Reads win: I found this book to be interesting and make me interested in my own family. I have always wondered about my family history and this book makes me feel that I could have just as interesting one as the author. I loved how I got to learn and understand the trails of different things that occurred in this book. I can say it was a well thought book but not my favorite. I will keep an eye out for similar books as this.
Doreen has always been able to write in such a way that visions are created with her words. The description of the small Spanish frontier pueblo and the customs passed from generation to generation was very informative and interesting. Loved the gathering of bits of history to make a whole. Great Book for all searching for the mysteries from your past.
I found it to be long winded more about The town Arcos. Not enough to keep me reading.
I am moving on!!
Didn't finish.... It may be a good book but not what I could read at the moment.
Some interesting info about life in Spain and the challenges of figuring out who you are.
Very interesting. A quick read.
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Doreen Carvajal is a Paris-based journalist for the International Herald Tribune and The New York Times.
Her first book, "The Forgetting River," is about her search to recover her Catholic family's hidden Sephardic Jewish roots in a mystical white pueblo on Spain's southern frontier in Andalusia. It was a journey that began ultimately after her canceled goodbye party on September 11 in New York.
She...more
More about Doreen Carvajal...
Her first book, "The Forgetting River," is about her search to recover her Catholic family's hidden Sephardic Jewish roots in a mystical white pueblo on Spain's southern frontier in Andalusia. It was a journey that began ultimately after her canceled goodbye party on September 11 in New York.
She...more
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Jan 30, 2013 05:20pm