The Man in the White Sharkskin Suit: A Jewish Family's Exodus from Old Cairo to the New World (P.S.)

by Lucette Lagnado

book data

263 ratings, 3.89 average rating, 88 reviews (more data...)

rating	frequency	%
5		27%
4		40%
3		25%
2		5%
1		0%

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published

July 1st 2008 (first published 2007) by Harper Perennial

binding

Paperback, 352 pages

isbn

006082218X (isbn13: 9780060822187)

description

Lucette Lagnado's father, Leon, is a successful Egyptian businessman and boulevardier who, dressed in his signature white sharkskin suit, makes deals

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Chicks On Lit: Middle East book discussions multiple spoilers possible	75	180	19 days ago, 09:40AM
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12/21/08

Julia rated it:

(review of isbn 0060822120)

Read in December, 2008

Whether or not you have first-hand experience with Egypt, this book provides a very interesting window into the lives of a Jewish-Arab family living in Cairo up until shortly after WWII. I had spent a summer in Egypt in the early 90's, and while I was aware that most to all of the Jews had long since left for more tolerant nations, Lucette Lagnado's story helped answer a lot of my questions about what those Egyptian Jews' lives were like before they felt the need to flee their country. Ms. Lagna...more Whether or not you have first-hand experience with Egypt, this book provides a very interesting window into the lives of a Jewish-Arab family living in Cairo up until shortly after WWII. I had spent a summer in Egypt in the early 90's, and while I was aware that most to all of the Jews had long since left for more tolerant nations, Lucette Lagnado's story helped answer a lot of my questions about what those Egyptian Jews' lives were like before they felt the need to flee their country. Ms. Lagnado seemed to feel the need to regularly remind her readers that while there may have been a few unsavory characters in her family, on the whole, "Famille Lagnado" were of exceeding breeding and refinement, especially the father. Her father, the "boulevardier", always on his walks, dressed impeccably in all-white, at the casino, doing business deals, out all night, dancing with beautiful ladies, refusing to marry and slow down even into his early 40's. Then he meets Edith, Lucette's mother; a petite, wide-eyed doll half his age. The marriage is rocky from the start, and Lucette is to be the fourth child born to the ill-matched couple. The Second World War's end sees Nasser's Pan-Arabist regime take hold of Egypt, kicking out the English of whom Lucette's father was so fond and capable of emulating in his clipped, upper-crust English accent. Anti-Jewish hostility is at an all-time high, and events in the Lagnados' lives conspire to push them to finally flee the country they loved so dearly. Their emigration to France reduces them to little more than impoverished refugees, always at the mercy of Jewish immigrant relocation organizations. The father's declining health and devastation at leaving the one place which had constituted his whole universe, and Lucette's older siblings' restlessness with their transitory situation creates a state of purgatory for the whole family. When they eventually reach New York, things only seem to stay equally turbulent. Statelessness and alienation fester in everyone's lives, and what little comfort they could once derive from the familiarity of their Jewish customs and prayer offer little help or solace in an irreligious Western society. Lucette's continued bouts with illness are her strongest bond to her equally ailing father, and there's no mistaking that this book is about her father, the man in the white sharkskin suit. She feels his close presence when she finally returns to Egypt, long after he's passed away in an American nursing home, an institution which resoundingly serves as a metaphor for how the East views the West: a cold, lonely place where one unwittingly winds up, bewildered, and so far away from home.

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10/19/08

Andy rated it:

(review of isbn 0060822120)

Read in October, 2008

Next time someone tells you about the terrible struggle of the Palestinians, remind him that the Jews of Syria and Egypt, communities whose existence predated Islam, were robbed and exiled by corrupt Arab nationalist tyrants. This is the story of one family. Fifty years later, are the descendents of the exiled patriarch hunkered down in a refugee camp, living on handouts and plotting bloody revenge? Nope. This book is personal, not political, and deeply affecting in the writer's treatment of...more

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08/13/08

Sarah rated it:

(review of isbn 0060822120)

Read in August, 2008

My mom shared this book with me at the beach. It's a non-fiction account of a family who immigrates to the United States from Egypt in the 1960s. I'm not typically drawn to non-fiction but this book reads like fiction. Towards the end, I had a hard time putting it down because I was so engrossed it the story and wondered what would happen to this family! It's really amazing to read stories like this one and understand that these events actually happened to someone (or many someones).

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11/02/08

Betty rated it:

(review of isbn 0060822120)

bookshelves: africa, autobiography-biography, international, non-fiction, war

Read in December, 2007

recommends it for: autobiographical, Jewish history fans

I thoroughly liked this book. The author speaks from the heart about her family's life with respect and candor. Mostly autobiographical in content, the history of the family and particularly the patriarch is the backbone on which it is written. A complete "riches to rags" story, the early part of the book deals with a world completely alien to post-war Egypt and its Jewish population. Fleeing from their country of birth and rich lifestyle into the unknown life of refugees with "...more

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04/07/08

Ellen rated it:

(review of isbn 0060822120)

Read in April, 2008

I couldn't decide if I should give this 3 or 4 stars and went with the higher number because the author did such a nice job of describing Cairo society back when it was an elegant, cosmopolitan city. The story of her family's loss of status, wealth and comfort as they are forced to leave after Nassir's rise to power and their difficult relocation to the US is familiar but well told none the less. I would have like more details about their lives in NY, but since the focus is on her father, the ...more

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12/13/08

Kathy rated it:

(review of isbn 0060822120)

Read in December, 2008

I was fascinated to learn that Jews lived among Arabs in comparative peace in Cairo during and after WWII. This is the story of a wealthy Jewish family forced out of Egypt by the growing anti-semitic sentiment, the rise of Islam, and the intolerance of a new regime in power. The family flees to America via Paris and is forced to live in relative poverty while they adjust to life in a new country. Some of them never do, some assimilate very quickly. I liked the memoir very much, but I found some...more

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05/11/09

Khaya rated it:

(review of isbn 0060822120)

bookshelves: bookclub, culturalidentity, intense-sad, jewish, memoirs

recommended to Khaya by: Randi

The reviews I read of this book sounded positive but a bit lukewarm, and when my book club chose it, I wasn’t expecting to appreciate it quite as much as I did. When I read other reviews of this beautifully written book, the evocation of Lagnado’s lost world seemed to be touted as its major selling point. Like other reviewers, I also found myself taken with the descriptions of 1940s Cairo. The sights and smells, and the overall atmosphere – there was something so romantic and sensuous a...more The reviews I read of this book sounded positive but a bit lukewarm, and when my book club chose it, I wasn’t expecting to appreciate it quite as much as I did. When I read other reviews of this beautifully written book, the evocation of Lagnado’s lost world seemed to be touted as its major selling point. Like other reviewers, I also found myself taken with the descriptions of 1940s Cairo. The sights and smells, and the overall atmosphere – there was something so romantic and sensuous about it, like being transported to a magical world. What I found at least equally compelling, though, was the honest way in which Lagnado evoked her family members in their full complexity, neither idealizing them for their merits nor demonizing them for their flaws.

Lagnado’s maternal grandmother, Alexandra, grew up rich and spoiled and, as a naïve 18-year-old, impulsively eloped with the wrong man. Cut off by her parents and eventually abandoned by her husband with two small children to take care of, Alexandra was ill-equipped for a life of poverty and couldn’t care properly for her children. Lagnado’s portrait of Alexandra managed to be sympathetic while unstintingly honest about her neglect of her often starving children. As I read about Alexandra skimming off a bit of money from the relatives’ handouts they survived on to leave her unsupervised children locked in the house for hours as she went to the movies and paced aimlessly through the streets of Cairo, I was surprised by how compassionate I felt to this poor woman’s plight, even as I was horrified on her children’s behalf. Kudos to Lagnado for her ability to arouse such a complicated and three-dimensional reaction in her reader.

Alexandra’s older child, Edith (Lagnado’s mother), somehow managed to create a decent life for herself by age 20, an impressive feat considering her tragic childhood and the real limitations for women growing up in 1930s Cairo. Against all odds, Edith completed her education and obtained a coveted teaching position in a highly prestigious school, whereby she ended up supporting her mother who had never worked and didn’t understand the concept (Alexandra entered adult life not even knowing how to brush her own hair). It was at this point that she met Leon Lagnado, a wealthy 40-something bachelor who was a bundle of contradictions – both devoutly religious and a hedonistic consumer of gambling, nightlife, and women, for one thing. In a highly romantic encounter, Leon spotted Edith sipping coffee with her mother in a café and sent a note to her table, beginning their courtship.

While Leon did turn out to be more reliable than Edith’s father was, the marriage was rocky pretty much from the get-go. Charming and self-centered, Leon did not see marriage or even parenthood as sufficient reason to abandon the nightlife he so loved. The story is a familiar one – Edith became increasingly depressed and less attractive, especially after she suffered a terrible illness and the loss of a child; Leon withdrew further, becoming an even more self-absorbed and impatient husband. The family, which grew to include four children, was unhappy, and Edith eventually threatened divorce but ultimately caved to external pressure not to go through with it, to her eternal regret.

In the backdrop of the family’s increasing upheaval, the birth of the State of Israel and Nasser’s rise to power created even more instability as the extended family began to leave Egypt in droves and the formerly thriving Jewish community of Cairo started to disintegrate. The once-harmonious relations Cairo Jews enjoyed with their Muslim neighbors gave way to hostility and fear, and Lagnado’s family too made reluctant plans to leave their beloved Cairo. Leon stalled, though, and then suffered a tragic accident which further delayed the family’s exodus from Egypt.

When the family was finally forced to leave Egypt in a sad convergence of family and political crises, they were not permitted to take any of their fortune with them and literally went from riches to rags overnight. After a short-term stint in Paris, the Lagnados ended up in America where they had to deal with unsympathetic immigration social workers, landlord troubles, and their rebellious teenage children, who were rejecting the family’s religious practices in favor of embracing American norms. Leon, the formerly proud, well-dressed boulevardier, was reduced to a broken, elderly necktie and textile salesman in poor health, barely eking out an income and financially dependent on his teenage son. To make matters worse, there was the problem of Loulou’s (Lucette’s moniker) recurring mysterious and serious illness, eventually diagnosed as Hodgkins’ disease, which began when she was a small child in Egypt and resurfaced in a more advanced stage in America after an apparent remission period.

While this book did have its occasional self-indulgent-memoir moments, they were rare and detracted little from its readability. Overall, The Man in the White Sharkskin Suit read like an enjoyable and multifaceted novel of a complicated family and their immigrant experience rather than like a memoir. It was sad, but as Lagnado herself wrote:

“For the longest time, I found the crumbly letters and telexes [later-unearthed communiques from her father:] too painful to read, until I realized that the story they told was redemptive – not about a family’s exile and loss but about one man’s sense of honor and personal responsibility.”
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02/17/09

Cara rated it:

(review of isbn 0060822120)

Read in March, 2009

In the end, I gave this book 3 stars. It bored me at times, but ended up being a book that I was glad to have read. I always appreciate a book that I can learn something from. From this book I learned to appreciate the plight of an immigrant to this country. As an American, we often just don't understand why people that choose to come here, can't assimilate. I can't even imagine having to leave all that I love behind and being forced to abandon my values and all that is dear to me in order ...more

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06/29/09

Marian rated it:

Lagnado writes about the glory of Cairo from the years between WW II and Nasser's rise to power. She highlights the life that the Jews and her wealthy father lived until they were forced out of Egypt with only $200 in cash. She traces the poverty and hardship the family endured as refugees in Paris and then New York in contrast to the comforts of the life they lived in Egypt. She traces her development into a young woman in America in contrast with her father's decline pyhysically and economical...more

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04/27/09

Ellen Guerin rated it:

(review of isbn 0060822120)

Read in March, 2009

Stories about Jewish refugees from Europe are plentiful, but this story about the Jewish community in Cairo, and Arab Jews in general, was a viewpoint that I hadn't read about before. Lagnado's family emigrates to the US, and the story of once-wealthy, now poverty-stricken immigrants reminds me of family stories. However, her adoration for her father at the expense of her memories of her mother got to me. He seemed thoughtless and abusive towards his wife, while he adored the young daughter. He...more

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03/05/08

James rated it:

(review of isbn 0060822120)

bookshelves: memoir, u-of-chicago

Read in March, 2008

Lucette Lagnado's moving memoir is subtitled My Family's Exodus from Old Cairo to the New World. It is a story of a remarkable father and his family movingly told with the feel of a novel as you share the experiences of this family who traveled half way around the world to settle in America. Lucette Lagnado, who is a senior special writer and investigative reporter for The Wall Street Journal, demonstrates both her skill as a writer and an investigator.

The story begins with the marri...more

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03/02/09

Lesley rated it:

(review of isbn 0060822120)

bookshelves: book-club-reads

Read in February, 2008

I loved this book. It definitely has a selective audience, however, if you're interested in the American immigrant experience - this is a wonderful memoir. Had I read this book while my father-in-law was still alive, I would have had so much more compassion for him. The author completely drew me into the world of Old Cairo, Paris, and their final destination in America. Parts of this book are quite heartbreaking. I recommend it to anyone interested in the plight of the immigrant.

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04/03/09

Tiffany rated it:

(review of isbn 0060822120)

bookshelves: truly_outstanding

Read in April, 2009

What a lovely, sad, vivid, beautifully-written book! The Cairo connection is why I picked this book up in the first place. Lagnado's prose paints vivid pictures of her family and surroundings in Cairo, Paris, and New York. I found myself astounded that she could write about events before her birth with such clarity and understanding. I wonder if we shouldn't all be forced to write our parents' stories - it seems like such a heartbreaking, but illuminating task.

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04/15/09

Kate rated it:

I really knew nothing about this time period in Egypt, the 1950s and 1960s when jewish citizens were exiled to mainly Israel or America. This is one family's story told by the youngest daughter of their struggle. Her father was a well respected, wealthy man in Cairo and reduced to poverty in America. He struggles to assimilate. Her story is told in honest manner, but without bitterness and anger. It was an enjoyable book.

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04/24/09

Teresa Solomon rated it:

(review of isbn 0060822120)

Read in March, 2009

A very moving memoir chronicling the saga of a Jewish-Arab family from Cairo's upscale boulevards to Brooklyn's streets. Focusing mostly on the patriarch of the Lagnado family, the author writes beautifully and clearly about her memories, family history, family tragedies, and eventual exile to America. A refreshing change from fiction, this book lingers with the reader because of its true characters and their experiences.

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07/03/09

Charlotte rated it:

(review of isbn 0060822120)

Read in June, 2009

This is a simply splendid book. It is the beautifully written account of the author's father, from his days when, as a Jew in Cairo, he was accepted in the highest of society and was a bon vivant, to his last years, as a tie vendor on the streets of New York. It vividly recreates an era in Cairo that is not that widely known. It is one of the best books I've read in years, and I cannot recommend it highly enough.

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12/28/07

Suzanne dinur rated it:

(review of isbn 0060822120)

Read in October, 2007

recommends it for: grace

This is a beautifully written book about the experiences of thousands of Egyptian Jewish people upon their expulsion from Egypt. I share a similar experience having been forced to leave Egypt with my family in 1959 as a "Stateless" refugee. Her writing brought back memories of the voyage from Egypt to Paris and finally the immigration to America. The author centers her story on her father and the difficulties he endured upon leaving Egypt and having to start over in another country a...more

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01/04/09

Debby rated it:

(review of isbn 0060822120)

Read in November, 2008

This is a very readable book (more so than "Out of Egypt: A Memoir") and especially interesting for the descriptions of life in Cairo in the 1950's. The latter part of the book deals with the hardships of immigrant life when they were forced to leave without taking anything of value.

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06/19/09

Tyger added it (review of isbn 0060822120)

Leon Capt. Phillips
Edith
"The Levant"
Sybritic
Yellow Palace asylum in abbassiych
boulevardier gad about in Cariro
Penury poverty
Aleppo Syria's most ancien city
Gimlet Eye - sharp gaze
Fil mesh- mesh - don't bet on it when apricot season comes
ARAK- anise seed wine 2x distilled

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02/24/09

Selena rated it:

(review of isbn 0060822120)

Read in February, 2009

By the time I finished it, I liked it. The book is idvided into 2 "books". I had to drag myself through the first 150 pages. Once I got to "Book 2", it really started moving, & I liked it. The 1st 150 pages were just very repeitive & could have been condensed to 20 pages.

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