Green World: A Tragicomic Memoir of Love & Shakespeare

by Michelle Ephraim

At twenty-three, Michelle Ephraim was failing at everything. The only child of reclusive Holocaust-survivor parents who were dismayed by her literary studies, she found herself dumped by her boyfriend and bombing out of graduate school. Then, one night, she crashed a Shakespeare recitation party. Loopy from vodka and never having read a single line of Shakespeare, she was transfixed. Shakespeare, she decided, was the lifeline she needed. Green World is the hilarious and heartbreaking story of Ephraim’s quest to become a Shakespeare scholar and to find community and home. As she studies Shakespeare, Ephraim’s world uncannily begins to mirror the story of the Jewish daughter in The Merchant of Venice , and she finds herself in a Green World, an idyllic place where Shakespeare’s heroines escape their family trauma. Green World reckons with global, historical, and personal tragedy and shows how literature—comic and tragic—can help us brave every kind of anguish.

Genres: Memoir, Biography, Nonfiction

244 pages, Paperback

Published March 1, 2024

Reviews

[CatReader · Rating 4 out of 5]

Michelle Ephraim is an English professor at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts, specializing in Shakespeare. In her coming-of-age memoir Green World, Ephraim reflects on being raised by two European Jews who fled Europe as kids to escape the Holocaust, raising their only daughter in a stifling, overprotective, overbearing way that made Ephraim want to flee as soon as possible. While pursuing her PhD in English and the University of Wisconsin Madison, Ephraim found her own version of a "green world" (a literary concept coined by Northrop Frye to describe the forests and green spaces Shakespeare characters would often escape to in order to gain clarity about their real-world problems) when she meaningfully explored Shakespeare for the first time. Ephraim's PhD journey was far from easy, though -- as a fellow PhD, I empathize with many of the challenges and difficulties she shared (and I love reading memoirs that discuss them, rather than making PhDs seem easy and linear). After completing her degree, Ephraim was fortunate enough to get a tenure-track position at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, in the same general vicinity as her husband (an economics professor), and delved more deeply into her burgeoning research interests, the depiction of Jews in Shakespeare (of which there are few -- largely just Shylock, the antagonist in the Merchant of Venice, and his daughter, Jessica). I won't spoil the end of the book, only to say that Ephraim's relationship with her parents continued to evolve, and her exploration of Shylock and Jessica's complicated father-daughter relationship helped her understand and process her own filial relationship.

I found this memoir well-written, insightful, and thought-provoking. It reminds me of other memoirs I've read of first generation Americans being raised by immigrant parents, and how the children often struggle relating to their parents while young as it's hard for them to appreciate the personal and generational trauma that shaped their immigrant parents' attitudes and behaviors as parents. Actions and behaviors motivated by love and devotion can get lost in translation.

Further reading: memoirs featuring immigrant parents and cultural divides
The Mango Tree: A Memoir of Fruit, Florida, and Felony by Annabelle Tometich | my review
Missed Translations: Meeting the Immigrant Parents Who Raised Me by Sopan Deb
Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner
Starry Field: A Memoir of Lost History by Margaret Juhae Lee

My statistics:
Book 10 for 2025
Book 1936 cumulatively

[Lily Giroux · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can't bring myself to give this book anything less than five stars. It's especially helpful/enlightening for anyone trying to reckon with a complicated relationship with their parents (or other caregivers), especially if they want to contend with intergenerational trauma while also becoming more familiar with Shakespearean works. Ephraim's story will compel readers to build bridges with their own Shylocks, their loved ones who are both victim and perpetrator, rather than burn them (provided that the reader didn't want/need to burn those bridges in the first place).

My top three takeaways from Ephraim's memoir:

1. Shakespeare is for everyone. And, like a foreign language, you can totally pick it up and learn it as an adult -- it's not meant to be exclusive/ intended for folks of a certain social class.

2. You are not alone in those questions you keep having that are always knocking at your head, and waiting for an answer. Suffering & the solitary reliving of That Thing is not unique -- only its circumstances are.

3. We need to find things that connect us to people, that give us that sense of security and belonging in the world, and really invest ourselves in them. That's how Ephraim found a way to "quiet the doom." :)

[Wisconsin Alumni]

Michelle Ephraim MA’93, PhD’98
Author

From the author:
At twenty-three, Michelle Ephraim was failing at everything. The only child of reclusive Holocaust-survivor parents who were dismayed by her literary studies, she found herself dumped by her boyfriend and bombing out of graduate school. Then, one night, she crashed a Shakespeare recitation party. Loopy from vodka and never having read a single line of Shakespeare, she was transfixed. Shakespeare, she decided, was the lifeline she needed.

Green World is the hilarious and heartbreaking story of Ephraim’s quest to become a Shakespeare scholar and to find community and home. As she studies Shakespeare, Ephraim’s world uncannily begins to mirror the story of the Jewish daughter in The Merchant of Venice, and she finds herself in a Green World, an idyllic place where Shakespeare’s heroines escape their family trauma. Green World reckons with global, historical, and personal tragedy and shows how literature—comic and tragic—can help us brave every kind of anguish.

[Katie Carlson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was such a beautifully crafted book that made me feel seen in the struggles of family relationships and educated on Shakespeare in way I’ve never seen all while being able to take a peak behind the curtain in the world of Academia.. all this while also taking a journey through a wide range of experiences and emotions with Michelle.

If you would have asked me before reading this book if I would become fascinated with The Merchant of Venice, I probably would have laughed. The deep dive and exploration along with Michelle on the material was like going on a literary treasure hunt. That mixed with the struggles and successes of life from a wide screen perspective down to the details, I laughed, I cried, I was able to relate as well as learn different perspectives. This was so brilliantly put together.

[Charles · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed the tone of the writing and the way Michelle Ephraim weaves her personal story together with her thoughts on Merchant of Venice. Her story draws the reader in, and you will find yourself rooting for her to succeed. The closure she finds in her relationship with her parents is especially moving.

I know I am going to sound like a pedant writing this and it is probably says as much about my reading and background as the author's, but I was very surprised that an English PhD candidate was unfamiliar with the the Biblical story of Yiftach (I don't want to give away too much, but this is a key discovery that helps the author in formulating her dissertation). Shakespeare and his audience would have been very familiar with the Bible and probably would have grasped the allusion (if that is in fact what Shakespeare intended.)

[Carol · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was fascinated by Michelle Ephraim's memoir of her transition from the lonely child of Holocaust survivors to a Shakespeare scholar and mother of four. She skillfully weaves Shakespeare's work into her own story, leaving the reader with a deeper and more personal appreciation of the Bard's genius. I look forward to Michelle's appearance at Mystery to Me next month here in Madison - where she started on her scholarly path at the University of Wisconsin.

[Englishteacher23 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such an amazing memoir. A fascinating life, both academically and personally, with Shakespeare at its center. A tragicomedy indeed. Beautifully written, especially the ending though I did not want it to end.

[Emily Terry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastically written, moving and hilarious.

[Lauren Moved to Storygraph · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this memoir and its equal parts intellectual and irreverent approach to family, academia, generational trauma, and life in general. You’ll be glad you read this one.

[Judith Rosenbaum · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jews, literature, family legacy, and the narrative tension of tenure pursuit - I’m obviously the target audience for this memoir! It’s thoughtful, honest, and beautifully written.

[Michele Baker · Rating 5 out of 5]

A brilliant memoir—masterfully crafted in a voice that is somehow both erudite and casual. Reading this book makes you feel like you are the author’s best friend, and also her student.

[Kim Swartz · Rating 5 out of 5]

4 1/2 stars. Very well written, extremely personal memoir. A reflective and impactful debut novel.