Growing Up Jewish: An Anthology

by Jay David (Editor)

Twenty-six personal accounts by such popular authors as Edna Ferber, Chaim Potok, and Philip Roth explore issues of Jewish identity, language, generational differences, heritage, and rites of passage.

249 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 1996

Reviews

[clara]

really loved some of the selections here - especially taken with the stories/essays by rebecca goldstein and paul cowan, and i loved the accounts of small-town jewry in middle america of the turn of the 20th century

[Delia]

This is a pretty good anthology! There are various perspectives and each gives you a different glimpse of what it was like to be Jewish in different parts of the world at different times. I will admit that some accounts were very tedious to get through, but a few of them were really enjoyable and entertaining. While I don't think I'll be rereading this anthology in its entirety ever again, I will revisit certain stories in the future.

[Robyn]

A disappointment. I think the only reason why I gave this more than 1 star is that a couple of the stories were actually interesting/moving. But aside from those couple; I actually found a lot of the material to be lackluster and dull.

Not what I was expecting at all. I think I wanted more 'insight' from the authors about their feelings or maybe even a coming of age story or two that wasn't so predictable. We Jews are stereotyped so much, I don't think many of these stories do us any favors.

[Oriyah N]

Some stories were ok, some were fabulous...most were somewhere in between...but more than remarkable writing, it was just a snapshot in time, like I was listening to the reminiscing of my parent's contemporaries.

[Richard Kravitz]

Don't remember any of the stories. Still have the book.