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Turbulent Souls: A Catholic Son's Return To His Jewish Family
Two years ago, Stephen J. Dubner wrote a cover story for The New York Times Magazine called Choosing My Religion. It became one of the most widely discussed articles in the magazine's history. Turbulent Souls, the book that grew out of that article, is an intimate memoir of a man in search of a Jewish heritage he never knew he had. It is also a loving portrait of his parents.
Stephen Dubner's family was as Catholic as they come. His devout parents attended mass at every opportunity and named their eight children after saints. Stephen, the youngest child, became an altar boy, studied the catechism, and learned the traditional rituals of the Church -- never suspecting that the religion he embraced was not his by blood.
Turbulent Souls is Dubner's personal account of his family; tumultuous journey from Judaism to Catholicism -- and in his own case, back to Judaism -- and the effects, some tragic, some comic, of those spiritual transformations. His parents were Jews, born in Brooklyn to immigrant parents, but -- independent of each other and, indeed, before they met -- each converted to Christianity, only to be shunned by their families. After their marriage, they closed the door on Judaism so firmly that their children had no inkling that their background was far different from what it seemed: They didn't know, for instance, that their mother had a first cousin named Ethel Rosenberg, who was executed for treason in one of the most controversial cases of the cold war era.
Stephen Dubner's is a story about discovery: of relatives he never knew existed, of family history he'd never learned, and of a faith he'd never thought of as his own and, in fact, knew nothing about. It's a fascinating, thoughtful, and thought-provoking exploration of a subject of intense interest to spiritually minded men and women everywhere.
Stephen Dubner's family was as Catholic as they come. His devout parents attended mass at every opportunity and named their eight children after saints. Stephen, the youngest child, became an altar boy, studied the catechism, and learned the traditional rituals of the Church -- never suspecting that the religion he embraced was not his by blood.
Turbulent Souls is Dubner's personal account of his family; tumultuous journey from Judaism to Catholicism -- and in his own case, back to Judaism -- and the effects, some tragic, some comic, of those spiritual transformations. His parents were Jews, born in Brooklyn to immigrant parents, but -- independent of each other and, indeed, before they met -- each converted to Christianity, only to be shunned by their families. After their marriage, they closed the door on Judaism so firmly that their children had no inkling that their background was far different from what it seemed: They didn't know, for instance, that their mother had a first cousin named Ethel Rosenberg, who was executed for treason in one of the most controversial cases of the cold war era.
Stephen Dubner's is a story about discovery: of relatives he never knew existed, of family history he'd never learned, and of a faith he'd never thought of as his own and, in fact, knew nothing about. It's a fascinating, thoughtful, and thought-provoking exploration of a subject of intense interest to spiritually minded men and women everywhere.
336 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1998
24 people are currently reading
1358 people want to read
About the author
Stephen J. Dubner
28 books1,281 followersStephen J. Dubner is an award-winning author, journalist, and TV and radio personality. In addition to Freakonomics and SuperFreakonomics, his books include Turbulent Souls Choosing My Religion, Confessions of a Hero-Worshiper, and the children’s book The Boy With Two Belly Buttons. His journalism has been published in The New York Times, The New Yorker, and Time, and has been anthologized in The Best American Sports Writing, The Best American Crime Writing, and elsewhere. He has taught English at Columbia University (while receiving an M.F.A. there), played in a rock band (which started at Appalachian State University, where he was an undergrad, and was later signed to Arista Records), and, as a writer, was first published at the age of 11, in Highlights for Children. He lives in New York with his wife, the documentary photographer Ellen Binder, and their children.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 104 reviews
August 13, 2016
I’ve become a big Freakonomics fan in recent weeks. Not only have I read both books, I’ve watched the DVD, and listened to every podcast on Freakonomics Radio. So when I found out that Stephen Dubner, the journalist half of the Freakonomics team, wrote about a book about his journey to Judaism, you know I was all over it. I read it on Shabbos, which is something I wouldn’t do with Freakonomics because it’s purely secular studies. Turbulent Souls, in contrast, is a spiritual memoir, although – alas – it is not quite frum. There’s quite a bit of Catholicism in it, and for that reason alone, many frum people wouldn’t read it at all, much less on Shabbos. But I loved it. It’s a teshuva story. It’s just not teshuva gamura.
The story of the Dubner family follows the general pattern of American Jewry, but it’s a bit more extreme. Stephen’s paternal grandparents, Shepsel and Gittel Dubner, were frum Eastern Europeans. Shepsel was uncompromisingly pious; Gittel was personally frum but looked the other way when her children slid under American influences. Their oldest son Nat was the first to openly rebel. Stephen’s father Sol, who was the youngest, was not a rebel, which is why his conversion to Catholicism was so shocking. The zaideh Shepsel’s reaction brought tears to my eyes.
Then there’s Stephen’s mother’s side of family, the Greenglasses. They were eager assimilationists who raised their daughter with almost no Torah observance. But when a Jew raises his naturally soulful child without Jewish spirituality, she accepts substitutes. Florence Greenglass, who became Veronica Dubner, was a devout Catholic to the end of the book. She loved prayer and ritual so much, it was clear to me that in a different generation, she would have been a baalas teshuva. But kiruv rabbis were few and far between in the 1940’s. Heck, the Holocaust was going on!
So while millions of Jews were being killed in Europe, two Jewish souls in America converted to Catholicism and married each other. They had eight children whom they attempted to raise in as pure and sheltered an environment as they could. The children knew vaguely that their parents had been Jewish, but that was part of a faraway past that had nothing to do with them. Stephen Dubner was even an altar boy!
In college, Stephen met Jews. When his first job took him to New York City, he began exploring Judaism, and he met some heavy hitters, too – Rabbi Simon Jacobson, scribe to the Lubavitcher Rebbe, and on the Litvish side, Ha Rav Avigdor Miller. He became enamored of Pirkei Avos: Ethics of the Fathers whose teachings he sprinkled in throughout the book. Yet for all of that, the Torah lifestyle didn’t take. He married a Jew, identifies as a Jew, and I’m sure keeps some level of observance, but he’s not happily frum ever after.
Even still, I found it a wonderfully uplifting and intimate book. It’s the microcosm of our people in the last century. Half a century ago, the movement was toward assimilation. In recent decades, may Hashem continue to help, there’s been a movement toward return. Sol/Paul and Florence/Veronica Dubner carried assimilation to a further extent than most. So for Stephen Dubner to have grown up so far from Judaism yet still have found his way back to our people seems to me to be a teshuva worth celebrating.
The story of the Dubner family follows the general pattern of American Jewry, but it’s a bit more extreme. Stephen’s paternal grandparents, Shepsel and Gittel Dubner, were frum Eastern Europeans. Shepsel was uncompromisingly pious; Gittel was personally frum but looked the other way when her children slid under American influences. Their oldest son Nat was the first to openly rebel. Stephen’s father Sol, who was the youngest, was not a rebel, which is why his conversion to Catholicism was so shocking. The zaideh Shepsel’s reaction brought tears to my eyes.
Then there’s Stephen’s mother’s side of family, the Greenglasses. They were eager assimilationists who raised their daughter with almost no Torah observance. But when a Jew raises his naturally soulful child without Jewish spirituality, she accepts substitutes. Florence Greenglass, who became Veronica Dubner, was a devout Catholic to the end of the book. She loved prayer and ritual so much, it was clear to me that in a different generation, she would have been a baalas teshuva. But kiruv rabbis were few and far between in the 1940’s. Heck, the Holocaust was going on!
So while millions of Jews were being killed in Europe, two Jewish souls in America converted to Catholicism and married each other. They had eight children whom they attempted to raise in as pure and sheltered an environment as they could. The children knew vaguely that their parents had been Jewish, but that was part of a faraway past that had nothing to do with them. Stephen Dubner was even an altar boy!
In college, Stephen met Jews. When his first job took him to New York City, he began exploring Judaism, and he met some heavy hitters, too – Rabbi Simon Jacobson, scribe to the Lubavitcher Rebbe, and on the Litvish side, Ha Rav Avigdor Miller. He became enamored of Pirkei Avos: Ethics of the Fathers whose teachings he sprinkled in throughout the book. Yet for all of that, the Torah lifestyle didn’t take. He married a Jew, identifies as a Jew, and I’m sure keeps some level of observance, but he’s not happily frum ever after.
Even still, I found it a wonderfully uplifting and intimate book. It’s the microcosm of our people in the last century. Half a century ago, the movement was toward assimilation. In recent decades, may Hashem continue to help, there’s been a movement toward return. Sol/Paul and Florence/Veronica Dubner carried assimilation to a further extent than most. So for Stephen Dubner to have grown up so far from Judaism yet still have found his way back to our people seems to me to be a teshuva worth celebrating.
November 11, 2008
I thought I would hate this book and never be able to make it through the end. I was very surprised when I couldn't put it down. While this book was based on Catholicism and Judaism, it was truly about families, protecting those we love, and learning where we come from. I thought it was fantastic.
March 1, 2018
Journalist Stephen Dubner, a son of Jewish-born Catholic parents, converted from Catholicism to Judaism as an adult. Writing in the third person, he begins with recounting what he is able to put together of his parents’ lives before their separate conversions as young adults. Then in a more personal style he covers his upbringing, the beginning of his interest in Judaism in young adulthood, and his faith struggles. A long section at the end is devoted to the journey towards rapprochement with his mother.
The Dubners were all in with Catholicism, pious, rigid and doctrinaire. Because of their “Godfulness”, the eight Dubner kids were in one way “spoiled…:we expected the world to be as pure as they were”. But as Stephen grows up, “fear of [Hell] is what motivated my every action.” He thinks he has taken a step closer to Hell when he accidentally misdirects some nuns looking for the church, and he “knew now what Adam must have felt. He thought he was just eating an apple; I thought I was just giving directions to a pair of nuns. We each had made a terrible mistake.” It was “arbitrary and unfair”. Try as he might, he could not summon up the blissful faith his parents had, and at communion, “inviting the long, sad face of [Jesus] inside my body simply felt unnatural”. He clings to being an altar boy because it pleases his mother and because he feels like an insider, “one step farther from the fires of Hell”. He finds the charismatic prayer meeting, where he has to watch his parents yelping and speaking in tongues, especially distressing. The church’s insistence that God controls every action never sits right with him. But it is when he is 10 and his mother and her religious friends rejoice at his father’s death instead of mourning, that he is done with Catholicism, despite remaining obedient for the rest of his childhood.
As he investigate his Jewish roots, he learns more about the father he hardly knew and finds relatives who welcome him joyfully. He learns that is father suffered extreme rejection from his rigidly religious father, and later in life endured severe depression alleviated only by ecstatically speaking in tongues. Searching for the WWII fate of relatives in Europe, he feels, personally, the weight of antisemitism for the first time, recognizing that conversion to Christianity wouldn’t have protected his parents. His self-identity becomes Jewish, a pull in his blood. He is finally able to grieve his father. Eventually, family reunions ensue, although none of his siblings convert. (I found it interesting that only a couple of the sisters continued as full-fledged Catholics.)
When he does return to religion as a Jew, it is without rigidity. He rejects the smug attitude of “rightness” when he encounters it in Jews just as he does in his mother. He briefly entertains the idea that God’s existence itself may not matter: “once we believe there is a God, He exists” since it’s that belief that leads to upholding godly morals and behavior. But after embracing doubt as part of Jewish faith—unlike his parents’--he chooses belief. He has found “a God, a Way, that makes sense to me”, but the way understood by others might be just as right. And it is a Way that asks him to seek holiness by being human, not ultra-pious.
Dubner’s story is part journey away from rigid fundamentalism to a more accepting ecumenical attitude, not from one set of religious dogma to another, and part reunion with his missing father.
The Dubners were all in with Catholicism, pious, rigid and doctrinaire. Because of their “Godfulness”, the eight Dubner kids were in one way “spoiled…:we expected the world to be as pure as they were”. But as Stephen grows up, “fear of [Hell] is what motivated my every action.” He thinks he has taken a step closer to Hell when he accidentally misdirects some nuns looking for the church, and he “knew now what Adam must have felt. He thought he was just eating an apple; I thought I was just giving directions to a pair of nuns. We each had made a terrible mistake.” It was “arbitrary and unfair”. Try as he might, he could not summon up the blissful faith his parents had, and at communion, “inviting the long, sad face of [Jesus] inside my body simply felt unnatural”. He clings to being an altar boy because it pleases his mother and because he feels like an insider, “one step farther from the fires of Hell”. He finds the charismatic prayer meeting, where he has to watch his parents yelping and speaking in tongues, especially distressing. The church’s insistence that God controls every action never sits right with him. But it is when he is 10 and his mother and her religious friends rejoice at his father’s death instead of mourning, that he is done with Catholicism, despite remaining obedient for the rest of his childhood.
As he investigate his Jewish roots, he learns more about the father he hardly knew and finds relatives who welcome him joyfully. He learns that is father suffered extreme rejection from his rigidly religious father, and later in life endured severe depression alleviated only by ecstatically speaking in tongues. Searching for the WWII fate of relatives in Europe, he feels, personally, the weight of antisemitism for the first time, recognizing that conversion to Christianity wouldn’t have protected his parents. His self-identity becomes Jewish, a pull in his blood. He is finally able to grieve his father. Eventually, family reunions ensue, although none of his siblings convert. (I found it interesting that only a couple of the sisters continued as full-fledged Catholics.)
When he does return to religion as a Jew, it is without rigidity. He rejects the smug attitude of “rightness” when he encounters it in Jews just as he does in his mother. He briefly entertains the idea that God’s existence itself may not matter: “once we believe there is a God, He exists” since it’s that belief that leads to upholding godly morals and behavior. But after embracing doubt as part of Jewish faith—unlike his parents’--he chooses belief. He has found “a God, a Way, that makes sense to me”, but the way understood by others might be just as right. And it is a Way that asks him to seek holiness by being human, not ultra-pious.
Dubner’s story is part journey away from rigid fundamentalism to a more accepting ecumenical attitude, not from one set of religious dogma to another, and part reunion with his missing father.
March 25, 2017
What a beautiful and heart-wrenching story!
This book covers so much familiar ground:
Jewish life in pre-war Brownsville
First generation not keeping Shabbos
Serving in the Pacific in WWII
Being cut off from parents and, conversely, maintaining strained contact with parents
Moving away from Brooklyn and starting a new life
Taking the new life so freaking seriously
Cutting off, and being cut off from, the old life
Becoming a baal teshuva
Avigdor Miller
The Lubavitcher Rebbe
God, God, God, God, God and more God
Also, less God, ambivalence about God
Learning to respect other religions
Just amazing, every bit of it.
This book covers so much familiar ground:
Jewish life in pre-war Brownsville
First generation not keeping Shabbos
Serving in the Pacific in WWII
Being cut off from parents and, conversely, maintaining strained contact with parents
Moving away from Brooklyn and starting a new life
Taking the new life so freaking seriously
Cutting off, and being cut off from, the old life
Becoming a baal teshuva
Avigdor Miller
The Lubavitcher Rebbe
God, God, God, God, God and more God
Also, less God, ambivalence about God
Learning to respect other religions
Just amazing, every bit of it.
July 22, 2011
Freakanomics coauthor Stephen Dubner’s parents were NYC Jews who during WWII fell in love with Catholicism, then each other. Their rejection of their superstitious Jewish parents is understandable, but they go full throttle—becoming super-Catholics—first Dorothy Dayniks, then anti-abortion activists. Eight children and a hardscrabble life on an upstate NY farm later, the father wrestles with depression and no career prospects. Dubner, the youngest sibling, grows up just as his parents are experimenting with a charismatic form of Catholicism. Dubner rediscovers his Jewish roots in NYC, even editing a book of the Chabad Rebbe’s writings, and (re?)converts. His first book after a successful career as a writer and editor, Dubner tells his family’s story, and tells it well. This is a surprisingly page-turning family drama memoir that will be useful for discussions between Catholics and Jews—both faiths are presented with virtues and warts. Item: Dubner’s mother was Ethel Rosenberg’s cousin.
May 26, 2009
This book started out strong and interesting...mostly because it was about the Narrators parents. As it got more into the life of the Narrator himself, I found that I just didn't relate. I found him to be hypocritical and somewhat selfish and self-righteous. I couldn't connect with him and I couldn't empathize with his plight. I just wanted to get through the end. Religion is something personal and I can't stand when people push their choices and thoughts on others. Do what makes you happy - but stop trying to control others. I don't recommend it.
January 24, 2008
For anyone who has ever felt like a fish out of water. Beautifully written and wonderfully observed this man, who by intuition and sometimes happenstance discovers where his soul ultimately finds a place to rest.
August 21, 2022
I absolutely recommend this book, especially to those who enjoy spiritual biographies. Dubner shares with you his thoughts, process, and journey not only to find his religion but himself. By giving us a glimpse of his parents path, Dubner creates a beautiful parallel to his own journey. I was captivated by both the story and the writing. Let’s just say I couldn’t stop reading it.
January 31, 2018
Thank you Stephen Dubner for writing this book, a memoir of your parents, their journey, and your own. I found the story so fascinating that I could barely put it down. As a convert to Judaism from Catholicism, I was immediately intrigued by the story of Stephen’s parents who made the reverse conversion. Some believe that converts to Judaism are drawn to the religion because they are born with Jewish souls. I like to think so but then why can’t it be that converts out of Judaism have souls of other faiths? What I found ultimately fascinating is Mr. Dubner’s quest to dissect his parents’ conversion when one can understand that religious or spiritual affiliation or belief is so tenuous (sometimes), so sublime (sometimes), so effervescent (sometimes), that it’s daunting to find words to describe one’s own or even more difficult someone else’s beliefs. Well, Mr. Dubner gave it a shot and it was so well done that I did not want the story to end though of course I knew it would. The book had so many interesting parts, but one of my favorite had to be the author’s conclusion on G-D’s existence after quoting Rabbi Avigdor Miller. I already strongly believe in one G-D but Rabbi Miller’s line further anchors my belief in reason and not just faith. Read this journey, you won’t regret it.
October 14, 2013
I read this book twice. Once when it first came out because I was reading everything Jewish while returning to my roots. I just reread it and have got much more this time because my journey toward my culture is more evolved. I won't tell the story as others have already told the fascinating story of Dubner's return to Judaism after growing up Catholic. I liked his story and I liked him. With all the family he has I thought I would get lost but I did only in that his storytelling is spellbinding.
I remembered things this time from his book from my childhood. For example I always tell my partner not to whistle and he asks me why and I don't know why. I didn't even remember it was my mother who told me not to whistle because it would invite death. But when Shepsel, Dubner's grandfather tells his son Solly not to whistle it brought it back. I also am now getting to know the Lubavitch movement of Judaism and was happy to read how he found them to be real and accepting in his search. I think this is a great book for a reader interested in religion as well as a good story. I think I might have to read it again to get his reading list of books he read while on his journey.
I remembered things this time from his book from my childhood. For example I always tell my partner not to whistle and he asks me why and I don't know why. I didn't even remember it was my mother who told me not to whistle because it would invite death. But when Shepsel, Dubner's grandfather tells his son Solly not to whistle it brought it back. I also am now getting to know the Lubavitch movement of Judaism and was happy to read how he found them to be real and accepting in his search. I think this is a great book for a reader interested in religion as well as a good story. I think I might have to read it again to get his reading list of books he read while on his journey.
May 15, 2013
An interesting memoir. Part faith exploration, part coming of age in an ultra religious Catholic family. Enjoyed the coming of age portion tremendously. The tales of the family and their ultra-Catholicism brought a smile to my face as I compared it with my own (not nearly so devout) Catholic up-bringing.
The final portion of the book-the writer's struggle with his faith and his concurrent struggle with his relationship with his mother-left me with mixed emotions. I wanted him to get off his mother's back already!! His return to his Jewish roots did not win his mother's favor or support. No surprise there for me as her Catholicism was devout beyond any that I'd ever experienced. The author wanted her to look at her faith in a more objective light as he had done, and found her not receptive to that idea. Again, not surprising.
The final portion of the book-the writer's struggle with his faith and his concurrent struggle with his relationship with his mother-left me with mixed emotions. I wanted him to get off his mother's back already!! His return to his Jewish roots did not win his mother's favor or support. No surprise there for me as her Catholicism was devout beyond any that I'd ever experienced. The author wanted her to look at her faith in a more objective light as he had done, and found her not receptive to that idea. Again, not surprising.
December 14, 2007
I don't think I would have even picked this book up had it not been selected by my book club. I liked this book a lot more than I thought I would. I enjoyed reading about the author's family. Both of his parents converted to Catholicism in their early 20s. The author's father passed away when he was ten. He was the youngest of eight children. So some of the book was about the author's research on his father and his father's family.
I thought the book got bogged down a bit when it came to Mr. Dubner's exploration of his Jewish roots and his struggle and angst over his own religious beliefs.
He was also was pretty hard on his mother. It annoyed me that he couldn't just accept that she converted to Catholicism because that was where her heart directed her to go.
I thought the book got bogged down a bit when it came to Mr. Dubner's exploration of his Jewish roots and his struggle and angst over his own religious beliefs.
He was also was pretty hard on his mother. It annoyed me that he couldn't just accept that she converted to Catholicism because that was where her heart directed her to go.
October 31, 2015
Enjoyed this book. Early on, maybe 50 pages in, I thought I might not finish but something changed and I fully engaged. As another reader said this was a book as much about family as about religion. I have some personal experience of regularly going to temple while maintaining my Catholocism hence I related a lot to much in the book. I can say much about the book by relating a scene that 'just wouldn't happen in real life' though of course it did for Stephen; "...made the sign of the cross then began to pray,'Baruch atah Adonai..' Great read. There were enjoyable characters and ones we didn't like as much; this happens in my good books!
May 23, 2016
This book was recommended by friends of the author who live in Duanesburg, west of Albany, NY. My husband knows the author's family. We grew up in that area, which added to the attraction of the book due familiarity of the landmarks and locations, e.g. the Carl Company in downtown Schenectady. It is an excellent book, describing the son's searching for his roots and exploring the intersections of the Catholic and Jewish faiths.
February 24, 2008
A moving memoir, grabs you heart and soul. Truly a fascinating story of one man's family and their journey from Jew to Catholic and then finally the son's return to Judaism. Although there is much talk of religion, the focus is really on family and how they can be torn apart and then brought back together.
April 22, 2009
Very interesting story from the point of view of either religion.
May 17, 2009
Great book. I reread this book around 2006 and still enjoyed the 2nd time
Read
October 22, 2015Read this back in high school. Found evocative and fast reading at the time.
November 2, 2022
What a great book. One of eight children born to Jews who converted to Catholicism, the author begins exploring his roots and comes to identify as a Jew. Beautifully written. Made me cry several times
April 6, 2021
Funny, endearing, engaging, honest, wise, and inspiring. The kind of book you want to read slowly so that you can let it absorb into your way of seeing the world.
April 1, 2019
I found it fascinating. Went back and read the New York Times article that was the basis for the book.
June 29, 2018
This was an interesting account of three religious journeys. One was the author's, Stephen J. Dubner, while the other two were those of his parents. Although not the religious journey of anyone in my family or, even, of anyone I know, I could relate. Many, perhaps most, people have some sort of religious or philosophical journey, so would be able to learn something from the Dubner's. I looked up some of the Rabbis to whom Dubner referred as well as some of the books he mentions. I do not, however, see myself reading any of these books. I found I was interested in the history, the conflicts within his family as parents could not understand the conversion of their offspring, and the culture, but not necessarily of the actual beliefs they held. Occasionally the book slowed down when it got a little too detailed, but overall I had no problem reading this book in a few weeks.
October 29, 2011
A wonderful memoir by the youngest child of large Catholic family, Stephen, and his exploration into his parent's Jewish ancestry, later conversion to the Catholic church and then the author's own journey /claiming of hie Jewish ancestry.
A story filled with many family secrets, the author had no idea of the many, many Jewish relatives he had who loved him and had always wondered about him. I can't imagine the shock, pain and anger he must have felt when he realized an entire half of his family had been hidden from him because of his parent's conversion to the Catholic faith
I did come to a greater understanding of where the war between Catholics and Jews came from. It makes me so sad the divisions that happen between people of faith.
A story filled with many family secrets, the author had no idea of the many, many Jewish relatives he had who loved him and had always wondered about him. I can't imagine the shock, pain and anger he must have felt when he realized an entire half of his family had been hidden from him because of his parent's conversion to the Catholic faith
I did come to a greater understanding of where the war between Catholics and Jews came from. It makes me so sad the divisions that happen between people of faith.
December 24, 2017
This book was picked for my Jewish book club by a member who LOVED it. I knew the author was familiar, but I didn't realize he was one if the authors if Freakenomics, a book I loved. I had great difficulty getting into this book until the middle, when Dubner's search for meaning began. As a Jew, I was very uncomfortable with his parents conversion to Catholiscism and the sad story of their growing up. I also was a little jealous of Dubner's successful search for his relatives and his returning to Poland to investigate the family's roots. I wish I had done a better job of learning about my parents while people were still alive to ask. I particularly identified with his readings of the Talmud and Maimonides.
December 13, 2012
Very interesting story. I greatly enjoyed reading about the author's journey. His experience gave him a very unique perspective, and I found myself intensely flipping through the pages in order to hear what he had to say. I felt that he was very honest with this book. He spoke his mind and shared with us the intimate parts of his life, while at the same time remaining sensitive to anyone's personal feelings and beliefs. I disagreed with his overall point...but I gained a lot from this book. His writing style was easy to follow, and by the end of the book I felt as though I had just finished a conversation with someone rather than a book...which is a good thing in my opinion.
March 3, 2019
Both intensely personal and yet full of a broader societal narrative, Turbulent Souls is a family history and story of 20th century America. The journey Stephen Dubner’s parents went through is prelude to his own journey of discovering their past and his own, which he reclaimed as part of his own blossoming as an adult in full charge of his own belief system. Worth a read for the story alone, it resonated with me because I have had a similar personal spiritual journey finding my belief system and way though the world, connecting with religion both for what it means to me personally but also what it means to the world historically and in contemporary.
March 8, 2009
Stephen Dubner was raised by strict Catholic parents. He knew they had converted from Judaism, but only as an adult did he begin to explore what that meant.
In this memoir, Dubner chronicles his childhood, his longing to understand the father who died when he was ten, the painful unraveling of his parents' past and his own eventual conversion story.
Dubner's family has an unusual religious history, but the tensions that exist between parents and children are universal. The writing is good, if a bit bogged down by being so very personal.
In this memoir, Dubner chronicles his childhood, his longing to understand the father who died when he was ten, the painful unraveling of his parents' past and his own eventual conversion story.
Dubner's family has an unusual religious history, but the tensions that exist between parents and children are universal. The writing is good, if a bit bogged down by being so very personal.
May 10, 2016
Enjoyed reading this book which had been on my reading list for awhile. Was hoping to learn a bit more about Catholicism and did learn just a bit. Interesting to read about the conversion from Judaism to Catholicism and then the return to Judaism of the Catholic son. Liked the way it was real-life messy - both the family history and the author's religious journey. Not my typical genre but easy to read if the topic appeals to you. Has some nice religious messages. The biggest one for me - whatever you are, be the best that you can be (perfection not required!)
December 8, 2018
I really, really loved this book. The author does a brilliant job of telling his family's story with both clarity and acknowledgement that when discussing a family no one thing is true. As a Jew by choice, both the intensity of his parents' conversions to Catholicism and his own more measured return to Judaism spoke deeply to me. Most of all, the author's voice was so easy to read that I got through this entire book in a single day. It was a great reading experience and I'm really glad I had it.
May 7, 2011
Fascinating story. The author is very reflective, self-aware, and sensitive. I am amazed at how sympathetically he is able to describe his mother's childhood and early adulthood, since at the end of the book we realize that his experience of her is quite different than the young woman he portrays. Religious conversion is an interesting topic, and he is able to explain both his mother's pull towards Catholicism and his pull towards Judaism well.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 104 reviews