Lucette Lagnado's father; Leon; is a successful Egyptian businessman and boulevardier who; dressed in his signature white sharkskin suit; makes deals and trades at Shepherd's Hotel and at the dark bar of the Nile Hilton. After the fall of King Farouk and the rise of the Nasser dictatorship; Leon loses everything and his family is forced to flee; abandoning a life once marked by beauty and luxury to plunge into hardship and poverty; as they take flight for any country that would have them.A vivid; heartbreaking; and powerful inversion of the American dream; Lucette Lagnado's unforgettable memoir is a sweeping story of family; faith; tradition; tragedy; and triumph set against the stunning backdrop of Cairo; Paris; and New York.Winner of the Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature and hailed by the New York Times Book Review as a "brilliant; crushing book" and the New Yorker as a memoir of ruin "told without melodrama by its youngest survivor;" The Man in the White Sharkskin Suit recounts the exile of the author's Jewish Egyptian family from Cairo in 1963 and her father's heroic and tragic struggle to survive his "riches to rags" trajectory.
#99818 in Books Lucette Lagnado 2008-07-01 2008-07-01Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 8.00 x .83 x 5.31l; .60 #File Name: 006082218X368 pagesThe Man in the White Sharkskin Suit A Jewish Family s Exodus from Old Cairo to the New World P S
Review
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful. Recommended for those curious about a bygone era; and the life and culture in a very different landBy Kindle CustomerExcellent description of middle class class life in Cairo; Egypt; prior to; and after the revolution which ousted the King and replaced him with a Military Junta; that eventually turned on the middle class and especially the Jews. This is the story of a Jewish family; and especially the rather flamboyant father; who; while fervently religious; identifies as an Egyptian (speaking perfect Arabic); and has all the trappings of Egyptian middle class culture. Then the revolution occurs (1952). Not much changes until the Suez war with Israel (and England and France; 1956). The Jews of Egypt are forced to emigrate in droves (though never physically threatened). The book follows the family's heart wrenching departure; then their tribulations as they seek asylum in the US. Finally as they settle in New York; the book vividly describes the culture shock experienced by the older generation and the far easier adaptation of the teenagers. The author; who is the youngest child of this family; writes with sensitivity and an easy to read style.2 of 2 people found the following review helpful. Stalled out midway throughBy CabushkaI found this book to be informative as I learned about a culture; the Levantine Jews; which I knew nothing about. It is biographical; following the lives of the Lagnado family from the 1950's to present as they regressed from a privileged life in Egypt to poverty as immigrants in America. The writing style got a bit stale midway through the book. The author's father was the primary focus and was idolized. The book would have been more interesting had the author focused on other family members as well.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. The story of ImmigrantsBy Marianne PichImportant. Interesting. Well told. First we learn that the "man in the White Sharkskin suit" takes his Aleppo Syrian Jewish tradition tocosmopolitan Cairo which he adopted as his dream town. Life there with his family is good. His ways of life are tolerated. Secondly welearnt how hard it was to get to the United States; when after world War ll Jews were undesirable in Egypt. It was an almost year long; arduous and degrading process till he and his family received the immigration permits in Paris. Then: the Welcome in the NEW World was limited and short lived. Like the majority of immigrants with no help from already adapted families; the gentleman from Cairo sought refuge in a Jewish neighborhood where he could find the food he was used to; even the ground floor apartment and the temple needed according to his Aleppo Jewish version.Like many; he and his wife remained immigrants while his sons and worse his oldest daughter moved out. Lesson: only the second generations merge;and like the youngest daughter; who told us this fascinating story of many; but; in this case ;highly individual story; succeed.She became an American. But going back to Cairo; where she wanted to revisit the dream city of her beloved father; she did not find it. It had changed.
