Status
Available
Call number
Collection
Publication
New York : Ecco, c2007.
Description
Lagnado re-creates the cosmopolitan glamour of Cairo in the years between World War II and Nasser's rise to power. Her father, Leon, was a boulevardier who conducted business in his signature white sharkskin suit on the elegant terrace of Shepheard's Hotel, and later, in the cozy, dark bar of the Nile Hilton. But with the fall of King Farouk, Leon and his family lose everything. As streets are renamed, neighborhoods of their fellow Jews disbanded, and the city purged of foreign influence, the Lagnados, too, must make their escape. With all of their belongings packed into 26 suitcases, their jewels and gold coins hidden in sealed tins of marmalade, Leon and his family depart for any land that will take them. The poverty and hardships they encounter in their flight from Cairo to Paris to New York are strikingly juxtaposed against the beauty and comforts of the lives they left behind.--From publisher description.… (more)
Media reviews
User reviews
LibraryThing member LaBibliophille
The Man in the White Sharkskin Suit is an extraordinarily moving and well-written memoir that speaks to the immigrant experience that built America. The focus is on author Lucette Lagnando’s family, particularly her father, Leon. Leon was a prosperous Cairo businessman. A lover of Cairo’s
Devout Jews, the Lagnado family lived in harmony with their Moslem and Christian neighbors in a spacious apartment on a bustling Cairo boulevard, Malaka Nazli. The Lagnado family has servants. The children attend the finest schools, and wear the finest clothes, and are often treated to excursions to Cairo’s most renowned cafes and pastry shops. The family vacations each year by the sea, and visits with their extended family are routine.
This magical life ends when Nasser comes to power, and the Jews of Egypt are forced to leave with only whatever clothing they can take-no money, no jewelry, nothing that would help them begin a new life. The family spends a year living in Paris, then comes to New York, all with the assistance of international refugee aid organizations. Eventually, the Lagnado family ended up in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, amidst a small community of Egyptian Jews.
Over the years, the different family members react to their new circumstances in different ways. As Leon and Edith age and become more infirm, their children become more distant, and more American. Leon and Edith never really become American.
The Man in the White Sharkskin Suit is a love letter to a time gone by, and also a sad and realistic depiction of how immigrants become American. As all traces of their old life disappear, some become stronger, and other are destroyed.
I highly recommend this fine memoir, and look forward to reading more of Lucetter Lagnado’s work.
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nightlife, Leon did not consider marriage until spying 20 year old Edith at an outdoor cafe in 1943.Within a few weeks, they become engaged, and wed shortly after.Devout Jews, the Lagnado family lived in harmony with their Moslem and Christian neighbors in a spacious apartment on a bustling Cairo boulevard, Malaka Nazli. The Lagnado family has servants. The children attend the finest schools, and wear the finest clothes, and are often treated to excursions to Cairo’s most renowned cafes and pastry shops. The family vacations each year by the sea, and visits with their extended family are routine.
This magical life ends when Nasser comes to power, and the Jews of Egypt are forced to leave with only whatever clothing they can take-no money, no jewelry, nothing that would help them begin a new life. The family spends a year living in Paris, then comes to New York, all with the assistance of international refugee aid organizations. Eventually, the Lagnado family ended up in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, amidst a small community of Egyptian Jews.
Over the years, the different family members react to their new circumstances in different ways. As Leon and Edith age and become more infirm, their children become more distant, and more American. Leon and Edith never really become American.
The Man in the White Sharkskin Suit is a love letter to a time gone by, and also a sad and realistic depiction of how immigrants become American. As all traces of their old life disappear, some become stronger, and other are destroyed.
I highly recommend this fine memoir, and look forward to reading more of Lucetter Lagnado’s work.
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LibraryThing member flashflood42
A fascinating portrait of what it was like to live in Cairo in the 1950's pre-Nasser and during Nasser's time if one was a well-to-do Syrian Jewish family. The book is a memoir by the author (a Wall St. Journal investigative reporter) of her father, an elegant though somewhat dissipated business
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man in Cairo whose source of income is not ever clear and who was, though always out at night dancing and having affairs, a pious man at heart. The young daughter adores her father who adores her and keeps him on a pedestal even though his patriarchal attitudes powerfully influence the family, leading to submission on his wife's part and rebellion from his oldest daughter. The focus of the story is on how this elegant man was broken by despair and an inability to accommodate when he was forced to emigrate first to Paris and then to America. Had he not fallen before he left and hurt himself so that walking was agony, had he been allowed to take more than 200 pounds for his entire family (not the art, jewels, and monies he had accrued), had people resettling refugees been more empathic, perhaps the family history would have turned out better. My two criticisms: there should have been more of the politics of the time reflected in the book (though I do know it was told through the eyes of a child who would not have understood) and in the American section, I was surprised that the author gave so little credit to her mother and seemed to continue to idolize her father, all this when she was mature enough to be more perceptive. Show Less
LibraryThing member PuddinTame
I refer the readers to the reviews written by LaBibliophille and especially by FlashFlood42. I could not do a better job of expressing how generally excellent and even gripping the story was. I have two addiitonal comments. One, the almost virtual absence of her siblings' lives leaves an odd, even
I understand that a journalist decided to find out when "the Good Old Days" were. He found that they were when his interviewee was about six years old, which was about Lagnado's age when they left Cairo. And of course, those were the glory days of darling, darling Daddy. I really feel for him, trying to start over in a new country when he was old and in ill-health, but although she tells us that they were forced out of Egypt, Lagnado seems to blame the USA and the Jewish agencies more than the Egyptians. Lagnado becomes quite maudlin when she returns to her old street. The friendliness of the present residents seems to cancel out the hostility that forced her family out. I cannot say, however, that when she was talking about their actual life there, I was struck by the humaneness and generosity of it all, particularly her father's relationship with most of the family that she claims were paramount to him.
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suspicious hole. My main comment, however, is that I ended up disliking the author. She is, after all, writing as an adult, although much of the book is looking at her childhood. Presumably she has had the opportunity to reflect on what happened. She supplies the facts, but doesn't seem to have much insight about them. I do not wish to minimize the trauma of their forced exile, but she is wretchedly ungrateful to the Jewish refugee agencies that helped the Lagnados. Her family may have repaid the cost of their travel to the USA, but the agencies spent far more money on them. It was really an astonishing achievement, given the number of Jews and all the things that were going on, that there was anyone to reach out to her family. They may have lived in a cheap hotel, but at least it wasn't a tent in a camp surrounded by barbed wire. I rather got the feeling that if her family had been installed in a luxury hotel, given a generous allowance so that they could really enjoy Paris, shipped to the USA first class, given a luxury condo and enfolded to the breast of elite New York society, Lagnado would have thought that it was only her family's due. The fact that her family could not afford the glamor of Paris gave her no empathy for the average Cairene, who couldn't afford the glamor that her family enjoyed.I understand that a journalist decided to find out when "the Good Old Days" were. He found that they were when his interviewee was about six years old, which was about Lagnado's age when they left Cairo. And of course, those were the glory days of darling, darling Daddy. I really feel for him, trying to start over in a new country when he was old and in ill-health, but although she tells us that they were forced out of Egypt, Lagnado seems to blame the USA and the Jewish agencies more than the Egyptians. Lagnado becomes quite maudlin when she returns to her old street. The friendliness of the present residents seems to cancel out the hostility that forced her family out. I cannot say, however, that when she was talking about their actual life there, I was struck by the humaneness and generosity of it all, particularly her father's relationship with most of the family that she claims were paramount to him.
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LibraryThing member jwhenderson
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.
The story begins with the marriage of her parents, Leon and Edith, in wartime Cairo. As the family establishes itself after the war, the position of the Jewish community gradually deteriorates until, in the early sixties, they flee to Paris en route to their eventual destination. The strength of both parents and the details of the family's difficult journey is a story that this reader found intensely moving. The thought of being "stateless", as they were once they left Egypt, is hard to imagine. That they overcame this and survived is a tribute to their courage. This is a memoir that I will not soon forget.
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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 marriage of her parents, Leon and Edith, in wartime Cairo. As the family establishes itself after the war, the position of the Jewish community gradually deteriorates until, in the early sixties, they flee to Paris en route to their eventual destination. The strength of both parents and the details of the family's difficult journey is a story that this reader found intensely moving. The thought of being "stateless", as they were once they left Egypt, is hard to imagine. That they overcame this and survived is a tribute to their courage. This is a memoir that I will not soon forget.
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LibraryThing member RichardWalter
The ending is certainly emotional. A lot of the book discusses minutae of family life. Interesting growing up in America with similarities to other baby boomers.
LibraryThing member suesbooks
Well-written memoir of family's life in Egypt, and their treatment by resettlement agencies in the US when forced to leave their homeland
LibraryThing member nlezak
Beautifully written, poignant story narrated by the youngest surviving daughter of a once affluent Egyptian family who flees Cairo under Nasser's rule in 1963. The family lost everything which ultimately becomes the ruination of the author's once dashing, cavalier father, Leon. Eventually, the
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family relocates to America. The author is now a reporter at the Wall Street Journal. Very memorable story. Show Less
LibraryThing member karenlisa
The Man In The White Sharkskin Suit By Lucette Lagnado
Loulou, as she is affectionately known, shares her life from birth in Cairo, the families sad departure and ultimate statelessness that affects them all for many years to come. Life in Egypt, "the Levant", is a magical world of old fashioned
Loulou, as she is affectionately known, shares her life from birth in Cairo, the families sad departure and ultimate statelessness that affects them all for many years to come. Life in Egypt, "the Levant", is a magical world of old fashioned
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ways, family ties and deep Jewish values. As times, war and political leaders change and drive the jews in this area to leave immediately. With no more than a few hundred dollars for their family of six, they begin their journey to Paris where they must choose between emigrating to Israel or America. Viet Nam is looming, President Kennedy has been shot and Leon, the patriarch of the family is miserable with their negligible status, lack of means and saddest of all, lack of any hope for a happy future. The author is descriptive and thorough in her life's account, her relationship with both her parents, brothers, sister and with her own identity. She generously retells the plight of her family, the story of many jewish families who have been forced to relocate and start over in a country that never feels like home. Its the story of any immigrant family, of any religion, of any race. A captivating and educational read. Show Less
LibraryThing member caroren
Lagnado's captivating account of her family's life in cosmopolitan Cairo and painful relocation to America centers on her beloved father. Dashing man-about-town Leon Lagnado, who kept to his carousing ways even after marrying a beautiful women 22 years his junior, was enraptured at the age of 55 by
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the author, his fourth child; affectionately called Loulou, she became her father's companion, even at temple services and the Nile Hilton bar. But the Suez war in 1956 and the Nasser regime's cultural holocaust began forcing Jews from their native Egypt. Leon's injury in a fall and Loulou's mysterious illness (first diagnosed as cat scratch fever, eventually found to be something far worse) delayed the Lagnados' departure until 1963, when they arrived in New York with $212, the maximum they were allowed to take out of Egypt; and Leon, once a prosperous, independent businessman and investor, was reduced to selling ties on the street. In Lagnado's accomplished hands, this personal account illuminates its places and times, providing indelible individual portraits and illustrating the difficulty of assimilation. An exceptional memoir. Leber, Michele Show Less
LibraryThing member maureen61
A poignant memoir of a Jewish family in Egypt severely impacted by the exodus demanded when Nassar came to power. Well narrated with great love and fine detail.
LibraryThing member suesbooks
I read this book a second time for a different book group. I liked the journalistic writing, and appreciated learning what Lognado's immigrant family experienced.
LibraryThing member diananagy
I quit reading this book because I just wasn't very interested in it. I am a learner and this book wasn't really teaching me anything so I quit reading it after page 118. But I could have read it and would recommend it to anyone who wants to read this storyline. It is well written. Just not for me.
LibraryThing member Eye_Gee
A moving memoir written by a woman, born in the mid -1950's to a prosperous, Jewish family in Cairo. Forced to leave Egypt in the early 1960's, they moved to Paris and then New York. Though much diminished financially, they managed to re-connect culturally with other immigrants from the Levant. I
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knew little of the middle eastern Jewish communities, or their customs, or that they existed for many hundreds of years. The establishment of the State of Israel and consequent tensions ultimately resulted in most residents leaving the area. This story lovingly brings to life a time and place as told through through the eyes of a young girl, and by extension those of her father with whom she was extremely close. Her teen years were spent in New York where she bridged the old and new cultures. Ultimately she became a writer for the Wall Street Journal where she wrote a feature about her family for a Father's Day issue. Response was so strong that a publisher encouraged her to write this book. Show Less
LibraryThing member KamGeb
A memoir about a Jewish family that live in Cairo in the time of WWII and emigrated to France then the US after. I really enjoyed the beginning of the book when she tells about their life in Cairo. It was fascinating history that I didn't know much about. Once they move to France and then US it
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becomes less interesting. It is definitely the historical setting that makes the story so intriguing. Show Less
LibraryThing member steve02476
Interesting, sad, but a little too long and detailed for my taste.
LibraryThing member bostonbibliophile
I'm not sure why I'm not giving this five stars but it's a pretty terrific read, an interesting story about a Jewish family from Egypt, their life there and their life as immigrants. I found Lucette to be likeable if not really relatable, and her family's story is another tile in the mosaic of the
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Jewish diaspora. She is a very good writer and kept me turning the pages. Show Less
Subjects
Awards
Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature (Winner — 2008)
Language
Original publication date
2007
Physical description
xii, 340 p.; 24 cm
ISBN
9780060822125