Description
| Product ID: | 9781805337539 |
| Product Form: | Paperback / softback |
| Country of Manufacture: | GB |
| Title: | My Thirty-Minute Bar Mitzvah |
| Subtitle: | A Memoir |
| Authors: | Author: Denis Hirson |
| Page Count: | 192 |
| Subjects: | Memoirs, Memoirs, Social discrimination and social justice, Ethnic groups and multicultural studies, Social groups: religious groups and communities, Social discrimination & inequality, Ethnic minorities & multicultural studies, Jewish studies, Republic of South Africa |
| Description: | Select Guide Rating A moving, witty memoir about a Jewish childhood in apartheid-era South Africa'Hilarious and heart-breaking' William KentridgeWhat kind of bar mitzvah lasts only thirty minutes? As South African author Denis Hirson gradually reveals the details of his highly unusual ceremony, he explores the familial and political themes that thread their way through his story. Recreating 1960s apartheid-era Johannesburg through his adolescent eyes, he writes of the silences that surrounded his Jewish heritage, and of the day that one of the family's secrets finally exploded. With the surprising help of his eleven-year-old daughter, Hirson is able to finally confront the troubles of his past with wisdom, humour and subtle lyricism. A “beautifully written, funny and deeply moving” memoir about a son’s reckoning with his father’s political idealism, set against the menacing backdrop of apartheid-era South Africa (Finuala Dowling, author of The Man Who Loved Crocodile Tamers) A bestselling South African writer known for tackling history and memory finally makes his American debut Witty and deeply poignant, My Thirty-Minute Bar Mitzvah is a breathtaking account of one man being confronted by his past and, ultimately, how his daughter proved to be the key in understanding his own father. Recreating 1960s Johannesburg through his adolescent eyes, bestselling South African author Denis Hirson gradually reveals the details of his extraordinary 13th birthday as he explores the familial and political divisions in Apartheid South Africa that weighed on him and his developing consciousness of his Jewish heritage. My Thirty-Minute Bar Mitzvah is a gem of a book about becoming a man. It’s also a valuable account of a forgotten time of white, Jewish activists, their families, their community, and most importantly, their children, who had to stumble through life in the aftermath of their commitment to racial justice. |
| Imprint Name: | ONE |
| Publisher Name: | Pushkin Press |
| Country of Publication: | GB |
| Publishing Date: | 2024-06-06 |