Raindrops don’t disappear when they touch the wall, they explode. A prayer in Yiddish whispered before going to bed doesn’t bring the boy solace, although it promises a mother’s kiss. Language of the converted nun becomes trivial and harsh. The grandfather insists he’s got a phone number tattooed on his arm. Can you ultimately reconstruct the past of your family that’s been marked by Holocaust? What does it mean to be a Jew only sometimes?
In his two concise autobiographies, Eduardo Halfon tells about the journeys he took to find his ancestors spread around the world. In “Monastery” the narrator goes to Israel for the wedding of his sister, now living in an orthodox community. In “Mourning” he comes back to his home country Guatemala to resolve the mystery of his father’s brother’s death, a few-year-old Salomon.
Facing his family’s dark secrets and his own complicated identity, Halfon creates a touching story of accepting one’s own permanent alienation and searching for the truth without the help from any God.
The tome comprises two novels: “Monastery” and “Mourning”.
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