This is a sad but quite interesting story of four generations of a Jewish Sephardic family that once lived in Egypt and then became dispersed around the world from Israel to Africa to America. The story is full of unfulfilled potential and human tragedies that feel very close and real. There are no particular heros, just normal human beings with all their struggles, dreams, and weaknesses.

The story is told in the voice of an Israeli woman who records her reactions to old photographs as stories of the history of her grand parents and great grand parents, uncles, aunts, and cousins. The story is sprinkled with Egyptian Arabic expressions which made me feel very much at home. It reflects the diversity of the Egyptian Jewish community: an uncle who became a Zionist and moved to a Kibbutz, a father who couldn't live in Israel and moved to the US, a grandmother who reminds me very much of my own Egyptian grandmother. It just goes to show that people are the same regardless of their differences.

The book is very well written. I enjoyed it very much. It's not the easiest book to read because there is no particular plot. It's like modern art. Several photographs were missing in the version I read. Perhaps it is intentional ! It sure made me wish that I could see them. I really enjoyed it. I particularly recommend it for those who lived in Egypt or Israel.

Is this really her first novel? Matalon is a fine writer. The photographs are not just a device, they're a metaphor, but not a heavy-handed one. This isn't the easiest novel to read, which is a relief after some other recent fiction, even some good stuff. It feels good to have to work at reading sometimes, and it helps me to understand what the deconstructionists are talking about when they say the reader is part of the process. Sometimes you hear people say that they felt like they knew the characters. I don't feel that way about this Levantine family, and that's not a criticism -- I feel like I got as close to them as they would actually have let me (an Ashkenazi) if I had met them -- which isn't very close. I got an oblique look -- like looking at an old photograph, come to think of it. I look forward to more of Matalon's work.