i really enjoyed reading this book, it was an amazing journey to go on and I thought this was a great memoir.

This memoir focuses on the author's experience of traveling back to Mexico City for her father's shiva, a week-long Jewish ritual of mourning. She is faced with relatives and friends from long ago, as well as a couple of psychics that prompt her to delve into her memories and find forgiveness for her father so that he can move on to the next spiritual realm. Konigsberg really shows the emotional ups and downs of her grief, where one second she's fuming as she remembers something and the next second she's preoccupied with food. She comes across as both deeply believing and highly skeptical of the spirituality and mysticism surrounding her. Much of the book seems to zoom between these polarities, and I assume this accurately reflects her emotions during that time.
The reason why I didn't rate this book higher was because there was a lot of the book that took up many pages without really telling me much. I was expecting to learn more about the experience of growing up Jewish in Mexico City, but came away a bit disappointed in that aspect. As someone who is proficient in Spanish, I also found it distracting that there would be a few sentences in Spanish that would then be repeated back in English. It came across awkward and redundant, but for non-Spanish speakers I suppose it was helpful. I still think there is a smoother way of incorporating Spanish, but that's just a matter of preference, I suppose.

I always struggle with rating memoirs.

Though like Mathilde, I am Jewish, I am only Ashkenazi and I was raised in a mostly Reform family. While I know some Sephardic people, I don't know many of the Sephardic customs, other than on Passover (they got the better deal). We share the custom and shiva, and as Mathilde spoke about her memories, I would often have to step away from the book because I would have memories of my own mother's shiva. When Mathilde talks about the argument she had with a rabbi, I remembered with my heart in my throat, my uncle telling me to leave my living room so the men and the women could pray separately. I wasn't strong enough then to speak up as Mathilde was.
I had not known of the custom of sprinkling Jerusalem sand on eyelids, so I can only assume it is a Sephardic tradition, a Mexican Jewish tradition, or perhaps even something Kabbalistic? I am only familiar with one part of Mathilde's culture and even then, there is so much more.

I found the storyline itself to be rather jumbled. While memory often isn't linear, it did not pay off as much as I would have liked. Early on, it is shared her father was physically abusive to his wife and might have sent her into a coma. This is never touched on again, nor is his mistress and illegitimate son. Mathilde in one chapter implies some sort of psychic connections, and then brings new ones up again, surprised each time. While the mistress and son might be because they served no purpose in the shiva itself, it felt disquieting that few of these threads linked together.
Though the translation of the Spanish was helpful, it felt somewhat patronizing. A statement or question would be made in Spanish, and Mathilde would rephrase it in English as she responded. While helpful for a quick read, it felt stilted. We readers have translation services if we do not understand other languages, or footnotes might have helped.

As this is a memoir, I will not offer my opinions on the people we meet. However, I would not have forgotten the father figure. Thank you to NetGalley for this arc in exchange for a fair and honest review.

The title of this book intrigued me. I know a little about the Jewish faith but wasn't sure how it related to Mexico, which is a predominantly Catholic country.

Matilde's narrative primarily centres around the 7-day Jewish ritual called the shiva, where family and friends visit the home of a departed person, usually a close family member, to pay their respects.

Subjects as diverse as grief, family dynamics, friendship, honesty, superstition, food, the existence of ghosts, and spiritism are referred to throughout.

Matilde's happiest memories of her father were as a little girl but he became more distant as she grew older. She is told by two psychics who claim to be able to see and talk to her dead father that he cannot move on until she grants him her forgiveness.

This is difficult for Matilde, who is full of doubts and insecurities. She desperately wants to forgive her father but not knowing what exactly she is being asked to forgive leaves her feeling agitated and ill at ease. The book narrates her journey towards achieving a degree of closure with this process.

Whatever your view on the various subjects raised in the book, it reveals a very engaging picture of Mexican family life. I enjoyed reading about the family traditions, the closeness of Matilde to her mother, and the way she was able finally to make some sense of her feelings.

The author is very helpful in providing English translations for the parts of the narrative that are in Spanish.

I was sent an advance review copy of this book by the IBPA (Independent Book Publishers Association), in return for an honest appraisal.

Toward the beginning of this book, the author asks readers to keep an open mind whilst reading. You will have to if you are going to enjoy this. This is a highly personal story, and yet it finds a way to reach out and touch the reader. Anyone who has experienced the loss of a loved one will be able to relate to some of what the author says, regardless of the mystical and paranormal events recounted here.

I tend to read more general histories than memoirs as I often find memoirs to be boring, but this one was different. From an anthropological perspective, this book gives you a lot of information about cultural belief systems and how they may change the perspective of people living through traumatic events. I felt the author did her best to tell the truth of how she experienced these events without trying to sensationalise them.

Not everyone who picks up this book will believe that these things actually happened, but I have seen enough strange things happen, especially during times of emotional upheaval, that I, personally, cannot discount them.

Overall, I found this a very enjoyable book by an author with a lot of raw talent.

This review is based on a complimentary copy provided by the publisher through Netgalley. All opinions are my own.

I was attracted to Matilde's book by the title and the fact it was about her life in Mexico City. I was lucky enough to spend a year living in Mexico City in my twenties and enjoyed reading about places I had been to, translating the spanish (an English translation is always given) and remembering the amazing Mexican food. I was also attracted to the spiritual aspect of the book and found this written in a very refreshing, poignant and honest way. I'm not Jewish nor Hispanic but I still really enjoyed Matilde's description of her experiences after her father's death. I wasn't aware there was such a large Jewish stronghold in el DF and would loved a little more information on how her family had arrived in Mexico City. Good to read something different and original.

This Arc was given to me by netgalley so I would like to thank them and in exchange give an honest review.

The seven jewish samurai of Guadalajara is a great very visually descriptive book. I can picture everything going on that is being written about. This book goes through the circle of life from from a spiritually religious point of view. It is interesting because it is Sephardic jewish which practices are more shrouded in mystery. The main character is at her fathers funeral in Mexico and goes from past to present and looks back upon them with not the best of views or experiences.

She has to go through sitting shiva ( a process of jewish mourning ) and many other things that are deeply explained. A jewish Psyhic is involved and keeps trying to get ahold of her and her family at the funeral apparently he wants forgiveness. She also doesn't believe in psychics the kind that are mentioned ( the kind that spiritually communicate with the dead ) I guess you would say act as conduits ?

I Highly recommend reading it comes from a interesting perspective that is not always written about.

This Arc was given to me by netgalley so I would like to thank them and in exchange give an honest review.