Mazel Tov

Absolutely loved reading this story and getting to know each of the characters. It's a wonderful memoir of friendships and a bond that transcends religious and cultural differences and is in fact all the stronger for it.

This is a very interesting and respectful insight into Modern Orthodox Jewish families. It is a good antidote to the modern world at the moment. Funny, easy-going, inclusive and without division or pain.

Mazel Tov is an engaging and warm memoir of the author's transformative friendship with a Jewish family. Originally published in Dutch in 2017, this English language translation is due out 23rd Feb 2021 from Pushkin Press. It's 320 pages and will be available in paperback and ebook formats.

This is precisely as described: a warm friendly real memoir of the power of friendship. It emphasizes how our differences, from culture and religion to food and simple gestures when looked at objectively and honestly can form bridges to friendship and understanding. I liked author's voice and her frankness and openness about her initial interactions with the Schneider family and her own conversations with her partner, Nima.

This will have a broad appeal for readers of biography and memoir and would also make a good selection for public or school library acquisition. It could conceivably be added to reading lists for sociology, culture studies, and allied subjects.

Four stars. An engaging and well written book.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

Even though the interview went rather poorly, the Schneider family employs the narrator as a tutor for their four children. The two boys cope with school quite well, but the oldest daughter Elzira struggles and needs support. The children do not go to an ordinary school, just like the family is not the ordinary Antwerp family. They are Orthodox Jews and with her tutoring job, the doors to a completely new world open for the young student. Gradually, she does not actually become a member of the family but they grow totally fond of her and even when the kids have grown up, they not only stay in contact but support each when they are in need.

The Flemish journalist and novelist Margot Vanderstraeten narrates her encounter with the Jewish community at the beginning of the 1990s when she was a student. She is quite young, only a couple of years the children’s senior when she first enters their life and thus can only wonder about what she sees and learns about the family’s faith, the different types of Judaism and a life in her hometown of which she did not have the least idea.

She is confronted with a lot of contradictions and unbelievable concepts, however, she also learns that they can provide anchors in life and give orientation in the modern world. Over the years, she also understands why some Jews prefer to keep to themselves and why all of them always have a passport at hand. At times funny, at times pensive – the novel gives insight in an unknown world without judging any way of life or religion. It is a wonderful memoir which first of all shows how people can bond even though, at first, they could hardly differ more. By showing Jews not only in Belgium but also in Israel and the USA, she also underlines that all of them find their very own way of interpreting their religion and of uniting an old faith based on ancient rules with the modern world.

This book was about more than I thought it would be. In addition to insight about tutoring for an orthodox jewish family, there is sharing about Dutch culture and a look at the lifestyle of a refugee.

It was a multicultural learning experience and I enjoyed it.

A wonderful look at friendship that transcends religion. A friendship betweena Jewish modern orthodox family and the author who is not.It’s warm funny interesting,#netgalley#mazeltov#pushkinpress

This is an autobiography
It is well written and very interesting. The descriptions in the book are done so well