MY FATHER’S PARADISE

Book ID/图书代码： 14560008B20849

English Summary/英文概要： In a remote and dusty corner of the world, forgotten for nearly three thousand years, lived an ancient community of Kurdish Jews so isolated that they still spoke Aramaic—the language of Jesus. Mostly illiterate, they were self-made mystics and gifted storytellers, humble peddlers and rugged loggers who dwelt in harmony with their Muslim and Christian neighbors in the mountains of northern Iraq. To these descendants of the Lost Tribes of Israel, Yona Sabar was born.

In the 1950s, after the founding of the state of Yona and his family emigrated there with the mass exodus of 120,000 Jews from Iraq—one of the world’s largest and least-known diasporas. Almost overnight, the Jews’ exotic culture and language were doomed to extinction. Yona, who became an esteemed professor at UCLA, dedicated his career to preserving his people’s traditions. But to his first-generation American son Ariel, Yona was a reminder of a strange immigrant heritage on which he had turned his back—until he had a son of his own.

My Father’s Paradise is Ariel Sabar’s quest to reconcile present and past. As father and son travel together to today’s postwar Iraq to find what’s left of Yona’s birthplace, Ariel brings to life the ancient town of Zakho, telling his family’s story and discovering his own role in this sweeping saga. What he finds in the Sephardic Jews’ millennia-long survival in Islamic lands is an improbable story of tolerance and hope.

Populated by chieftains, trailblazing linguists, Arab nomads, devout believers—marvelous characters all— this intimate yet powerful book uncovers the vanished history of a place that is now at the very center of the world’s attention.

Reading this book calls to mind The Kite Runner, for its tales of Yona Sabar’s Kurdish childhood and his flight from his homeland; Reading Lolita in Tehran and Three Cups of Tea, for its depiction of the saving grace of education and the life-changing power of language; and The Bookseller of Kabul, for the window it opens into the intimate life of a Middle Eastern family.

Chinese Summary/中文概要： 在地球上一个被尘埃掩埋的遥远角落里，居住着库德犹太人的一个古老部落，他们被世人遗忘了将近三千年，他们过着如此闭塞的生活以至他们还说着阿拉米语——耶稣的语言。他们大多是文盲，自我造就的神秘主义者，天生的说故事者，卑微的小贩。他们居于伊拉克北部的山区，与相邻的穆斯林和基督教徒和谐共处。在这些被遗忘的以色列部落后裔中，Yona Sabar出生了。
二十世纪50年代，随着的Yona的建立，他们一家跟随120，000犹太人背井离乡，离开伊拉克，移居到那儿——世界上最大的，最鲜为人知的犹太人离散地之一。几乎是一夜之间，犹太人的异域文化和语言注定要湮灭。Yona成为加利福尼亚大学洛杉矶分校受人景仰的教授后，致力于保存本民族的传统。但是对于生于美国的儿子来说，Yona只是会让他想起难以理解的移民文化遗产，儿子拒绝接受这些遗产——直到儿子又有了自己的儿子。
《父亲的天堂》是Ariel Sabar试图将现在和过去完美协调而作的探索。他以父亲和儿子的身份，重游战后的伊拉克，寻找他父亲出生地的残存。Ariel讲述了他的家族故事，定位了自己在这个波涛澎湃的英雄故事中的角色，将扎科古镇真实地重现在读者面前。西班牙系的犹太人在伊斯兰教的土地上生活了几千年，在这片土壤上，他看到的是宽容和希望的故事，尽管让人难以置信。
这片神奇的土地上住着酋长，具有开拓性的语言学家，阿拉伯游牧民族，虔诚的信徒--所有了不起的人物都聚集在这儿了。本书铿锵有力，字字珠玑，揭秘一段逝去的历史，而这个地方正是世界瞩目的焦点。(ZYT)

Awards/获奖情况："With the novelistic skill of a Levantine storyteller...the author spins a colorful tale inhabited by wonderful characters in billowing trousers and turbans. A well-researched text falling somewhere between journalism and memoir, sustained by Mesopotamian imagination."---Kirkus
"Readers can only be grateful to him for unearthing the history of a family, a people and a very different image of Iraq. Sabar offers something rare and recious - a tale of home and continuity that can be passed on for generations."---Publishers Weekly, starred review
“有着小说家的技巧...作者娓娓道来一个色彩缤纷的故事，其中的主角们身着带着褶皱的裤子，头缠头巾。这是一部研究深刻的作品，在新闻和传记之间找到了一个完美的落脚点，又得到了美索不达米亚想象的支撑。”——Kirkus
“读者应该感谢他，因为他挖掘出了一个家族的历史，一个民族的历史，呈现了一个与众不同的伊拉克形象。他赐予我们的是十分罕见而珍贵的东西--关于家族和传承性的故事，这个故事足以世代流传下去。”——《出版者周刊》，明星评论

入圍美國國家書評獎決選A 2008 National Book Critics Circle Award Finalist

"Remarkable ... A moving story ... Thrilling"---Washington Post

"Graceful and resonant"---New York Times

A "Best Nonfiction Book of 2008"---Christian Science Monitor

A San Francisco Chronicle Best Seller, Elle Readers’---Prize Selection & Philadelphia Inquirer Staff Pick

版權已售：Hebrew/Schocken Publishing

About the Author/作者介绍： Ariel Sabar covered the 2008 U.S. presidential campaigns for the Christian Science Monitor and is a former staff writer for the Baltimore Sun and the Providence (RI) Journal. His work has also appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Monthly, Mother Jones magazine, and other publications. He lives with his wife and two children in Washington, DC.

Format:照片

Rights Status/版权销售情况：Simplified Chinese/简体中文：AVAILABLE(到期可授)

Complex/Traditional Chinese/繁体中文：AVAILABLE(到期可授)

Sales in other countries/其他国家销售情况：

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