leahjanespeare's review against another edition

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medium-paced

5.0

It was such an honor to hear stories from the life of Stella Levi who is now almost one hundred years old. She has seen and lived through so much this past century! Having grown up in a secular Jewish community, La Judería, on the Island of Rhodes, and speaking a barely-known language, Judaeo-Spanish, her childhood home and culture was one that’s now almost entirely gone from living memory. This biography (partial memoir?) was emotionally moving, unique, and has stayed with me after finishing. It made me think about how we define what home is and our relationship with our memories, and how language has a big part in both of these aspects in our lives. 

Thanks to Libro.fm for the ALC - I especially liked that the audio version had snippets of the author’s interviews with Stella so you get to hear her talk about some memories and songs that have stuck with her over the decades.



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purplepenning's review against another edition

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challenging emotional informative reflective sad fast-paced

5.0

"Knowing is remembering. Reading is remembering. Naming is remembering. There are different ways to remember."

A beautifully illustrated, gently excavated conversation and remembrance. Read, know, and remember Stella Levi and the sparkling pocket of the world she lived in off the coast of Greece, on the island of Rhodes, where a community of Judeo-Spanish-speaking Sephardic Italian Jews had lived and thrived for 500 years. Name with her and remember the painful absurdity of its destruction and her own hellish separation. Watch, know, and remember the trust that gathers between her and interviewer-friend Michael Franks over 6 years and 100 Saturdays of chats as they work through and remember together an extraordinary life that spans nearly 100 years.  
 
     

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