A review by dannafs
The Man in the White Sharkskin Suit: A Jewish Family's Exodus from Old Cairo to the New World by Lucette Lagnado

4.0

Lagnado tells the story of her youth with a focus on her father, the man in the white sharkskin suit. The story begins in Cairo, pre-World War II. Her family is a well-to-do and sophisticated, and also Jewish. It is clear that Lagnado worships her father in many ways, and the stories she tells of his livelihood are entertaining. However, during WWII, Jews are inevitably ousted from Egypt. Along with a severe injury incurred by her father, they are off, via Europe, to the US. Lagnado shares about her family's attempts to assimilate, her own battles with her parents, cancer, and coming to peace with her life. By the end, I was wanting the book to be over, but overall, a decent memoir. I enjoyed reading about Cairo both before and during the War, it was definitely an interesting lens of the culture there!