Children of the Roojme: A Family's Journey

Ms. Abinader has written a slice of history that teaches all ofus how a family's desperate fights for survival wins out over thehorrific clashes of clutures. Her book made me realize that what I thought I knew about the Middle East was simplistic. The complexities of race, religion, and geography are rooted in each family's struggle. No better family than this could teach us this lesson.

Elmaz Abinader has created a vivid and insightful biography of three generations of a family's struggle to define itself amid the dislocation and challenges of the first half of the 20th century. Her characters are strongly drawn and distinctive, reflecting values so typical of the Lebanon and other communities where family and kinship are both strength and obstacle.Elmaz has a particularly strong feeling for her women. They are sometimes overwhelming and tedious in their ability to bear pain, rationalize hurt, support erring spouses, and recognize flaws in others. The men do not hold up as well. Despite some heroic moments in fleeing from persecution and making new lives in America, in general, the men are not as spiritually hardy or as forebearing as the women. There is a strength and lyricism in these pages that goes beyond another ethnic narrative. Elmaz' grounding as a poet has served in well in unfolding the dramatic and incremental movement of these families towards a conclusion that renews again the wheel of life.Well-done.