Jubana!
The Awkwardly True and Dazzling Adventures of a Jewish Cubana Goddess
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- € 10,99
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- € 10,99
Beschrijving uitgever
According to Gigi Anders, when you’re a bride-to-be Jubana in America, or a Cuban Jewess in the US of A, you have to know you’re heading straight into the mondo-bizarro jaws of cross cultural hell. As the granddaughter of Boris and Dora, destitute teenagers from Russia and Lithuania who immigrated to Cuba in the early 20s, Gigi experienced what can best be described as life as a quintessential Jewish Cuban Princess, or JCP. Gigi asks a question which has to this day, kept her trying to figure herself out: What if you’re Cuban, the self proclaimed Jews of the Caribbean, AND Jewish? How Jewish can one possibly be? And how American for that matter? So begins the hilarious self-examination of a sex-crazed woman addicted to Parliament cigarettes, Tab cola, lipstick, red toenails, who is both brilliant and sexy, and who refuses to settle for any man who does not fit “the bill”. Whether dealing with what she refers to as her Mami Dearest, or her time at the waspy Sidwell Friends in D.C., to her horrifying experience with being sexually assaulted by an older man her parents tried to set her up on a date with, to her years as a feature writer for the Washington Post, Gigi leads readers on a journey through what it means to be truly unique, and just what lengths people will take in order to be accepted. With the help of professional intervention from two private psychiatrists (along with the famous Dr. Phil himself), Gigi eventually learns to be at peace with her three selves: The Brainy Jewish Girl, The Cha Cha Latina Princess, and last but not least, La Gringa Cubana.
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Castro's regime began in 1959, and Anders's family fled a year later, arriving in Maryland when Anders was a toddler. At this memoir's heart is Anders's relationship with her mother, Mami, whom the author alternately worships and scorns (leading to decades of therapy for Anders as an adult). Mami prepared Anders early for the life she should have: that of pampered wife. Standing over her infant's crib, Mami murmured, " 'Tafet n color champ n.' " Anders writes, "It took about a year of hearing this bizarre mantra over and over before I was old enough to finally understand what... my mother was talking about: the color and fabric of my wedding dress." Mami is a complex woman who does puzzling things, like bringing four-year-old Anders to her job at a mental hospital every day because she doesn't believe in summer camp. But Anders doesn't sufficiently explain Mami's reasonings, and much of what she complains about is average adolescent angst. When Anders does find herself in serious situations, she resorts to humor, keeping the tone so light, readers are kept at a distance. If only this memoir had the frothy richness of the caf con leches Anders so loves.