Thanks for the five out of five

Thanks to Drora Arussy for her top review of Passport Control

D. Arussy5.0 out of 5 starsFinding one's place through personal history

Miriam is the daughter of a Yemenite Israeli and an Ashkenazi Canadian. She very much has the looks of a Yemenite, but is raised in Canada. This dichotomy within her own identity causes her to seek out her father's past. There is family drama on both sides of the ocean while she is kicked out of her Canadian home by her father's girlfriend, and travels to Israel in which she looks more like her Arab roommates, feels the liberalism of Canada against the Israeli fanaticism of another roommate, connects with her Druze roommate, and does not really understand her upper class Ashkenazi roommate. University challenges in Israel are exacerbated by what her father left behind in Israel, including a brother and a sister-in-law who have drama of their own. There is also a touching love interest that helps bring things together. This book really touches upon so many different values, personal identity issues and family - it is well worth the read to travel to Israel in the 90s with Miriam and explore how timely the issues she faces are to the reader at their own level.

Dro­ra Arussy, Ed.D., is an edu­ca­tion­al con­sul­tant who spe­cial­izes in inte­grat­ing Jew­ish and sec­u­lar stud­ies, the arts into edu­ca­tion, and cre­ative teach­ing for excel­lence in Jew­ish edu­ca­tion. She is the moth­er to four school-age chil­dren and has taught from pre-school through adult. Dro­ra is an adjunct pro­fes­sor of Hebrew lan­guage at Drew University.