Throughout Estelle’s story, she grapples with frequent antisemitism in the world around her, balancing the constant pull she feels between her past and her future. Moran constructs Prohibition-era San Francisco through Estelle’s young eyes, revealing the struggles women faced during the time—including restricted abortion access and society’s harsh judgments for single women—while transporting readers through notable historical events that reverberate throughout Estelle’s world. When Estelle meets her future husband, John, the couple quickly realize that her complex relationship with her Jewish heritage matters more to their friends and family than it does to them. “You can be what you want, believe what you want. It makes no difference to me,” John tells his bride-to-be.
Moran stays keenly aware of the vicious antisemitism her mother faced in her daily life, starkly portrayed against the backdrop of America’s Great Depression and the Second World War. The memoir is at its best when tackling the more vulnerable and exposed aspects of Estelle’s life, including her work in an OSS office during the war and her growing terror at Hitler’s murder of the Jewish people. Some minor grammar issues distract from the otherwise evenly balanced narrative, but this is still a moving tribute to a mother who was “a force of nature, an extraordinary being, an abiding presence who lived her life with grace and goodness.”
Takeaway: Stirring memoir of a mother’s complex relationship with her Jewish heritage.
Comparable Titles: Esther Amini’s Concealed, Margaret K. Nelson’s Keeping Family Secrets.
Production grades
Cover: C+
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: A
Editing: B-
Marketing copy: A-
Suddenly Jewish: The Life and Times of My Jewish Mother excels on two counts: as a lively and penetrating story of Joan Moran’s mother – a young girl who hides her Jewish identity at an early age; and as a vital social and historical slice of immigration, assimilation, and tradition. It is also a wonderful historic telling of the ‘20s, ‘30s, and ‘40s in America and the rise of antisemitism and fascism as seen through the eyes of Esther Lanch, Joan’s mother. The story takes place primarily in the Jewish District of San Francisco, the Fillmore, a district of immigrants intermingling but still separated by rapidly growing population of Irish, Japanese, and Chinese. Japanese – all participating in its development and promise.
Esther changes her name to Estelle and grows into a successful woman. She marries an Irish Catholic from the Mission District, fully determined not to be identified as the “other.” The particulars of the lives of Joan’s family over 4 generations (full of surprises, drama, tragedy and comedy) are beautifully rendered. Every American would benefit from reading Joan’s book. And it’s a delight to read!
— david boucher, editor (retired)
