My ThirtyMinute Bar Mitzvah, Denis Hirson
My ThirtyMinute Bar Mitzvah, Denis Hirson
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My Thirty-Minute Bar Mitzvah
A Memoir

Author: Denis Hirson

Narrator: Denis Hirson

Unabridged: 4 hr 10 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 04/09/2024

Synopsis

A bestselling South African writer known for tackling history and memory finally makes his American debut

Witty and deeply poignant, My Thirty-Minute Bar Mitzvah is a breathtaking account of one man being confronted by his past and, ultimately, how his daughter proved to be the key in understanding his own father.

Recreating 1960s Johannesburg through his adolescent eyes, bestselling South African author Denis Hirson gradually reveals the details of his extraordinary thirteenth birthday as he explores the familial and political divisions in Apartheid South Africa that weighed on him and his developing consciousness of his Jewish heritage.

My Thirty-Minute Bar Mitzvah is a gem of a book about becoming a man. It's also a valuable account of a forgotten time of white, Jewish activists, their families, their community, and most importantly, their children, who had to stumble through life in the aftermath of their commitment to racial justice.

About Denis Hirson

Denis Hirson has lived in France since 1975, yet has remained true to the title of one of his prose poems, "The long distance South African." Most of his books, both poetry and prose, are concerned with the memory of the apartheid years in South Africa. Two of his previous titles, The House Next Door to Africa and I Remember King Kong (the Boxer) were South African bestsellers. Following the release from prison of his father, who had served a nine-year sentence for sabotage as a member of the African Resistance Movement, Denis's family left South Africa in 1973 when he was twenty-two. His family had been given three days to pack up their home in Johannesburg and leave by ship from Cape Town.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Owen on December 11, 2024

Am always drawn to My Parents Were Activists memoirs - there's so many kinds, many of them terrible. This is a good one, a sensitive and thoughtful child's eye view of Jewish leftist activists in apartheid South Africa; it raises a lot of unanswered questions but is very nicely done as it goes.......more

Goodreads review by B.C. on December 27, 2023

I wasn’t sure what to expect when going into reading this, but, after reading it, I found that it was a very good memoir! I’ve read a lot of books on various topics pertaining to Jewish identity and I think that this book gave us another perspective on that, as well as a story that was interesting.......more

Goodreads review by Beryl on January 25, 2023

Anyone who has an even rudimentary knowledge of this Jewish rite of passage would know that the Barmitzvah ceremony and subsequent celebration can most definitely last for hours. It is such an important milestone for both boys and girls (bat mitzvah) shaping much of their lives ahead. So it was with......more

Goodreads review by Sara on January 05, 2024

Not quite what I thought it would be based on the title, which only becomes clear after being emerged in the book, but it was a fine read and should appeal to those interested in both Jewish life in South Africa and the history beginning in the early 1960s. The writing itself is fine and it falls in......more

Goodreads review by Sherry on February 19, 2025

A heart m-wrenching memoir. So well told yet so very difficult to think about how those early life events shaped the person Mr Hirson is today. I was born in Cape Town, South Africa, 1000 miles from Johannesburg. My parents were also born in South Africa and we all grew up with a very different brai......more

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