The diary of a displaced woman
Hope Blinderman is a stranger in a strange land. As a white Jewish woman living in Kenya and working as a journalist she feels like a total fish out of water. Trying to find her way in this unfamiliar country, Hope struggles to provide her son with any sort of Jewish instruction to preserve her culture. While she manages to find a support system, in Africa, her life eventually takes her to Europe and then back home to America. Her trials and struggles through it all are deftly detailed in this short casual novel.
Notes by author Nancy Cohen tells a decades long journey of Hope Blinderman. Beginning in the late 1960s and told in the form of a diary, the narrative is very loose and less of a structured timeline but more of a stream of consciousness. For this reason, I found it very easy to read as if I were delving into a missive from a friend or family member. The diary at times was humorous and lighthearted as Hope details conversations with her “imaginary friend” to tense and heart wrenching as certain pivotal events in world history are detailed through Hope’s eyes.
Not a long book, Notes is an easy read that took me a little over a day to complete. Clocking in at less than 200 pages, this fast paced easy read still packs a punch. Cohen hits the highs and lows of Blinderman’s life as she is trying to find her way in a land that is not her own and then finally returning home to be with her family. Throughout it all, her struggles with racism against her and her son as well as trying to reconcile her faith with her life are clear themes that remind the reader that for as far as we have come as a human race there are still several lingering biases that remain.
If you are looking for a fast paced, heartfelt read that feels as familiar as it does foreign, Notes by Nancy Cohen would be a great offering for a lazy afternoon.
Jennly Reads 