by Greta Beigel
BOOK DESCRIPTION
In "Kvetch: One Bitch of a Life," journalist Greta Beigel looks back, sometimes in horror, often with humor at (dysfunctional) Jewish family life lived under the umbrella of apartheid in South Africa, circa the '50s and '60s. While her memoir chronicles Orthodox Jewry's responses to events during that shameful era, it also explores the rituals, customs--and delicious foods associated with such a rich cultural heritage. For Greta, danger however remains omnipresent. A child piano prodigy then teen concert performer she lives at the mercy of a superambitious matriarch, desperate for entree into Jewish Society. Following a failed marriage to a nice Jewish doctor--Greta faces a choice: Stay in Africa and die a certain death--or flee to California and create anew. She chooses life. The story moves to Los Angeles, where the author metamorphoses into a music journalist, soon covering the arts for the Los Angeles Times, and joy upon joy interviewing music luminaries such as Van Cliburn, Murray Perahia and many more. But always in the background a dark familial figure hovers...
AUTHOR BIO
Greta Beigel, a child prodigy pianist-turned arts journalist was raised in an Orthodox Jewish household in Johannesburg, South Africa, at the height of apartheid. Greta's mother, struggling and stigmatized by divorce, lived vicariously through her talented daughter, all in an effort to gain acceptance from her unforgiving Jewish brethren. Surviving many years of torment at the hands of her mother, Greta went on to win an overseas scholarship from the University of South Africa. You can hear part of her award-winning recital on an Amazon MP3 featuring works by Bach and Glazunov. Thanks to that prize, Greta was able to escape Africa and a certain death and migrate to Calilfornia where she reuited with her long-lost Yiddishe father Richard, who had left the family when she was 10. In Los Angeles, Greta studied with pedagogue Aube Tzerko, then went on to become a classical music writer, working on staff at the Los Angeles Times, where she also was an arts editor. She has contributed to the New York Times. To her surprise, Greta has authored three Jewish-themed books:
REVIEWS OF KVETCH:
--In "Kvetch" Beigel is able to peel back layers of her experiences to reveal her soul. She chronicles her time living in the apartheid nation of South Africa in the 1950s and '60s and growing up as a childhood piano prodigy. She takes the reader through her move to America, the decade and a half she spent at the L.A. Times and the traveling she did that brought her to Portland. ......Beigel also fearlesly looks at her family. She devotes chapters to her overbearing mother, her father who left the family to come to America when she was young, and a horrifying account of being molested by a relative. ..."Kvetch" is filled with both happiness and sorrow.
--Stephen Alexander, Portland Tribune.
--Stephen Alexander, Portland Tribune.
--"In an age bursting with memoirs, this one stands out as unusually honest and poignant. Greta Beigel's talents as a writer and an observer of the human condition are worth celebrating. One can only hope for more in the years to come."
OTHER WORKS
A Jew from Riga
No comments:
Post a Comment