In her third memoir, Exodus, Revisited: My Unorthodox Journey to Berlin, Deborah Feldman--whose first book, Unorthodox, was the basis for the Netflix series of the same name--expands upon her 2014 book, Exodus. Her resolve and unwavering quest to fill the space left when she fled her repressive Hasidic community are impressive. "The needle of my inner compass quivered without pause in its search for something, the nature of which I would not be able to pinpoint for some time."
She demonstrates her commitment as well as her anxiety, and those new to Feldman's story will catch up easily. This book begins after she leaves her marriage and Brooklyn with her son, but she references life in the insular society, particularly memories of her beloved grandmother, a Holocaust survivor "by a hairsbreadth." Few will share Feldman's roots, but the obstacles in her path are familiar: single motherhood, a drawn-out divorce, economic insecurity. Attracted to Europe, her ancestral home yet the site of "the apocalypse that had nearly wiped us out," she visited historic Jewish sites including "Bubby's" Hungary; she witnessed antisemitism yet committed to relocating. In an inspiring leap, Feldman is able to "push past the superficial levels" of her fear, settling with her son in cosmopolitan, literary Berlin in 2014, starting over "twice in one decade."
Near the book's end she confides to readers, "So you can imagine my shock when I received that fateful phone call, the one I warned you about at the very beginning of this story" that reveals the hidden link in her genealogy. Satisfied at last, she writes, "there is really no greater triumph in my life than that of having found my way home." --Cheryl McKeon, Book House of Stuyvesant Plaza, Albany, N.Y.