Goodbye, Tahrir Square - by Elio Zarmati

Book Synopsis

"Goodbye, Tahrir Square" is a first-person memoir written from the standpoint of a Jewish boy growing up in Egypt during the watershed years that shaped the Middle East into the powder keg it is today. Described as the "Holden Caulfield of the Nile" for his rebellious attitude, the boy witnessed-between the ages of seven to fourteen--the 1952 revolution that overthrew King Farouk and gave rise to the dictatorship of Gamal Abdel Nasser; the 1956 Suez war that marked the end of the British empire; and in its wake the destruction of the Jewish community that had lived in Egypt since Biblical times. Though set in times of revolution and war, "Goodbye, Tahrir Square" is not a political book. It is the story of a boy whose close-knit extended Sephardic family, full of rich traditions and colorful characters, is suddenly torn asunder by the forces of revolution and war. A man-child coming of age like a wild cactus in the rubble of the past, overcoming a hostile environment, forging friendships that transcend ethnic and religious animus, and finding his own identity as he awakens to literature, history, art, archaeology, and the magic of love and sex.

Review Quotes

"A richly-narrated, heartbreaking memoir of revolution, adolescence, and expulsion Goodbye, Tahrir Square offers an intimate portrait of a world on the brink of transformation. Told through the eyes of a Jewish boy coming of age in the midst of a political crisis Goodbye Tahrir Square is a tender exploration of family, identity, and belonging that captures a pivotal moment in Middle Eastern history through the most personal of lenses."

- Michael David Lukas, author of The Last Watchman of Old Cairo

"The once vibrant Jewish life of mid-century Cairo is vividly recreated in this fabulous memoir. Growing up as an Egyptian Jew, in school with Muslims and Christians, experiencing two political revolutions, surrounded by extended family gradually emigrating Elio Zarmati relives with us the conflicts as well as the joys of his childhood. I loved reading this book!"

-- Susannah Heschel, Eli M. Black Distinguished Professor, Dartmouth College

"Elegantly written, rich with detail, the genius of Goodbye, Tahrir Square is the way Elio Zarmati juxtaposes his complex struggle to reach adulthood during Egypt's turbulent attempts to create a relevant twentieth century identity. To move forward in life, Zarmati asks, how much must you cast aside?"

-- Fred Haefele, author of the memoir, Rebuilding the Indian

"Elio Zarmati's Goodbye, Tahrir Square: Coming of Age as a Jew of the Nile is an engaging and intriguing memoir, recounting a Jewish boy's childhood and early adolescence growing up from 1949-1960 in Egypt, and then fleeing it forever with his father to escape it's antisemitism. This is a well-written memoir about a sensitive, book-loving boy's emotional, intellectual, and sexual development, set in the context of familial, political, and ideological strife, and his effort to understand the world around him and his place in it. Goodbye, Tahrir Square is also an evocative, appreciative, even affectionate description of Egypt during that period, underlining poignantly the enormous loss to Zarmati, his family, and all the Egyptian Jews who were forced by antisemitism into exile. Readers will find much to enjoy and learn from this thoughtful memoir."

-- Dr. Nora Gold, author of 18: Jewish Stories Translated From 18 Jewish Languages and In Sickness and In Health/Yom Kippur in a Gym; and the Founder and Editor of the literary journal JewishFiction.com

About the Author

Born in Egypt and raised in Great Britain and France, Elio Zarmati was a reporter at NBC, a writer-director of films and TV shows in France and in the United States, the CEO of an international film subtitling and dubbing company, Gelula & Co., and the publisher of YWD magazine and the editor-in-chief of Recovery Living magazine. He lives in Tarzana, California.