Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Goy: memoir of a unique life

My local Gazette has featured some great articles of Jewish interest lately.  First it was Project Ezekiel, about a local who constructed images of lost Holocaust victims using their prisoner cards.  Now from this week's paper:
Spend just a few minutes talking with Silver Spring's Ranjit Chatterjee, and you'll realize he has little interest in the mundane. Read just a few pages of his new memoir, "Goy," and you'll learn what does interest him – adventure, family, philosophy and Jewish studies with a dash of linguistics on top.
The article tells the genesis of Chatterjee's interest in Jews and Judaism:
One story the author writes about is when his mother told him a disturbing Holocaust story. Ranjit was only about 6 years old, but his mother decided to tell him a horrific story about Nazis who buried Jewish people up to their waists and then sent in vicious dogs to attack their upper bodies. That was really the beginning, he says, of his interest in the plight of Jewish people.
Goy may not make it to the J-BOM book list, but if you read it, I'd be happy to post a guest book review here at the Gathering Sparks blog!

3 comments:

derek4messiah.wordpress.com said...

Fascinating. I wonder if his theory about Wittgenstein has any merit or if it regarded as eccentric?

I'd be interested in hearing your thoughts if you review the book. Maybe it could be a J-BOM (if you check it out and decide it fits the bill).

Derek Leman

Yahnatan said...

Derek,

I thought the comment about Wittgenstein was intriguing too. I'll let you know if I ever get around to reading "Goy".

Yahnatan

Rabbi Joshua said...

Interesting.