To share your reaction on this item, open the Amazon app from the App Store or Google Play on your phone.

These promotions will be applied to this item:

Some promotions may be combined; others are not eligible to be combined with other offers. For details, please see the Terms & Conditions associated with these promotions.

Audiobook Price: $17.71

Save: $14.71 (83%)

You've subscribed to ! We will preorder your items within 24 hours of when they become available. When new books are released, we'll charge your default payment method for the lowest price available during the pre-order period.
Update your device or payment method, cancel individual pre-orders or your subscription at
Your Memberships & Subscriptions
Kindle app logo image

Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.

Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.

Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.

QR code to download the Kindle App

Follow the author

Something went wrong. Please try your request again later.

Out of Egypt: A Memoir Kindle Edition

4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 645 ratings

This richly colored memoir chronicles the exploits of a flamboyant Jewish family, from its bold arrival in cosmopolitan Alexandria to its defeated exodus three generations later.

In elegant and witty prose, André Aciman introduces us to the marvelous eccentrics who shaped his life--Uncle Vili, the strutting daredevil, soldier, salesman, and spy; the two grandmothers, the Princess and the Saint, who gossip in six languages; Aunt Flora, the German refugee who warns that Jews lose everything "at least twice in their lives." And through it all, we come to know a boy who, even as he longs for a wider world, does not want to be led, forever, out of Egypt.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

When Aciman, born and raised in Alexandria, Egypt, was asked his nationality as a boy, he automatically replied, "French." His confusion was understandable; his family were Sephardic Jews who had wandered from Italy to Turkey, then settled in Egypt. His father owned a woolen mill and his parents were very rich, as were the rest of the exotic clan who lived with them or gathered regularly for elegant, memorable teas, fetes and fierce but transient squabbling. Like Russian nobility of old, they disdained the common language. Few of them learned Arabic but preferred French, English, Ladino or Italian. They concealed their Jewishness when Nasser was in power, a time of high Arab nationalism, intense anti-Semitism and then war. Eventually they fled to Paris, leaving behind much of their wealth but little of their culture, which Aciman-his mother's darling, his teachers' despair, his father's worry, a child spy in a house of eccentric, cultivated adults-here recalls with a magical sensibility streaked with antic humor. A marvelous memento of a place, time and people that have all disappeared.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Aciman presents a rich and captivating portrait of a Jewish family from cosmopolitan Alexandria, Egypt. From their arrival there at the turn of the century until their departure three generations later, the members of Aciman's clan experienced adventures and harrowing disappointments. Their stories are in many ways similar to those of other Jewish families in vanishing communities throughout the Middle East and North Africa. Most impressive among the siblings is Uncle Villy, who led a colorful life as a British spy, Italian fascist, and soldier. Aunt Flora, a refugee from Germany, maintains a rather pessimistic philosophy about life. With this memoir, the author in part redeems the social life, customs, and history of a community that barely exists today amid an inhospitable milieu, due to political turmoil in close and remote lands. This is not simply another nostalgic account but a well-written and touching depiction of life in a community that has almost ceased to be. Highly recommended for most collections.
Ali Houissa, Cornell Univ., Ithaca, N.Y.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B004UND9FQ
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Farrar, Straus and Giroux; First edition (January 23, 2007)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ January 23, 2007
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 1219 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 332 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 645 ratings

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.
André Aciman
Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.
Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

André Aciman is an American memoirist, essayist, and New York Times bestselling novelist originally from Alexandria, Egypt. He has also written many essays and reviews on Marcel Proust. His work has appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Review of Books, The New York Times, The New Republic, Condé Nast Traveler, The Paris Review, Granta as well as in many volumes of The Best American Essays.

Aciman grew up in a multilingual and multinational family and attended English-language schools, first in Alexandria and later, after his family moved to Italy in 1965, in Rome. In 1968, Aciman's family moved again, this time to New York City, where he graduated in 1973 from Lehman College. Aciman received his Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from Harvard University and, after teaching at Princeton University and Bard College, is Distinguished Professor of Comparative Literature at The Graduate Center of The City University of New York. He is currently chair of the Ph. D. Program in Comparative Literature and founder and director of The Writers' Institute at the Graduate Center. He has also taught creative writing at New York University, Cooper Union, and and Yeshiva University. In 2009, Aciman was also Visiting Distinguished Writer at Wesleyan University.

Aciman is the author of the Whiting Award-winning memoir Out of Egypt (1995), an account of his childhood as a Jew growing up in post-colonial Egypt. His books and essays have been translated in many languages. In addition to Out of Egypt (1995), Aciman has published False Papers: Essays in Exile and Memory (2001) and Alibis: Essays on Elswhere (2011), and four novels, Enigma Variations (2017), Harvard Square (2013), Eight White Nights (2010) and Call Me By Your Name (2007), for which he won the Lambda Literary Award for Men's Fiction (2008). He also edited Letters of Transit (1999) and The Proust Project (2004) and prefaced Monsieur Proust (2003), The Light of New York (2007), Condé Nast Traveler's Room With a View (2010) and Stefan Zweig's Journey to the Past (2010). His novel Call Me by Your Name has been turned into a film (2017), directed by Luca Guadagnino, with a screenplay by James Ivory, and starring Armie Hammer and Timothée Chalamet.

He is currently working on his fifth novel and a collection of essays.

Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars
645 global ratings

Review this product

Share your thoughts with other customers

Customers say

Customers praise the writing style as eloquent and lyrical, with a plaintive yet celebratory tone. They find the story fascinating and interesting, evoking a unique time and place. The book is described as heartwarming, inspiring, and compassionate at deep levels. Readers describe the family as charming, eccentric, and colorful. They appreciate the humor and humor in the book.

AI-generated from the text of customer reviews

24 customers mention "Writing style"20 positive4 negative

Customers enjoy the book's writing style. They find it lyrical and poignant, with a Proustian love of detail and texture. The tone is both plaintive and celebratory. Readers appreciate the accurate and intimate descriptions of the city that capture a vivid sense of place.

"...Alexandria beyond recognition; hence Aciman's beautiful writing of Alexandria, its beaches and its tram will bring floods of memories for anyone who..." Read more

"...It gives a very clear and vivid picture of what it was to live under such, at times, very stressful conditions while not actually being involved in..." Read more

"...There is something Proust-like in the writing, a love of detail for the texture it creates, and something Nabokov-like as well, in the hooded humor..." Read more

"...existed. This is an eloquent and elegiac account of that love and absurdity known as a family." Read more

15 customers mention "Story quality"15 positive0 negative

Customers enjoyed the story. They found it interesting, beautifully written, and evocative of a unique time and place. The narrative skillfully skips back and forth in time, making it an engaging read about people, politics, and times.

"...sensitivity to the people and events around him and his wonderful story telling skills has produced beautifully written and very touching book that..." Read more

"This is a true story about one, rather large, Jewish family living in Egypt thru WWII, thru the Israeli War of Independence in 1948, and up until..." Read more

"...section dating roughly from age 5 or 6, the narrative skillfully skips back and forth in time...." Read more

"A fascinating story about a very charming but eccentric Jewish family that seems to have no solid or permanent roots...." Read more

9 customers mention "Heartwarming"9 positive0 negative

Customers find the book inspiring and compassionate. They appreciate the author's childhood memories of growing up with an extended family. The tone is both poignant and celebratory, making it a rewarding read.

"...At a time of increased hostility in the middle east it is heartwarming to read of a time when Jews lived in peace with their Muslim and Christian..." Read more

"...existed. This is an eloquent and elegiac account of that love and absurdity known as a family." Read more

"...Some words are not correct Arabic. What I liked are his feelings as a young boy growing up with an extended family...." Read more

"A superb memoir that shares with us a loving and idiosyncratic family caught up with historical changes. loved it" Read more

5 customers mention "Family history"5 positive0 negative

Customers enjoy the family history. They find it charming and moving, with a colorful family chronicle. The book captures the essence of time and place, as well as the boy's exotic world and dysfunctional extended family.

"...The descriptions of the boy's exotic world and his dysfunctional extended family are priceless, as are the re-invented conversations and arguments..." Read more

"A superb memoir that shares with us a loving and idiosyncratic family caught up with historical changes. loved it" Read more

"...Aciman writes well and captures the essence of time, place and family that is powerful and moving. Well done." Read more

"Charming, funny. beautifully written. Colorful family, interesting story." Read more

5 customers mention "Humor"5 positive0 negative

Customers enjoy the humor in the book. They find it funny and well-written, with a good dose of Jewish humor.

"...the texture it creates, and something Nabokov-like as well, in the hooded humor and artful language...." Read more

"...Fun and humor and smart, Andre is a young boy then and he relates his grandfathers story and all the relatives as it was then...." Read more

"...The writing is good, the characters memorable, and it has very funny moments, proving that life, no matter how convoluted or dysfunctional, is..." Read more

"A great memoir of an Egypt no longer exists told with a good dose of Jewish humour. I couldn't put this memoir down." Read more

Out of Alexandria
4 out of 5 stars
Out of Alexandria
This is a well written memoir about the Aciman clan, the reader gradually become familiar with each one of the family members of the Aciman family. The book relates the easy and good life in Alexandria before the Suez war in 1956 and afterwards the oppression of Jews until they were forced to leave the country. It's amazing to know that Andre Aciman's father spoke many languages like Ladino , Greek, Turkish, French, English, and probably Italian besides the languge of prayers Hebrew. I woul like to recommend another moving and poignant memoir about the life in Cairo, written by Henry Mourad Exodus II The Promised Land
Thank you for your feedback
Sorry, there was an error
Sorry we couldn't load the review

Top reviews from the United States

  • Reviewed in the United States on August 14, 2006
    Andre Aciman's Out of Egypt is an amazing book, I found it very hard to put down. At a time of increased hostility in the middle east it is heartwarming to read of a time when Jews lived in peace with their Muslim and Christian neighbors in Alexandria. Not a whiff of anti Jewish sentiments was reported by Aciman until after the Suez War. Aciman and his family left Egypt in the sixties.

    Aciman, like many "Egyptian" Jews preferred to hold European nationalities and in some cases some were French or Italian without ever setting foot in these countries. Europeans had their own courts in Egypt and did not fall under Egyptian Laws. For Aciman, born and raised in Egypt and in many ways no different than many affluent Alexandrians life became unbearable after the waves of Nationalization in the early 60's.

    Aciman writes of an Alexandria that no longer exists not just for Egyptian Jews. The population explosion in Egypt has transformed Alexandria beyond recognition; hence Aciman's beautiful writing of Alexandria, its beaches and its tram will bring floods of memories for anyone who's known Alexandria.

    Affluent Egyptian Jews who left Egypt in the fifties and sixties are not immediately thought of as refugees and there is little discussion on their issues of identity and affiliation in Egypt and elsewhere. Aciman through his acute sensitivity to the people and events around him and his wonderful story telling skills has produced beautifully written and very touching book that subtly challenges many assumptions on all sides.

    Readers will see the very same Alexandria in Leila Ahmed's Border Passage and in parts of Ahdaf Souief's In the Eye of the Sun. Enjoy
    46 people found this helpful
    Report
  • Reviewed in the United States on May 19, 2013
    This is a true story about one, rather large, Jewish family living in Egypt thru WWII, thru the Israeli War of Independence in 1948, and up until Nasser's defeat in the Sinai Campaign of about 1957. The book details the various characters in the family, their social lives, and how they blended with the general, Arab population of Egypt for decades. The book is a very good history, from the particular perspective of this, perhaps typical, Jewish family. It details how their lives changed because of the Israel-Egypt wars of the 40s and 50s. It gives a very clear and vivid picture of what it was to live under such, at times, very stressful conditions while not actually being involved in the wars. I would recommend the book to others who may have wondered about the lives and times of Jews living in Arab countries at war with Israel, both before and after it became a legitimate State of Israel. The book is somewhat similar to- The Man in the White Sharkskin Suit, which also covers about the same time frame in Egypt of a different, Jewish family in Cairo, who then emigrated to America when they too could no longer live, safely in Egypt in the 40s and 50s.
    8 people found this helpful
    Report
  • Reviewed in the United States on January 30, 2007
    This memoir is the very best I've read. It takes the author from his earliest years as part of a large Jewish family which moved from Turkey to Alexandria (he was born in 1951), through the air raid sirens during Suez war with France and England, to the expulsion of the Jews by Nasser in the late 1950s, and then on to his adulthood in America and his return to Egypt following his marriage. After a lengthy opening section dating roughly from age 5 or 6, the narrative skillfully skips back and forth in time. The descriptions of the boy's exotic world and his dysfunctional extended family are priceless, as are the re-invented conversations and arguments among the adults who surround him. There is something Proust-like in the writing, a love of detail for the texture it creates, and something Nabokov-like as well, in the hooded humor and artful language. I found it utterly captivating and written with love, especially for his mother, who was born deaf. I heartily recommend it to anyone who contemplates or is writing a memoir.
    20 people found this helpful
    Report
  • Reviewed in the United States on April 27, 2018
    A fascinating story about a very charming but eccentric Jewish family that seems to have no solid or permanent roots. They hail from turkey, Italy, France and England and speak all these languages simultaneously avoiding learning arabic regarding it the language of the servants and the illiterate populace. Egypt seems to be their new temporary home in which the enjoy an upper class life style but they can't escape the ascent of Nasser and his push to nationalize all businesses , deport all foreigners, especially Jews, from Egypt. The young narrator and his family are ultimately forced to leave what to them has been an interlude of happiness in slander described as a paradise: suffused with sunshine, surrounded by the blue Mediterranean waters and yellow sand. Their relationships and lives will be pulled apart never to be resumed again . One gets the sad feeling that they are being exiled from a paradise never to return again.
    11 people found this helpful
    Report
  • Reviewed in the United States on August 1, 2024
    Same over and over again

Top reviews from other countries

Translate all reviews to English
  • Ferran Aguilera
    5.0 out of 5 stars Magnífico libro
    Reviewed in Spain on January 2, 2022
    Magnífico libro y magnífica història, excelentemente narrada.
  • allanb
    5.0 out of 5 stars Very engaging memoir
    Reviewed in Canada on September 17, 2018
    I really enjoyed reading this memoir. Being a memoir, the author would go back and forth in time and it was sometimes difficult to keep track of the time period of some anecdotes. But it was well worth the effort. This would make a great movie.
  • Hans Bender
    5.0 out of 5 stars Eine bittersüße Familiengeschichte aus einer untergegangenen Welt
    Reviewed in Germany on March 3, 2020
    Die Familien-Geschichte aus der Sicht eines in einer sephardisch jüdischen Familie heranwachsenden Jungen, die aus Istanbul vertrieben wurde.
    Es wird beschrieben, wie die faszinierende Umgebung Alexandrias in den 50 er und 60er Jahren zur Heimat und zum späteren Sehnsuchtsort wurde, erzählt mit einen milden ironischen Blick auf die große Familie mit der ewig in Hassliebe einander verbundenen Großmutter und ihrer Schwester, zum Schluss wieder in die gemeinsame Emigration nach Paris gezwungen. Der Rest der Familie wird über ganz Europa und nach Amerika vertrieben.
    Eine typische Geschichte des 20ten Jahrhunderts, erzählt ohne Bitterkeit und Hass.
  • David
    5.0 out of 5 stars A lost childhood paradise in Alexandria
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 28, 2018
    In the teeth of adversity, or perhaps because of it, as in Bassani's "Garden at the Finzi-Contini's", there can be a kind of enchanted space. So it is with Aciman's childhood Alexandria where he was born and with his parents and grandparents, who settled there having fled various corners of the Levant, enjoys a privileged but increasingly precarious existence, until, less than 50 years ago, the established order of Jewish life in Egypt comes to an end. Books written by Jews often contain the sadness of a lost paradise: Naïm Kattan, Paula Jacques, Violette Shamash are others. Young Aciman mostly speaks French to his family, his grandmothers speak Ladino to him, while his schooling is in English, friends and neighbours speak Greek, Armenian or Italian while very little of the servants ' Arabic impinges on their world. The tram routes, Les Délices, the Athineos, the street names &c were all as I was to discover them 30 years after Aciman and his family's departure, when their goods and livlihoods were seized, so I felt (by what right?) that these finely crafted memoirs were a little bit mine...
  • Daphne
    5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful
    Reviewed in Italy on November 3, 2014
    This wonderful book pulls you into the life of a young boy, Jewish, living in an Egypt that no longer exists. The memories are so evocative that seem to be your own. Highly recommended to all readers.

Report an issue


Does this item contain inappropriate content?
Do you believe that this item violates a copyright?
Does this item contain quality or formatting issues?