Feldman's (Unorthodox) second memoir examines her life after leaving the Hasidic community in which she was raised. After settling in New England with her six-year-old son, Isaac, she begins a search for personal history and identity. This personal journey is also a physical one as Feldman sets off on many excursions. She takes Isaac to Cordoba, Spain, where she is horrified to learn that are only 10 Jews left in the city. Feldman travels to Hungary where her grandmother, a holocaust survivor, was born, in the search for 'something along the lines of closure.' Her adventures are presented out of chronological order—a choice that makes the story confusing—and include France, Austria, Germany, and a cross-country drive. Her most intriguing explorations are often the domestic ones. While visiting a Sarah Lawrence classmate in the Southwest, for example, Feldman meets her first 'authentic Republican' and takes her first bite of shrimp in front of an eager audience. In New Orleans she falls in love with Conor, a 'redneck with a shotgun collection.' Her most surprising love affair is with Markus, whom she first encounters online and meets in-person in Germany. Markus, descended from Nazis, admits that '[h]is grandmother had boasted about kissing Hitler's hand.' Feldman richly describes her triumph following her 'escape' from a restrictive way of life. Agent: Patricia van der Leun, The Patricia van der Leun Literary Agency. (Mar.)

Reviewed on: 03/24/2014
Release date: 03/25/2014
Genre: Nonfiction

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TIP SHEET

The definitive follow-up to Unorthodox (the basis for the award-winning Netflix series)—now updated with more than 50 percent new material—the unforgettable story of what happened in the years after Deborah Feldman left a religious sect in Williamsburg in order to forge her own path in the world.

In 2009, at the age of twenty-three, Deborah Feldman packed up her young son and their few possessions and walked away from her insular Hasidic roots. She was determined to find a better life for herself, away from the oppression and isolation of her Satmar upbringing in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. And in Exodus, Revisited she delves into what happened next—taking the reader on a journey that starts with her beginning life anew as a single mother, a religious refugee, and an independent woman in search of a place and a community where she can belong.
Originally published in 2014, Deborah has now revisited and significantly expanded her story, and the result is greater insight into her quest to discover herself and the true meaning of home. Travels that start with making her way in New York expand into an exploration of America and eventually lead to trips across Europe to retrace her grandmother’s life during the Holocaust, before she finds a landing place in the unlikeliest of cities. Exodus, Revisited is a deeply moving examination of the nature of memory and generational trauma, and of reconciliation with both yourself and the world.