Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 200
EAN: 9780061132995
ISBN: 0061132993
Label: Harper Perennial
Manufacturer: Harper Perennial
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 368
Publication Date: November 07, 2006
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Release Date: November 07, 2006
Sales Rank: 773196
Studio: Harper Perennial

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Editorial Review:

Product Description:


Choosing My Religion is a luminous memoir, crafted with the eye of a journalist and the art of a novelist by New York Times Magazine writer and editor Stephen J. Dubner. By turns comic and heartbreaking, it tells the story of a family torn apart by religion, sustained by faith, and reunited by truth.



Amazon.com Review:
"Choosing My Religion," Stephen Dubner's 1996 cover story for The New York Times Magazine, described his conversion from Catholicism to Judaism. The drama and complexity of Dubner's conversion were intensified by the author's unusual religious history: before Dubner was born, his parents had made an equal and opposite conversion from Judaism to Catholicism. Dubner's memoir, Turbulent Souls, expands the story he first told in the Times essay. In the book's prelude, Dubner explains that he began his wandering toward conversion in the 1980s when he moved to New York City, "the most Jewish city outside of Israel."

There a certain disquietude began to take root inside me. I could not name this force, but neither could I make it leave me. And so I followed the noise inside my soul, and before long it led me back to my parents. I became consumed with a desire to know how a pair of young Jews named Florence Greenglass and Sol Dubner had become my Catholic parents.

Turbulent Souls is full of loving, witty anecdotes about his childhood in rural New York state (he refers to Mrs. Ferry, a catechism teacher who gave him Doublemint gum, as "Blessed Angel of the Sugar Deprived") and his efforts in adulthood to reconstruct both his and his parents' pasts. The best reason to read this book is Dubner's well-balanced thirst for explanation and reverence for mystery; it's a model of the equilibrium every one of us has to attain if we want to make peace with our families, our home towns, and our selves. --Michael Joseph Gross




Rating: - That's Using The Ol' Goycup!
Dubner's highly interesting family history frames the tale of his own decision to "return home" to his Jewish roots, after his parents, both raised as traditional Jews, converted to Roman Catholicism in their unmarried days. His parents bring up Stephen Dubner and his siblings as deeply-devout Catholics, and all-but turn their backs on their own heritage after the time of their conversion. Dubner tells of about his life growing up attending Mass and living in suburbia in the 1960's and '70's, and ... Read More

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Rating: - Excellent Transaction
Fine price, treasure of a hard cover book in new condition. I could not be more pleased!

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Rating: - A Fascinating Spiritual Journey
Turbulent Souls gives a fine account of the many journeys that took place within the Dubner Family Tree. Stephen Dubner traces his family roots which amazingly were rooted in Judaism. Its quite interesting how both of Stephen's parents became Catholics. In the case of Stephen's father, Sol(later Paul)it seemed as if he was rebelling against his overbearing father. Paul's story shows you that you cannot force feed religion into a young soul trying to emerge.

As for Stephen's mother, ... Read More

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Rating: - A spiritual journey for any religion
I was raised Catholic and really not happy with the Church so I was a little wary of the book when it came time to read it for my book club. I could not have been more wrong about how this book would affect me! It was absolutely wonderful. The author was able to write with detail without being long-winded. The feelings that he had about his religions/cultures, both Catholic and Jewish I could relate to by the way he wrote. With each step in his spiritual journey I felt like I was cheering him ... Read More

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Rating: - Growing up Catholic
I have to say the main reason I bought this book was because I too am from the little town The Dubner's lived in and I remember Stephen since he was my youngest brother's age and the thing everyone knew about his family was that they were probably the most devout catholic's in our area so it was very interesting to learn of his families true roots. I had no clue of his lineage since as Steve describes our town was not very diverse for the most part it was an all white community in the middle of nowhere ... Read More

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