The Prickly Pear: A Sabra In Two Worlds

A sabra, or prickly pear, is a nickname for an Israeli born who is thorny on the outside, and soft and sweet within. This desert fruit is the central metaphor that Anat Ben-Ishai uses to represent herself, her family, and her people in her gripping memoir. She traces her life from a child's viewpoint, beginning with growing up before the birth of the new state of Israel in the early 40's. Strong emotions of a child involved in a conflict between British soldiers and Israelis during the British Mandate and through the birth of the new state. As a child she experienced the horrors of war, the joy of independence, the struggle of survival that Israel experienced as a nation. Tales of grade school and high school days, sibling rivalry, serving in the army and love and marriage are all portrayed with joy and humor, tears and sadness, terror and fear. All coalesce in the warm, touching remembrance of a twentieth-century woman who comes of age in one of the harshest times imaginable.