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Reviewed by Karen Pirnot for Readers' Favorite
Actor/Doctor, An Autobiography is a three-part story about a Jewish family that emigrated to America in the early 1900s. In Part I, author Milt Kogan describes the plight of his grandfather's family as they struggled to make a living in Europe and escape harm during World War I. Their journey to the USA in 1920 is the heroic effort of a family attempting to make a better life by undergoing a rugged sea journey in an ocean liner. The family settled in Philadelphia where the author's father grew to adulthood, studying hard to become a pharmacist. The early twentieth century city life is vividly portrayed, as is the cultural life of Kogan's Jewish family. The enterprising and motivation-driven expectation of the family was highly evident from the early chapters and it did not let up at the end when Kogan is preparing for his high school graduation.
There were some tough chapters in Part I of Actor/Doctor and I'm sure that these experiences helped to shape the adult author's choices and approaches to life. But, through it all, Kogan had the guidance of family and multiple friendships as well as opportunities to learn and thrive. My favorite chapter was probably the one about the relationship between Kogan and his father. Kogan explains how his father appeared driven by Jewish tradition and law, but that his own life was more determined by his need to fit into the American way of life. Pictures are periodically interspersed to help the reader visualize the era and better identify with the stories. This is a simple and well-written autobiography which will bring back many personal memories for more mature readers as well as provide an educational experience for the young.
